Blue reclaim throne at QC

After a three-year drought, perennial champions Blue House has returned to lead the pack once more as kings of Queen’s College inter-house sports held today at the National Stadium.

Before being dethroned by Yellow in 2016 – who then went on to win three consecutive titles – Blue had impressively won sports 16 straight times.

Edging Yellow into second position was Purple with a total of 796, with the defending champions third with 776 points. Green tallied 718 for fourth place, Red were fifth (645) and Orange (593) settled for sixth.

The very best of Queen’s College was on show today and in Division One much promise was shown for the Barbados Secondary Schools Athletics Championship (BSSAC) which is two weeks away.

The Queen’s College Warriors are expected to feature in the Frank Blackman Zone and the Blue House pair of Aaron Jones and Kemar Cumberbatch will be the ones to watch for in the sprints.

Cumberbatch’s times of 11.61 seconds and 23.24 in the 100m and 200m respectively was second best to Jones who won both races in an impressive 11.55 (100m) and 23.05 (200m) in the Division One boys’ showdown. He also recorded 11.83m in the triple jump to also claim gold.

Fellow Blue housemate Jahleel Armstrong got off to a slow start in the 400m but picked up pace from the 100m mark and never looked back with a 51.42 seconds gold medal performance. Cumberbatch who had led for most of the race and looked impressive going down the back straight finished second in 52.24 seconds.

Kamille Gaskin-Griffith of Yellow announced herself as the fastest schoolgirl at Queen’s College. Gaskin-Griffith bolted to victory in 12.71 and 26.20 seconds in the 100m and 200m races respectively. There was no catching Dacia Clarke of Orange (65.01) in the 400m.

Nya Browne of Green completed the clean sweep in the 100m (12.69), 200m (25.15) and 400m (60.60), competing among the Division Two girls. 

Sean Raphael also of Green captured the Division Two boys’ 100m in 11.53 seconds but he was second in the 200m (23.89), after he was unable to handle the speed of John Clarke from Purple who won in a time of 23.86 seconds. Earlier in the day, Clarke ran 52.12 for top honours in the 400m.

Orange had a reason to cheer when Chiara Beckles won all three of her races starting with the 400m in 63.25 seconds, the 100m (13.54) and 200m 27.09 seconds in Division Three. 

Competition among the Division Two boys was very competitive and it showed in the 100m when Donnico Howell of Orange and Nicholi Cadogan of Red both recorded 12.17 seconds for a tie.

Cadogan got his revenge and ran a winning time of 24.65 in the 200m ahead of his rival Howell whose 24.91 seconds was good enough for silver.

But Cadogan picked up another gold medal when he dismissed the 400m field in 56.45 seconds with the closest finisher being Shamari Addison of Green in 57.64 seconds.

Dayna Skeete of Green proved unstoppable in the 200m and 400m. She ran 29.57 and 66.85 respectively, but had to settle for third in the 100m behind winner Kaela Hinds of Red (14.84) and Savannah Small of Purple 14.94. 

The Division Four boys had one chief and his name was Keondré Cumberbatch of Purple. He clocked 13.82 in the 100m, a time of 28.02 in the 200m and held no reservations with a 63.49 performance in the 400m to capture gold in all three events.

morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb