West Terrace Tigers roar the loudest

The day belonged to standouts West Terrace Primary Tigers in the Pasty Callender Zone and Fashionation Bayley’s Primary in the Obadele Thompson Zone when the Chefette Frosteez Distance Relay National Primary Schools Athletics Championship (NAPSAC) continued today.

Over the years West Terrace has developed a reputation for mauling their rivals on the track at NAPSAC and today was no different as they were unstoppable securing four of five gold medals overall during the morning session.

West Terrace took center stage in the Under-11 Girls and Boys 4x600m where they captured the double. The tigers also ate up the Under-13 Boys 4x800m relay as well as the Under-nine 4x400m mixed relay.

The only school that really rained on West Terrace’s parade slightly was Vauxhall Hall Primary in their bright orange attire, with a great run to claim the Under-13 Girls 4x800m relay. In so doing Vauxhall denied West Terrace the opportunity of completing the double in the Under-13 Division.

In the Under-11 Girls Division, West Terrace accounted for their first medal of the day having clocked 9:18.79 for the top podium finish thanks to a great team effort from Skyy Dowridge, Shariyah Inniss and the twin sisters Kalia and Ariya Curwen. The next best performances came via a 10:04.08 clocking by Vauxhall Primary and 10:08.24 by St. Alban’s Primary in the 4x600m relay.

It was the turn of the Under-11 Boys and once again the West Terrace posse were on their feet as they set the Usain Bolt complex ablaze with a scorching 9:18.79 performance for the gold medal in the 4x600m relay. The silver medal went to St. Winifred’s Primary in 9:04.40 and St. Albans Primary’s 9:43.66 rounded out the top three.

It was then the turn of the Under-13 age group and that age group did not disappoint with an impressive showing in the 4x800m relay.

The battle for gold was on between favourites West Terrace and rivals Vauxhall and when the fat lady sung it was the latter in 13:23.09 that crossed the finish line first. Second position went to West Terrace in 13:25.35 while St. Winifred’s (14:01.50) won the bronze.

Besides that one instance of being beaten by Vauxhall, West Terrace was hard to defeat otherwise as the training they had put in for the past few months paid off. West Terrace also stamped their authority in the Under-13 Boys 4x800m clocking a time of 11:29.64 for the victory.

St. Winifred’s showed good effort with a time of 12:09.63 to run away with the silver medal and Mount Tabor Primary trailed in 12:43.97 for the bronze.

It was clear that the young track and field stars of West Terrace meant business and they delivered as planned thanks to the encouragement of their support team of parents and guardians that came out in their numbers.

Even the Under-nines got in on the action and celebrated with a gold medal for the 4x600m relay in 5:50.23 as they proved too much to handle.

The battle was on for the second position which went to Mount Tabor Primary in 6:13.88 while St. Winifred’s held on for third in 6:28.30 as that brought the curtain down on an exciting morning session.

In the Obadele Thompson Zone sponsored by Fruta juice later in the afternoon, the show belonged to Fashionation Bayley’s Primary with four out of five gold medal performances.

Bayley’s were first place winners in the Under-nine mixed relay as they clocked 6:23.91 for the 4x400m race thanks to a great team effort from Tashani Harewood, Kymani Franklin, Aaliyah Cox and Thierry Burke.

Dressed in the eye-catching orange, white and brown uniforms, Bayley’s clean swept the Under-13 Division for the 4x800m relay. In the girls’ showdown, the team comprising Dazariah Brathwaite, Anya Deane, Shkeir Adams and Jadacia Andrews showcased great speed and were the first team home in 12:35.15, Belmont were second in 14:38.30 and Hindsbury Primary’s 15:04.94 got them third position.

The boys of Bayley’s were also equal to the task with an authoritative 11:43.19 showing that earned them that well deserved gold medal. Their team consisted of Jashaun Massiah, Shakir Alleyne, Zyerie Kellman and Dominic Duncan who is younger brother of Barbados CARIFTA qualifier Daniel Duncan of the Christ Church Foundation School. St. Cyprian’s Boys came second (12:58.19) while Gordon Walters Primary (13:49.24) emerged third overall.

The Under-11 Girls 4x600m medal had Bayley’s written all over it as they were victorious in 9:26.78 through the efforts of Corisha Chase, Jaliyah Payne, Azriel Nurse and Tianna Burke.

The next best finishers in 9:30.74 were Hindsbury Primary and Belmont Primary [10:34.07] took third place.

Belmont Primary performed well and managed to deny Bayley’s the clean sweep for the Under-11 age group. The quartet of Zion Bernard, Jhelan Biscette, Tashawn Brathwaite and Trivonte Deane won the Under-11 Boys 4x600m relay in 9:23.02 and they looked extremely confident coming up against Bayley’s who ended with the silver in 9:29.83 and St. Cyprians Boys’ 10:22.61 secured bronze.

morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb