St Catherine’s Primary came, saw and conquered all before them, taking a clean sweep of the Obadele Thompson Zone when the 2016 National Primary Schools Athletics Championship got underway at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex today.
A total of five records were broken at the Ryan Brathwaite Track. St Catherine’s defended their boys’ title with 158 points, ahead of St Ambrose Primary with 120 and Boscobel in third with 109 points. St Mark’s Primary were fourth on 97 points and St James Primary’s 91 points got them fifth spot. St Catherine’s in their green attire ended the day on a high when they tallied 184 points to dethrone last year’s zonal queens St James Primary who came second with 145 points and St Mark’s third on 137. St Ambrose were fourth with 123 points and St Elizabeth tallied 72.50 points for fifth position.
Victrix ludorum Deneisha Forde of St Catherine’s Primary as she wins the U-11 long jump.
St Catherine’s broke two of those records when under-seven division champion Akeri Davis who ended on 25 points jumped 1.47m in the standing broad event to replace the old 1.39m mark. Davis also ran 9:33 to win the 50m but was fourth in the cricket ball throw.
Under-nine athlete Kaliah Tull’s 3.09m in the long jump put her in the history books for St Catherine’s Primary. She finished the day with 28 points after winning the 100m in 16.99 but she was unable to do the double after running 26.26 to clock the second fastest time behind Shavania Hackett of St Ambrose Primary whose 26.25 got her first place in the 150m.
Victor ludorum Ryon Stuart was impressive for Boscobel Primary ending the day with 30 points. He set a new mark of 12.59 to erase the previous record of 12:60 in the 80m. He also stamped his authority running 16.43 to win the 100m and also took the 150m in a time of 24.74. Deneisha Forde of St Catherine’s claimed the victrix ludorum title and will have the honour of defending it next year because she is competing at under-11. She ran 1:15.95 in the 400m, in the long jump she measured 3.42m and for the cricket ball she threw 24.27 for her overall total of 30 points.
Two records also tumbled in the girls 600m open when Isha Adamson of St Elizabeth ran 2:02.41 and Achauna Belgrave of St Ambrose 2:02.42 to remove the previous mark of 2:03.02. While Jahzaria Ward also of St Elizabeth jumped 1.46m to replace the previous 1:37m in the under-seven girls standing broad jump. Ward accumulated 28 points as she also won the cricket ball throw at a distance of 15m but had the second fastest time of 10:00 in the 50m.
Jahzaria Ward of St Elizabeth leapt 1.46m to set a new record in the under-seven girls’ standing broad jump.
Keiron Haynes was the best among the under-11 boys with 23 points representing St Ambrose Primary. He won the 100m and 200m in 14.62 and 30.65 respectively but came sixth in the 400m.
Meanwhile in the under-13 division, Darielle Taitt put in a commendable effort for St James Primary’s girls who were on a quest to defend their title but fell short. Taitt finished with 28 points that resulted from winning both the 100m in 14.42 and the 200m in 29.98. She got more points by finishing second fastest in the 400m with a time of 1:12.13 behind Adamson’s 1:08.96. Jamari Benn of Half Moon Fort ended with 24 points after winning the 200m in 29.15 and the cricket ball throw at a massive 50.10m.
Darielle Taitt of St James Primary won her heat of the under-13 girls 400m.
When it came down to the relays St James Primary ran away with three wins in the under-nine girls 4X100m and both the boys and girls 800m-sprint medley. St Mark’s won both the under-11 and under-13 girls 4X100m relays. Meanwhile the other relays were shared one each among Boscobel winning the under-nine boys 4x100m, St Ambrose in the under-11 boys 4x100m and Workmans Primary took the under-13 boys 4x100m.
Shatori Eversley (left) of St Bernard’s Primary dips at the line to win his heat of the under-13 boys 100m.