BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – TWO gold medals in the javelin have put the Gingerland Secondary School in the lead after day one of the TDC/Coca-Cola/LIME Interschool Championships.
As expected, the Nevis school came to St. Kitts yesterday (Mar. 19) to show their dominance in the field events and did just that when Iyana Dore took the school’s first gold medal of the competition in the U-16 Girls Javelin with a throw of 23.98m.
She was followed closely behind in that event by teammate Marlencia Hanley, who had a throw of 22.34m, while Sandy Point High School picked up the bronze medal thanks to Steadricia Williams.
Gingerland’s second gold medal of the day came from the Carifta qualified Adrian Williams, who threw a whopping 56.48m that wowed the crowd at the Silver Jubilee Anniversary Stadium. The Nevisian pace bowler has been consistently throwing in the mid-to-high fifties range since trying his hand at track and field this year and seems almost certain to take a medal, if not a gold, at this year’s Carifta Games in the Cayman Islands.
Williams’ closest competition came from the Verchilds High School in the form of J’Anthon Sillidy, who claimed the silver medal with a throw of 44.80m. Washington Archibald High School’s Daren Hobson picked up the bronze in the event with his throw of 41.60m.
Though Gingerland led at the end of the first day of competition, they were trailed closely behind by the reigning Interschool Champion, Sandy Point High School, who has two gold and two bronze medals.
The golds for Sandy Point came from Krystal Liburd in the U-14 Girls Long Jump when she obtained a distance of 4.84m and from Queneala Bradshaw in the Girls Open Triple Jump after she leaped to a mark of 10.39m.
Sandy Point rivals Basseterre High School also finished the first day of competition with two gold medals, but only had one bronze, thus putting them in third place overall.
Dahjal Maloney claimed Basseterre’s first gold in the U-14 Boys Long Jump with a distance of 5.48m, while Shaniece Murraine picked up the second in the U-16 Girls High Jump when she cleared a height of 1.55m
Verchilds High School currently holds fourth position overall after winning one gold, two silvers and two bronzes—the most medals won by any school on the first day of competition. Charlestown Secondary School and the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College each picked up on gold medal yesterday as well to round out the top six positions, respectively.
The moderate sized crowd at the stadium also witnessed a sneak peak of the 400m as preliminary heats in that event were held. Overall, the groundwork was laid for what is shaping up to be a very exciting Interschool Championships this year.
Full results for every event can be obtained by visiting www.sknaaa.com/results/interschool2010/.
Following the sporting events, the march past of the athletes and an opening ceremony for the games were held.
The crowd was then abuzz with excitement as they were treated to the AquaVita Cheerleading Competition, which the Washington Archibald High School won yet again.
Action at the Silver Jubilee Anniversary Stadium continues today (Mar. 20) beginning at 2 p.m. with a number of field events, as well as the 200m, 400m, 800m and 4x100m relays among other exciting events.
