BASSETEREE, St. Kitts – FOLLOWING back-to-back weekends of exciting track and field competitions among the primary and secondary schools in St. Kitts and Nevis, the results were surprising to some individuals, because of their choice of winners, during the championships that saw 48 new records at the Silver Jubilee Stadium.
Washington Archibald High School (WAHS) were the victors over the weekend March 25-27 when they dethroned longtime champions Charles E Mills Secondary (formerly Sandy Point High) at the 33rd edition of the TDC/Coca-Cola Inter-School Championships.
WAHS finished at the top of the medal count with 18 gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze medals to push Verchilds High School into second spot with 16 gold, 10 silver and 16 bronze, while Charles E. Mills Secondary copped 15 gold, 14 silver and 18 bronze medals.
A total of 29 records were broken during that meet.
The RAM ‘s Primary School Track and Field Championships took place last weekend (April 1-3) at the Silver Jubilee Stadium, in which 21 schools participated.
This meet also had a surprising outcome for some patrons who turned up at the Stadium with the expectation of seeing Cayon retaining the title, but that was not the case because St. Paul’s pulled off a landslide victory with a 12-medal haul.
This total doubled the amount of gold medals won by second place holders Tyrell Williams Primary, which, according to reports, is the first time such wide victory margin was recorded in the history of the meet.
The young athletes’ impressive performance resulted in 19 records being broken.
Unlike past championships, last year the St. Kitts-Nevis Amateur Athletic Association (SKNAAA) had decided that only gold medals would determine the winners.
“One has to be reminded that the champion is determined by which school wins the most gold medals only, and schools are looking at events where they can win the gold. We’ve seen where schools have requested the results from last year’s competition to see where they fell short so that they can see where they can improve on for this year,” an official told SKNVibes days before this year’s championships.
Speaking with SKNVibes, SKNAAA’s Public Relations Officer Evris Huggins said this year’s championships had seen the most records broken for the meets.
“It was an outstanding performance by all the athletes from both the primary and secondary levels. This year we witness a lot more schools strategising to become champions. From my own investigations, I’ve seen more preparations in the camps, and that is something that the SKNAAA fully endorses…it was clearly proven on the tracks when those records were broken,” Huggins said.
According to Huggins, some of the more notable records were the Junior Boys 100m, 200m and 400m which were broken by Corey Francis.
“I chose to expound on Francis because when I revised the previous 400m record, which was at the time of 55:64, he was able to eclipse that record by almost three seconds. What’s amazing is that this young man came through the SKNAAA youth programme, and to be able to shave a sprint record by three seconds really speaks volumes of the progress and the development of one of the athletes,” the PRO explained.
That record now stands at 52:81.
Huggins was also in high praise of Adrian Williams, the defending CARIFTA Games gold medalist in the Under-17 boys Javelin, who had a throw that not only surpassed his personal best, but also the existing CARIFTA Games record.
“Providing that Adrian goes off to Jamaica for the CARIFTA Games in a few weeks and throw that distance, he would be the first record holder by any athletes from St. Kitts and Nevis at the games. This is something that we are extremely excited about,” Huggins said.
There were also some outstanding records at the primary schools meet as well, Huggins noted.
“One of the most outstanding performances at that meet was Shaniece Elliot of the Tyrell Williams Primary who broke three records…the long jump, the 100 and 200m. When one compares her performance with the Under-15 category for the high schools, she would have been guaranteed a medal if competing at that level,” the SKNAAA official said.
The PRO said that the association was pleased with the hosting of the two meets and that they were the most successful championships held in recent times.
