BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE TDC/Coca-Cola Interschool Championships are less than a month away and both the Basseterre and Cayon High Schools will be giving the public a preview of their talent pool tomorrow (Feb. 25) as they hold their respective Sports Days.
While fans and coaches will be forced to split their attention between the simultaneous events, both schools have promised that the competition would be very close between the Houses.
According to the Head of the Sports Department at Cayon High School, Basil Williams, many of the school’s athletes have been showing promise in the pre-sports events.
“We are expecting it to be very competitive based on what we have been seeing through pre-sports. There is going to be a change from what we have seen in the past two years. Green House used to dominate, but now they are in last and Red is leading in pre-sports,” Williams told SKNVibes.
Stating that many of the school’s top athletes are “spread evenly among the Houses”, Williams said it was unclear who would emerge victorious, though both Red and Gold House seemed to be positioned for the top spot.
Williams said that he fully expected the Class 1 athletes to perform well in the sprints, particularly Chelsey Phipps of Blue House and T-anna Simmons of Green House, as school continues to rebuild its overall team for Interschools.
He also noted that Shkola Wilson of Gold House is going to be the athlete to beat in the distance races, as she has been the consistent leader in pre-sports. For the field events, Williams said the crowd should keep an eye on Blue House’s Dajour Richards and Red House’s Geval Woods.
With the track reportedly in “very good shape”, Williams said he believes the only thing that could prevent the athletes from potentially breaking school records tomorrow would be strong winds, which can affect the sprints at the Cayon grounds.
Meanwhile in Basseterre, Coach Alexis Morris said that this year’s Sports Day could be one of the most keenly contested in recent times.
“This year would have been one of the toughest years. In previous years gone, Red House would have gone into Sports Day like 300 points down, but this year the race is very close. Blue House still continues to dominate going into Sports Day, but I must say that the points spread is not as wide as in previous years.
“Any house can definitely win it come Sports Day. It will go to the one that strategizes best and really wants it the most,” he told SKNVibes.
Morris said it was “no secret” that Basseterre had lost a large number of its top athletes in the past year and so he expects that the younger athletes are going to be the ones to watch tomorrow.
“The Class 4 100m will be a tight race. This is the new crop that has just come over, so we don’t know too much about them and I think that would be filled with a lot of excitement.
“I also think the Class 2 boys are going to be very competitive. They have all been competing well throughout the year and I think they are the ones who will bring the most on Sports Day,” Morris said.
Though Sports Day is important, Basseterre’s biggest focus is on regaining the Interschool Championship it very narrowly lost in 2009 to the Sandy Point High School.
“[Defeating Sandy Point at Interschools] would have been our goal from the start. Our real aim is winning the championship that slipped away from us last year. As soon as Sports Day is done we will put our heads together and get the best possible team for Basseterre.
“We are now looking at people like [800m specialist] Yannick Henderson to pull a lot of the weight. We also have a new junior athlete in the up-and-coming Shenella Mitchum, who we would definitely be looking to for some good things,” Morris said of the still rebuilding Basseterre team.
Both men said that they were disappointed to be holding their Sports Day simultaneously with the other school, but still encouraged the public to turn up in their numbers to support their favourite House in what promises to be an exciting exhibition.
