The Tribune

By Tenajh Sweeting

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

The C.R. Walker Knights brought home their seventh straight Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) track and field championship.

The Knights remained atop team rankings for the entire meet and ended with a team score of 557 to wrap up the competition.

The C.V. Bethel Stingrays capped off the inter-school competition a mere 63 points behind the defending champions with 494 for second place.

The Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins claimed third place position with 325.50, barely edging out the C.I. Gibson Rattlers and R.M. Bailey Pacers.

The difference between third through fifth place was no more than one point after the competitive track and field championships.

Tia Rolle, head coach of the Knights, talked about what led to their seventh straight GSSSA win.

“In the sprint race we did not dominate, C.V. Bethel actually dominated that event they wasn’t watching us on the field because we actually dominate the field events,” Rolle said.

Rolle credited the all-around competitiveness of the Knights’ athletes which led to them to winning in track and field events. “When you want to compete in GSSSA you have to be an all-around team, you have to compete in every event, that’s what matters, it has to be track and field it cannot be just the track,” she added.

Rolle’s message was received by the Knights’ athletes as they were able to emerge victorious in a number of field events on the final day of the track and field championships.

For the under 17 boys’ triple jump, D’Jino Alteme placed first with a jump of 12.17m. He was followed by Stingrays’ Calvin Armbrister who jumped 11.98m. Third place in the event belonged to the Rattlers’ Ferdinand Jean-Noel who notched 11.82m.

The Knights snatched another victory in the under 17 boys’ discus throw. Deangelo Delancy was the event’s best thrower with a throwing distance of 29.59m. Delancy was joined by C.V. Bethel’s Leo Bannister who tossed 27.47m. Perry Mcphee came third with 26.62m.

After trailing by 65 points going into the final day of the GSSSA meet, the Stingrays looked to make up some ground on the track.

In the under 17 girls’ 200m dash, C.V. Bethel’s Iesha Hanna blitzed the competitors to win with a time of 26.75. She was joined by fellow Stingray Katranel Dean who claimed second place with a time of 27.09. The pair of Stingrays beat the Knights’ Gabrielle Major who finished the short distance race in third.

The Stingrays’ athletes Hanna and Dean both said it felt amazing to place first and second respectively for their secondary school.

Dean revealed her mindset while competing in the race.

“I was just thinking to myself I have to push and get off the curve and keep going straight through and give it all I have,” she said.

The Stingrays were once again crowned winners in both the under 17 girls 400m hurdles and the under 20 400m hurdles. For the under 17 girls, Synia Lockhart came first for the senior school after clocking 1:16.54 in the race. She was joined by teammate Darranique Morris who followed behind with 1:19.73. The Stingrays were able to hold off Knights’ athlete Garanae Moss, who came third.

Marquell Newbold, winner of the under 20 girls’ 400m hurdles, beat her competitors with a time of 1:17.27. She was joined by C.R. Walker’s Hope Munnings and fellow Stingray Zaria Fowler, who placed second and third.

Stingrays’ head coach Danny Pratt said he was very impressed with the way his athletes competed in this year’s track and field championships.

The head coach also talked about how it felt to place second on the final day of the meet.

“We were trying to get to first place but obviously C.R. Walker proved once again to be the dominant force so coming second we are proud, second is way better than third,” Pratt added.

The Mystic Marlins were a dark horse competitor after climbing the team rankings from as low as fifth place to claim third place position on the final day of the track and field meet.

In the under 20 boys’ 200m finals, Terrance Deveaux of the Mystic Marlins narrowly edged out his competitors to capture first place in a tight race. The young athlete ran a time of 22.42. The Government High School’s Peter Tilusnord was not far behind, finishing second with 22.46.

C.C. Sweeting’s Rayheem Robinson came third, notching a time of 22.76.

Deveaux talked about how it felt to win the race.

“It was a good race. I [have] trained with him a couple of times before so coming off the curve to the 120 I saw he tried to pull away I just stayed relax, maintained and listened to what my coach said,” he said.

The Mystic Marlins emerged victorious once again in the under 20 boys’ 800m finals.

Raywind Winder added more points to the team total after clocking 1:59.92 to win the race.

GHS’ Lexicio Adderley came in second after notching 2:06:02.

Meanwhile, Charles Maynard placed third in the race with 2:08.88.

Despite dropping out of third place overall, the R.M. Bailey Pacers had some bright spots on the final day of the GSSSA track and field championships.

Pacers’ Melvinique Gibson paced herself to several wins on day three of the meet.

Gibson blitzed the competition in the under 20 girls’ 200m dash. The young athlete coasted to a victory in the race after running a time of 25.28. She was joined by second and third place finishers Marquell Newbold and Deamia Bowe.

Gibson made some noise once again in the under 20 girls’ 4x400m relay finals. She gave her team a huge gap between the competition after running the second leg in the race.

The winning relay team included Laquay Kemp, Melvinique Gibson, Danisha Green and Domonique Smith.

The under 20 girls notched a collective time of 4:35.75 to edge out competitors.

The young Pacer talked about the win.

“It basically feels good, not just only me but me and my team, we did it as a team so everyone put their best foot forward and we did what we were supposed to do and God pulled through for us once again,” she said.

Gibson was not the only star for the Pacers as Finley Etienne came out on top in the under 17 boys’ 200m dash with a time of 23.40. The young athlete was among the meet’s leading individual scorers, pouring in 31 points for the Pacers.

After a competitive meet between the eight senior schools, the Knights will now look to celebrate their seventh straight GSSSA track and field championships win.