The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The longest standing streak in Bahamian high school sports history will look to extend its record-setting pace for another year as the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine look to claim their 26th consecutive victory in the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools’ Track and Field Championships.

One of the marquee meets on the high school calendar, the BAISS Championships are scheduled to begin 9am today at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium. The Big Red Machine is expected to be challenged by a number of schools, led by arch-rival Queen’s College Comets, who came up short in their upset bid last year.

A total of 14 schools have registered, including the Jordan Prince Williams Falcons, St Andrew’s Hurricanes, St Anne’s Bluewaves, St John’s Giants, Nassau Christian Academy Crusaders, Kingsway Academy Saints, Charles W Saunders Cougars, Westminster Diplomats, Temple Christian Suns and Bahamas Academy Stars.

BIg Red Machine head coach William Johnson said despite the growing competition from the field, he expects his team to retain their title and claim No. 26.

“As always we have a strong team. We have what I consider a winning team and exceptionally strong in some areas. Our athletes have worked hard, they are well prepared heading into this and we are confident, as always, that we have put in the work to get the job done over the course of the next three days. This year we have a very good senior boys team - on the track, in the throws, in the jumps, all around. We are also strong with our senior girls, junior girls, and down to our bantams.” 

While the Big Red Machine has been the most dominant force for more than two decades, Johnson has noted that the gap has closed in terms of talent level amongst the schools.

“We have 14 schools registered. A lot of people tend to look at it as QC and SAC, but I believe the other schools are beginning to make a move in being competitive. St Anne’s, St John’s, St Andrew’s and other schools have a number of athletes that are bright spots and are beginning to make some noise. We have won this for 25 years and the way we do that is we don’t discount anyone, we come prepared. Some of the other schools will make a difference, and it’s a great credit to them whether they win just an event or even a division, but we have the team to win, we just need to go out and execute.”

After winning by just 50 points in 2012, the Big Red Machine tripled their margin of victory of the Comets in 2013 to claim their 25th consecutive title at the conclusion of  the three-day meet.

SAC posted a total of 1,370.50 points, compared to the Comets’ 1,102.50. 

The St Anne’s Blue Waves were a distant third with 484.

SAC’s dominance was highlighted by their triumph in six of the eight divisions, inclusive of bantam girls (90), junior girls (200), intermediate girls (195), senior girls (252), bantam boys (87), intermediate boys (237) and senior boys (181).

The only division they lost was the intermediate boys to Queen’s College, who accumulated 177.50 to SAC’s 128.50. 

“We just hope to get off to a fast start on day one and hope to maintain our lead through the remaining two days. The meet is not won on paper. You have to get on the track and perform. There’s a lot of talks out there, but there has always been a lot of talks,” Johnson said.

“This year as in other years, sometimes people get fed up with winning, people like underdogs and there are a lot of people that would like to see us lose. I think a lot of coaches steer their athletes to other schools as opposed to SAC so there appears to be almost a concerted effort to see SAC fall, but we just have to go out there and show it like we’ve done for the past 25 years, and if we do that and show the respect for all of the teams and the athletes we are competing against, we should be back as champions. We know that it won’t be an easy feat to accomplish this year.”