The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

ADD another title to the legacy of the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine track and field dynasty as they surged to a 26th consecutive Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools Track and Field Championship.

With a final score of 1,399.33 points, they finished more than 155 points ahead of perennial second place finishers, the Queen’s College Comets (1,244 points).

The St Anne’s Blue Waves were third with 442 points, St John’s College Giants were fourth with 413.70 points and the Nassau Christian Academy Crusaders closed out the top five with 283 points.

The St Andrew’s Hurricanes finished sixth with 281.50 points, Temple Christian Suns seventh with 150.50 points, Jordan Prince William Falcons eighth with 150 points, Aquinas College Aces ninth with 133 points and the Charles W Saunders Cougars at No. 10 with 75.50 points.

The remainder of the field included the Kingsway Academy Saints with 71 points, Bahamas Academy Stars with 48 points and Westminster College Diplomats with 38 points.

The final day of competition Friday afternoon produced a trio of record-breaking relay performances by the Big Red Machine relay teams led by the senior boys.

In the 4x100m relay, they set a new meet record in a time of 41.96s and in the 4x400m they finished in a record time of 3:20.41s.

The junior girls set a new record in the 4x400m relay in 4:03.10s.

On the CARIFTA qualifying front, both SAC’s Drashanae Rolle and the Comets’ Charisma Taylor surpassed the standard in the intermediate girls’ 300m hurdles. Rolle added to her 400m title and finished first in 43.99s while Taylor was second in 44.47s.

In the senior girls’ 200m, the Big Red Machine’s Kianna Albury completed the sprint and made the CARIFTA standard in a time of 24.38s.

A total of 14 BAISS records were broken over the course of the three-day meet with many of the standout performances coming in the field.

An eventful day one was highlighted when a pair of 17-year old meet records fell in the field in the intermediate boys’ division.

Tamar Greene of Queen’s College surpassed the previous mark of 14.45m set by Olympic bronze medallist Leevan “Superman” Sands in 1997. Greene leapt to first place with a jump of 14.57m.

In the discus, both Big Red Machine teammates - first place finisher Adrian Grant and second place finisher Perry Adderley - surpassed the record-setting throw of 39 metres set by Kyle Darville in 1997. Grant won with a throw of 39.25m while Adderley was second with

39.19m.

On the track, a quartet of Big Red Machine quartermilers set new records in the 400m as Kinard Rolle, Doniesha Anderson and Drashanae Rolle defended their titles and were joined by newcomer Megan Moss in the winner’s circle.

Moss set a new record in the bantam girls’ event in a time of 1:00.99s, ahead of the time of 1:02.33s set by Azariah Miller in 2005.

Anderson won the junior girls’ event for the second consecutive year and finished in 57.28s to surpass her own mark of 57.96s set last year.

Rolle also took first in the intermediate girls’ division for the second consecutive year with a first place finish in 57.00s. She surpassed the mark of 57.06s set by Shaunae Miller in 2010.

Kinard Rolle carried over his winning ways from the intermediate boys’ division last year with a first place finish in his senior debut. His time of 48.64s in the senior boys’ event broke the four-year old mark of 48.71s set by Nejmi Burnside in 2010.

On day two, St Augustine’s fielded four of the five record breakers.

Tamar Greene was the highlight of the meet on day two with his second record-breaking performance in as many days. He returned to the pit to set a new mark in the long jump. His winning leap of 6.64m surpassed the previous mark of 6.57m, set by Trae Carey in 2011.

It also easily surpassed the CARIFTA qualifying standard of 6.40m.

Perry Adderley was edged out by teammate Adrian Grant in the intermediate boys’ discus on day one, but returned to take first place over Grant and set a new meet record in the shot put.

Adderley’s throw of 15.15m erased the 16-year-old mark set by former Canadian Football League offensive lineman, Godfrey Ellis, in 1998. Adderley also attained the qualifying standard of 14.10m.

In the senior boys’ javelin, Denzel Pratt easily extended his own meet record set last year. Pratt finished first with a throw of 64.20m, well ahead of the 57.63m he threw in 2013.

In the senior girls’ long jump, the Comets’ Taryn Rolle broke the nine-year-old record of 5.58m set by Olympian Bianca Stuart in 2005 and finished first with 5.62m.

In the bantam girls’ shot put, Brianna Stevens of Jordan Prince William blew away the competition with her throw of 9.40m and surpassed the record of 8.88m set last year by Ramona Hanna.

“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,” Big Red Machine head coach William Johnson said.

“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 go out there and show it like we’ve done for the past 26 years.”