The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE winning streak is over for the CR Walker Knights.

After dominating the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association’s Senior High School Track and Field Championships for a decade, the Knights’ bid for their 11th straight win was ruined by the CV Bethel Stingrays and coach Rupert Gardiner.

In a hard-fought battle over the past two days at the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium, the Stingrays built on their 33-point margin at the end of Thursday’s competition to finish with a 63-point margin yesterday as they compiled a total of 631.50 points to dethrone the Knights, who could only muster 568.50 for second place.

The Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins improved on their first day fifth-place finish to take third place with 290. The Anatol Rodgers Wolverines remained in fourth with 268, while the CI Gibson Rattlers climbed from sixth to a fifth-place tie with 267 with the CC Sweeting Cobras, who dropped all the way from third after day one.

The RM Bailey Pacers (214) and the Government High Magic (194) remained in seventh and eighth respectively.

For CV Bethel, it was their first taste of victory and a GSSSA record three for Gardiner, who won seven titles as a coach at CC Sweeting and another one at RM Bailey before he was transferred four years ago, the first to do it coaching at three different schools.

“It feels good. I expected it. We worked hard. I told you that we were going to win this one,” said Gardiner, who came back just in time from coaching the Bahamas team at the IAAF 15th World Indoor Championships in Sopot, Poland. “It’s a long time. I said it would take four years, but we are looking to go back-to-back as champions. I’m not saying that we are going for a dynasty, but we will win another one.”

CV Bethel and CR Walker split the four divisions, with the Stingrays walking away with the under-28 (intermediate) girls with 164 points and the under-18 (intermediate) boys with 144 1/2, while the Knights captured the under-20 (senior) girls with 211 and the under-20 (senior) boys with 167.

CR Walker’s coach Floyd Armbrister conceded defeat, noting that they lost “square and fair, hands down”.

But he noted that even though Gardiner and his Stingrays won the victory, his Knights won the battle as they were able to bring out more of their student population in the stands in their red T-shirts as opposed to the lime green of their rivals.

“It was a blessing in disguise that they came out in such large numbers to watch us fight this battle,” Armbrister said. “It’s always good to have bragging rights, but it’s also good to have the kids come out in a positive environment like this to cheer on their team. We made CV Bethel bring out their fans too.”

Armbrister congratulated Gardiner and the Stingrays.

“They won by points. They deserved the victory,” he said. “It’s a little sad that we came out on the short end of the stick. But we are the second best tam in the GSSSA. We had a sweet ride and it’s over for now. But all they did was wake up a sleeping giant. After winning for so long, you can complacent. We just have to go back and build the team over from scratch.”

• For more local sports, see pages 43-46.