The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ONE week after relinquishing their Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools track and field title to the Queen’s College Comets, the St Augustine’s College regained their winning formula as they dominated the BTC/ScotiaBank National Track and Field Championships.

At the end of the three-day meet in the new Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium, the ‘Big Red Machine’ rolled out with six of the divisional titles to finish with a total of 957.50 points. The Comets ended up with 813.50, while Grand Bahama’s Tabernacle Baptist Academy got 317.50 and Bishop Michael Eldon Warriors had 280.50. North Andros High turned out to be the big surprise, collecting 273.166 to hold off the CR Walker Knights, who had 243.

Unlike the BAISS or the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association, in which the Knights had to play second fiddle to the CV Bethel Stingrays, no overall champion was decided. Instead, the teams competed for the divisional titles where the SAC compiled their points.

SAC won the under-14 boys and girls, the under-16 boys and girls and the under-20 boys and girls. They missed out in a complete sweep of all of the divisions, losing the under-18 boys and girls to the Comets.

But regardless of losing those divisions, SAC’s head coach William ‘Knucklehead’ Johnson said it was still sweet to come back after the devastating loss to Queen’s College to produce the type of performance that they did on a much bigger scale.

“It’s really good to bounce back and in a sense, redeem yourself and to do it on a national stage, I thought that was big,” Johnson said. “We had to compete against over 50 schools and more than 1,800 athletes, so everyone had someone who could do something. But this was what the doctor ordered for us to get over the headache of losing to Queen’s College last week.”

Johnson thanked SAC’s Alumni Association and the Parents Teachers Association for coming together on Wednesday by holding a pep rally to motivate the athletes.

“Sometimes a loss could be good if you put it in the proper perspectives and learn some things from it,” he said. “I honestly think that over the years, when you would have won 26 straight BAISS titles, it’s easy for you to become complacent because while the competitors are looking at how to beat you, you just go on like its business as usual.

“But as coaches, it’s our job to get the athletes ready and I think our staff did a good job in doing that after the BAISS Championships. I think they woke up the sleeping giant in us. We just did all the things that we needed to do to be successful and we achieved that goal.”

Despite the fact that the BAISS loss was a bitter pill to sallow, Johnson said winning the way they did over the weekend at the Nationals was ever sweeter because it is the meet where they compete against so many athletes from all over the country.

“Our kids rose to the challenge and we came out with blood in our eyes because we knew that the country was watching,” Johnson stressed.

And The Big Red Machine put an exclamation mark on their performance by pulling the curtains down on the meet by winning the under-20 boys 4 x 400 metres relay in three minutes, 19.46 seconds over St. John’s (3:19.80) and Moores Island (3:24.26).

The victory came right after SAC took the senior girls 4 x 400m race in 3:50.22 with Queen’s College coming in second in 3:54.10 and St John’s College in third in 4:06.64.

Individually, one of the key factors for the Big Red Machine was Keianna Albury. After not competing in the BAISS Championships, Albury pulled off a double victory in the under-20 girls sprints. She sped to victory in the 100m in 11.93 seconds over QC’s Janae Ambrose (11.97) and St. John’s Alexis Gray (12.32). Albury also stopped the clock at 24.05 seconds in the 200m, beating Ambrose (24.23) and Doneisha Anderson, who added some points for SAC, third in 24.48.

Anderson, moving up from the under-16 division for some competition, ran away with the 400m in 56.01 seconds. Her teammate, Drashanae Rolle, was second in 56.86 and Mesha Newbold of QC got third in 57.32.

Albury also won the shot put with a heave of 11.07m (36ft 4in), holding of Zhizell McKenzie, who did 10.63m and Anatol Rodgers’ Tahjnee Thurston, who was third with 10.39m (34ft 1 1/2in). Albury, however, got second in the long jump with 5.41m (17ft 9in). QC’s Andira Ferguson won with 5.63m (18ft 5 3/4in) and SAC’s Taj Dorsett took third with 5.37m (17ft 7 1/2in).

Another outstanding performance came from Xavier Coakley from SAC in the under-20 boys division. He won the 110m hurdles in 13.64 seconds from St John’s Aaron Ross (14.37) and CC Sweeting’s Hilton Rahming (15.15) as well as the 400m hurdles in 52.91 seconds with QC’s Travis Pratt second in 54.83.

Coakley also competed in the long jump, soaring 6.94m (22ft 9 1/4in) for second behind St John’s Darius Major, the winner in 6.95m (22ft 9 3/4in). Braithe Ferguson of CI Gibson got third with 6.09m (19ft 11 3/4-in).

Grand Bahama’s Javan Martin, of Taberacle Baptist, won the under-20 boys 100m in 10.75 seconds, while Moores Island’s Stephon Green was the winner of the 200m in 21.80. SAC’s Justin Pinder doubled up in the 400m in 49.52 and the 800m in 1min 59.53sec.

Tabernacle Baptist also won the under-18 boys sprints as Johnathon Smith took the 100m in 10.84 and the 200m in 21.88. Another double winner from Grand Bahama was Brianne Bethel of Sunland in the under-18 girls 100m in 11.95 and the 400m in 59.14.

QC’s Charisma Taylor took the under-18 girls 200m in 25.28, the 110m hurdles in 14.22 and the triple jump with 12.09m (39-08). Her team-mate Daejha Moss added the long jump (4.98m/16ft 4 1/4in) to her triumph in the high jump (1.65m/5ft 5in).

Godfrey Arthur Jr got some spotlight for the St Anne’s Bluewaves when he took the under-16 boys double in the 100m in 11.09 and the 200m in 22.77. And Nassau Christian Academy Crusaders also got some recognition, thanks to Edward Gayle’s victory in the 400m in 50.98.

Taernacle Baptist’s fantastic run was also extended as Kaylin Hewitt won the under-16 girls 100m in 12.42. St Anne’s Devine Parker joined Arthur on the podium by winning the 200m in 25.24; QC’s Brittni Fountain won the 400m in 58.00 and Grand Bahama’s Mary Star of the Sea’s DeAzure Nicolls stopped St Andrew’s Melina Andorra’s bid for a double win in the 800m. Nicolls won in 2min 30.85sec with Andorra (the 1,500m winner) getting second in 2:32.93.

And Tabernacle Baptist seemed to be the new home of the champion sprinters as Genique Bassett won the under-14 girls 100m in 13.01, only to finish third in the 200m in 27.10 behind the SAC’s Megan Moss (26.57) and Tyrse Sands (27.01).

Queen’s College dominated the under-14 boys division as Nathan Moss won the 100m (11.81), the 200m (24.19) and the long jump (5.35m/17ft 6 3/4in), while Ethan Hanna was the winner of the 400m (55.24) and Kendrick Major took the 800m in 2min 24.14sec.

Johnson said people can expect SAC’s principal Sonya Knowles and the rest of the staff to hold their own celebrations for the ‘Big Red Machine’ this week as they bounced back from losing their stranglehold of the BAISS title to dominate the nationals.