The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE top primary school track and field athletes in the country are making the most of their opportunity to showcase their skills and compete at the national level.

The 34th annual Frank "Pancho" Rahming National Primary Schools Track and Field Championships got underway yesterday at the original Thomas A Robinson stadium.

The meet has no overall champion, but several athletes delivered standout performances on day one which included several finals in the field, middle distances and 4x100m relays.

In the Girls' Open category, the Queen's College Comets' team of Sara Hepburn, Lanique Thompson, G'Shan Brown and Nia Richards took first place in 55.90 seconds.

It was a busy afternoon for Thompson, who also took first place in the Girls' B High Jump with a leap of 1.30m and was the top qualifier in the 200m prelims in 28.35.

Temple Christian Suns' team of Hailey Robinson, Tedvanique Bethel, Nya Wright and Kendrea Munroe finished second in 56.09.

Bethel showed her versatile skill set with a gold medal in the Girls' A Long Jump with a mark of 3.97 while Robinson won silver behind Thompson in the Girls' B Long Jump and was the second fastest qualifier in the 200m.

Cleveland Eneas Primary finished third in 54.53 with the team of Bianca Rolle, Sherneka Willans, Zaria Fowler and Shawnette Florent.

In the Boys' Open 4x100m, Central Abaco's quartet of Clinton Laguerre, Lovevinsky Tageny, Isaiah Baptiste and James Delia took first in 51.25.

Delia also won gold in the Boys' A Shot Put, well ahead of the field with a throw of 11.13m.

Temple Christian's Ryan Ferguson, Matthew Chandler, Jayden Miller and Michael Cartwright was second in 52.49 and the Columbus Primary team of Carlos Brown, Garrad Rolle, Gilbert Gibson and Keith Forbes was third in 54.01.

In the Girls' B 1,200m, Jasmine Mackey of Yellow Elder Primary won gold in 4:18.90, followed by Chinara Grant of St Anne's School in 4:33.00 and Lilly Comarcho of Queen's College was third in 4:38.74.

In the Boys' B 1,200m, Rajah Rolle of Tabernacle Baptist was the gold-medal winner in 4:15.46.

Bender Termius of Freeport Primary was second in 4:16.26 and Breck Kemp (home schooled) was third in 4:23.51.

All other day one finals were contested in the field. Alana Clarke of St Andrew's School won the Girls' C Softball Throw with her mark of 27.55m. Kamera Strachan of Andros Primary was second at 27.37m and Diamond Newbold of Cleveland Eneas was third at 23.18m.

Rohan Culmer of Temple Christian won the Boys' B Ball Throw with his toss of 43.50m, followed by Sebastian Walcott of Genesis Academy (40.46m) and Kristian Mondesier (39.35m).

Temple Christian recorded another win in the field with Demian Brice's first place leap in the Long Jump at 3.70m. Patrick Bethel was second at 3.32m and Keanu Thurston of Cleveland Eneas was third at 3.29m.

Over 700 hundred athletes from more than 30 schools are participating in this year's event.

The three-day meet, organised jointly by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, traditionally honours Rahming, who started the event to shed the spotlight on the young rising stars.

Medals are presented to the first three finishers in each event and ribbons are distributed to all of the finalists.

The meet is scheduled to continue 9am today with finals in the field in the Boys' B High Jump, Boys C Softball Throw, Boys A Triple Jump and Girls A Shot Put.

The track will feature prelims of both the 100m and 400m.