The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The 29th National High School Track and Field Championships opened at Thomas A Robinson National Stadium with a morning session of finals in the field and highlighted by a night of sprint hurdle finals on the track.

The opening day saw one national record fall and a few athletes attain the qualifying standards for the upcoming CARIFTA Track and Field Championships.

Doniesha Anderson of the St Augustine’s Big Red Machine was the story on day one, with a new meet record in the U-20 Girls High Jump. Anderson leapt 1.70 to surpass the previous meet record of 1.67m set by Deaja Moss last year when Anderson was relegated to a second place finish. Her mark also easily surpassed the CARIFTA standard of 1.63m in the event.

Amina Forbes of St Andrew’s finished second at 1.47m and Samara Mitchell of QC was third at 1.42m.

The U-17 Boys Triple Jump produced a pair of CARIFTA qualifiers that surpassed the standard of 13.70m. The Big Red Machine’s Chima Johnson took first with a mark of 14.55m, followed by Latrell Taylor of Eight Mile Rock at 14.14m.

Grand Bahama schools got a top three finish in the U-15 Boys Shot Put as Kevin Seymour of Sister Mary had the best toss of 12.43m followed by Obrien Duncombe of Sir Jack Hayward at 12.21m and teammate Ashford Ferguson third with 11.30m.

In the U-17 Girls’ Discus, Tjasa Barr of SAC was first with a throw of 26.64m, followed by Kneisha McDonald of St John’s at 25.89m and Maranique Riley of CC Sweeting at 25.63m.

Kaylee Dixon of Queen’s College took the U-15 Girls Javelin with a toss of 21.41m followed by a pair of Big Red Machine teammates, Ann-Marie Oriakhi (21.09m) and Takiyah Holbert (21.01m). Oriakhi would go on to take the Shot Put at 11.29m.

SAC’s Mkayla White took first place in the U-17 Girls High Jump at 1.57m, followed by Erin Curtis of Bishop Michael Eldon (1.52m) and Damazvia Dames of Tabernacle Baptist (1.52m).

The Big Red Machine had another top finish in the throws with Dachye Stubbs’ toss of 30.88m in the U-20 Girls Discus. Tianna Carey of QC was second at 29.95m and Latavia Braynen of CI Gibson was third at 27.21m.

Michael Williams of Tabernacle Baptist won the U-20 Boys Shot Put at 13.18m.

In the Long Jump, Troynell Miller of Huntley Christie won the U-15 Girls event at 4.93m, Joshua Johnson of Sister Mary won the U-13 Boys at 5.09 and Devonte Smith of Tabernacle won the U-20 Boys at 6.46m. Huntley Christian produced another winner in the field with Keyshawn Strachan in the U-17 Boys Javelin with a throw of 52.50m. In other High Jump events, Madison Deveaux of Sunland Baptist won the U-13 Girls at 1.35m and Big Red Machine teammates Stephan Farquharson and Otto Laing finished first and second in the U-15 Boys High Jump, both at 1.67m.

SAC’s Adrian Curry continues to perform under the CARIFTA qualifying standard of 10.75secs in the U-20 Boys 100m. Curry finished first in 10.60secs, followed by teammate Joel Johnson in 10.79secs and Shaquiel Higgs of Tabernacle in 10.82 secs.

Big Red Machine teammates Jaida Knowles and Anthaya Charlton, like Curry, also continued to routinely surpassed the 12.50secs standard in the U-17 Girls 100m.

Knowles was first in 11.96secs and Charlton was second at 12.15secs. Kennedy Culmer of Sunland Baptist won the U-20 Girls in 12.06 secs, Stephanique Dean of Tabernacle won the U-15 Girls event in 12.53secs and Sarah Hepburn of Queen’s College took first in the U-13 Girls in 13.31 secs.

Kendal Culmer of Sunland Baptist won the U-17 Boys century in 11.07secs. Jamal Flowers of QC won the U-15 Boys in 11.36secs, SAC’s Otto Laing was second in 11.75secs and Mateo Smith of Tabernacle was third in 11.95secs. Malik Wood of Sunland won the U-13 Boys race in 12.73secs.

In the 400m, Wendira Moss of St. John’s just missed the CARIFTA standard of 56.58secs in the U-20 Girls event. Moss took first place in 56.71 secs. Marissa White of SAC was second in 57.22secs and Amber Tylor of Kingsway was third in 57.98secs.

Angel Pratt of QC took first place in the U-17 Girls race in 59.31secs. Comets teammates Shaunece Miller and Javonya Valcourt took a 1-2 finish in the U-15 Girls. Miller took first in 59.83secs and Valcourt was second in 59.89secs. Shatalya Dorsett of Sunland took first in the U-13 Girls in 1:05.65secs.

Correy Sherrod of Tabernacle took first in the U-20 Boys 400m in 49.73secs, Raymond Oriaki of SAC won the U-17 Boys event in 50.28secs, Deangelo McKie of Tabernacle won the U-15 Boys in 54.15secs and Cordae Strachan of Sunland won the U-13 Boys in 1:05.21 secs.

Back on the track, the 1,500m races were featured on opening day as well. In the U-15 Girls 1,500m, Sunland’s Akaya Lightbourne held on for the win in 5:21.04secs while Paulindo Boyer of St. John’s took the U-15 Boys race in 4:49.75 secs

In the Boys U-17, Omar Kelly of AF Adderley won in 4:53.39secs and Llanzita Chea of Queen’s College won in 5:26.36 secs. Fellow Comets teammate Jodie Ritchie won the Girls U-10 in 5:32.85 secs.

The meet continues this morning at 9amm at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium, with the opening ceremonies scheduled for 10am.

Rupert Gardiner, the meet coordinator, revealed that there will be a total of 67 schools, including 30 schools from Grand Bahama and the Family Islands.

“When we first started this meet we always crowned an overall champion and so we want to bring that excitement back,” said Gardiner about the overall results. “We will crown the overall champions based on all of the divisions and we will also have a junior and senior high champions because we know not all of the schools can compete in ll of the divisions.”

The meet will provide an incentive for the teams as the winners of the under-20 boys and girls 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 metre relays will get free accommodations to participate in the 124th Penn Relays, scheduled for April 26-28 in Philadelphia.