The Tribune

Photo Gallery

BAISS track and field championship

Photos: Austin Fernander

By TENAJH SWEETING

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

The Big Red Machine dominated to wrap up the 2023 Fidelity BAISS track and field championships. The secondary school led the inter-school competition for all three days of the meet and came first in team rankings with a score of 1,324.50.

The Queen’s College Comets put up a fight in their return to the BAISS championships but it was no match for the Big Red Machine.

The Comets ended the three day meet in second place with 1,152.50. Third place belonged to Temple Christian School (TCS) as they beat out St.John’s College for the third position with 451.50. SAC head coach Jason Edwards talked about the joy of winning the championship.

“It feels great knowing that these kids gave their all and we prepared and they came out here and executed,” Edwards said.

Day three of the BAISS track and field championships consisted of lots of relay action and more CARIFTA qualifiers.

Darvinique Dean and Yulianis Akompi of SAC qualified for the April games in the under 17 girls 400m hurdles. Dean also broke the former BAISS record of Lacarthea Cooper with her time of 1:04.08. SAC’s Clinton Laguerre joined his teammates as he and St Anne’s Berkley Munnings passed the qualifying time of 54.43 in the boys under 20 400m hurdles.

In the under 12 girls 4x100 metre relay, QC blitzed their way to a first place victory with a time of 54.94. The girls’ team consisted of Malaya Gordon, Rocelis Moxey, Azalia Henderson, and Cierra Delancy. The SAC relay team followed behind with a time of 55.90. Aquinas College placed third with 1:00.85.

The Comets out ran the competition in the under 15 girls’ 4x100m relay. The relay team edged out the competition with a time of 50.62. The Big Red Machine notched a second place finish with 51.74 and TCS placed third clocking 52.75 .

TCS beat both SAC and the Comets for a first place finish in the under 15 girls’ 4x400m relay. The first place team ran a time of 4:26.99. The Comets followed behind with 4:39.76 and SAC finished in third with 4:42.78.

Head coach of TCS Kenya Culmer praised the efforts of her athletes after placing third in overall team rankings. “I feel extremely proud of all my athletes, they really came out here and they worked hard, they were great competitors and they left everything on the track,” Culmer said.

The efforts of the TCS athletes did not go unnoticed as they were first place winners in the under 20 girls 400m hurdles, under 17 boys 800m run, and under 15 girls 800m run.

Breyteisha Kemp brought home the victory for TCS in the under 15 800m run with a time of 2:30.19.

Kemp was very impressed with the first place finish. “I did feel good about myself because I knew I was gonna win,”Kemp said.

In more relay action, SAC athletes dominated in the races, winning three consecutive relays at the track and field championships.

The Big Red Machine emerged victorious in the under 20 girls’ 4x100m relay. The girls’ team consisted of Zaria Stapleton, Amari Pratt, Katia Archer, and Nya Wright who notched a time of 46.75. QC and Kingsway Academy finished in second and third respectively.

SAC also won in the under 17 girls 4x400m relay clocking a time of 4:07.36. QC followed behind in second place with 4:35.08. Aquinas College came third with 4:35.08.

The under 20 boys 4x400m finals saw the SAC relay team notch another first place finish. Alexis Brown, Morgan Moss, Johnathon Fowler and Clinton Laguerre stole the show in the meet’s final race. The team clocked a time of 3:25.20.

Johnathon Fowler, winner of under 20 boys 200m dash, talked about the relay team’s strategy in the race.

“Coming into the finals I know we just had to have clean exchanges,” Fowler said.

The strategy seemed to work as The Big Red Machine emerged as winners in 10 relay finals on the final day of the track and field championships.

The Comets earned their team points outside of relay action.

In the girls under 13 200m dash, Rocelis Moxey outran competitors for a first place win. Khyla Smith came in second place clocking a time of 28.51. The Comets’ Azalia Henderson placed third with 29.00.

Moxey was among the star athletes of the 2023 track and field championships.

The young athlete broke the BAISS shot put record for the under 13 girls and brought home first place finishes for QC.

Moxey talked about how it felt to be victorious in the finals.

“I feel happy. I was very nervous at first cause I was running races back to back but I got this and listened to my coach’s advice,” Moxey said.

The Comets placed first in the under 13 girls’ 800m run with Cierra Delancy clocking a time of 2:47.81. She was joined by her teammate Angel Culmer who placed second. The pair of Comets were joined by Big Red Machine’s Malaya Pratt for third place.

The final day of the track meet saw the likes of current and former Bahamian athletes Devynne Charlton and Pauline Davis-Thompson in attendance.

Charlton talked about how proud she felt about SAC school pride at the meet. “I feel super proud we had such a legacy when I was in school. I think we kind of lost it a bit but from what I am seeing we are back on top and it’s just a good feeling,” Charlton said.

Athletes who qualified for CARIFTA will hope to take momentum gained at the 2023 BAISS track and field championships into April’s games.