NATION NEWS

St Alban's and Ellerton on top
Published on: 3/8/07.

by KIRK CORBIN

ST ALBAN'S PRIMARY and Ellerton Primary swapped division titles in Zone Two of the Barbados National Bank/Frutee/Tiger Malt National Primary Schools' Athletics Championships when the action continued at the National Stadium yesterday.

On a day of several enthralling finishes and three new records, St Alban's won the girls' division, with Ellerton finishing second; while the top two positions were reversed for the boys.

St Alban's ended with 636.5 points to capture the girls' title, with Ellerton a distant second on 568, ten more than third-placed St Silas Primary.

The Ellerton boys were even more rampant, tallying 668.5 points, 183 clear of St Alban's, who had 485.5, while last year's winners Selah were third on 455.

St Alban's boasted three divisional champions in victrix ludorum Sasha Mayers, Mesha Pierre and Leon Gill.

Mayers topped the Under-9s with 80 points, winning the 80 metres, 100 metres and 150 metres, and the long jump. Her leap of 3.14 metres shattered the old mark of 2.95 metres.

Pierre was the top Under-13 girl, while Gill won the Under-13 Boys' division.

The Ellerton lads were led by the efforts of Jhavid Forde and Shaquille Goodridge who captured the Under-9 and Under-11 divisions, respectively, while Tia-Adana Belle claimed the Open Division crown.

However, they had to make way in the spotlight for Joshua Walcott, who was impressive in winning the victor ludorum title. Walcott topped the Open division with 80 points, after slamming the field in all the sprints and the 800 metres.

He also accounted for two of the three records broken yesterday. His time of 62.56 seconds in the 400 metres replaced the old record of 63.30 seconds, and he shaved nearly three seconds off the old 800 metres record of 2:33.60, finishing in 2:29.15 minutes.

Division Champions

Under-7 Girls: Deandra Clarke (Selah) 35 points

Under-7 Boys: Akeem Boucher (Welches) 52

Under-9 Girls: Sasha Mayers (St Alban's) 80

Under-9 Boys: Jhavid Forde (Ellerton) 68

Under-11 Girls: Shamica Haynes (St Silas) 66

Under-11 Boys: Shaquille Goodridge (Ellerton) 70

Under-13 Girls: Mesha Pierre (St Alban's) 62

Under-13 Boys: Leon Gill (St Alban's) 62

Open Girls: Tia-Adana Belle (Ellerton) 20

Open Boys: Joshua Walcott (Welches) 80

Victrix ludorum: Sasha Mayers

Victor ludorum: Joshua Walcott