Green House were unstoppable for the third year in a row, building on their lunch-time lead to comfortably runaway with the Queen’s College Inter-House Track and Field Championships yesterday at the National Stadium.
Although the 1048 points were fewer than last year, they dismissed the late surge which saw Purple House jump from fourth to second with 981.5 points, overtaking Orange (951).
Yellow were fourth with 823.5 points, followed by Blue on 724 and Red on 644.
Green were fortunate to have some of the schools’ top female runners. With victrix ludorum Christanna McConney, Kiara Maynard and Crystal Holder in the line-up, they hardly missed Jessica Theobalds who was recovering from an injury. Unable to take part in the prelims, Theobalds played her part in the relays.
McConney picked up from where she left off at LT Gay, winning the Under-13 Girls’ 100 metres in 13.39 seconds (hand times) and the 200m in 27.05; both times pulling away from Orange’s Timeka Jordan (13.76; 27.60). She also won the high jump at 1.25m, and the long jump with 4.54m.
Maynard was dominant in the Under-15 division, doing the sprint double in 12.95 and 26.17 seconds. She also won the 400 in 66.17, but showed her worth in the 4×100 metres where she made a great run out of the pack, just finishing second on the anchor leg.
However, it was Alana Ince of Red who won the Under-15 division. Despite playing runner-up to Maynard in the 200 and 400, she won the 75m hurdles, 300m hurdles and long jump and was also third in the 100m.
Holder, injury free for the first time in a long time, won the 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500 metres as she works towards her goal of representing Barbados at the national level.
But it was the big boys who had tongues wagging in the highly anticipated Under-20 Boys’ sprints between Purple’s Raphael Jordan and Blue’s Ken Mason.
Jordan had the greater top end speed and won the 100 metres in 10.87 seconds, Mason second in 10.92. But over 200, Mason had the greater endurance winning in 20.08 seconds, leaving Jordan and Shakir Sandiford of Orange in a 22.54 dead heat. Mason also won the 400m in 50.26 seconds, pulling away from Yellow’s Jerome Stuart (50.48) to close it out.
Victor ludorum Dario Scantlebury of Purple House was forced to start his training late after he was ill last year, but he racked up 81 points for the title. He won the 100m hurdles; 400m hurdles; 200 (22.57) from housemate Kevin McCaskie (22.83) as well as the long jump, high jump and triple jump. Scantlebury was second in the 100m, beaten by McCaskie who then got hurt running into a competitor on the second leg of the 4×100 metres replay .
The Under-17 division was a straight fight between division champion Chereen Gibson and Ashley Bascombe, while Tre Hollingsworth won the Under-13 boys’ group.
One name to watch for is Orange’s Mawuli Marshall. He won the high jump at 1.55 metres and was also a handful on the track, winning the 300mh, 200 and 400 metres. He was second in the 100 and 80m hurdles and also picked up points in the discus and long jump.
