Only West Terrace Primary stand between Christ Church Girls’ and their fourth title today at the finals of the 2012 Pine Hill National Primary Schools Athletic Championships (NAPSAC) at the National Stadium.
And on the boys’ side, it will be a four-way battle between West Terrace, Charles F. Broome, Milton Lynch Primary and St Giles’.
Following the opening ceremony at 10 a.m. defending champions Christ Church Girls’ will be looking to stamp their authority from the very first event, the Girls’ 600 metres.
They have two of the top three times going into the final in Cheyanne Cummins with 1 minute 46.18 seconds and Charissa Moore with 1:51.49. Splitting them is Hill Top Preparatory’s Kendi Bynoe – who was recently selected to the CARIFTA swimming team – with 1:50.55.
Cummins and Moore will have to carry most of the workload for Christ Church, who have a lot of holes in the sprint events. If there can be any criticism it is that they haven’t done as much to start the rebuilding process at the bottom.
The 400 and 200m races with Cummins and Grazettes’ Shontae Cole are not to be missed.
To their credit, Christ Church Girls’ have six athletes in the field event finals and they also have teams in three of the four relays.
West Terrace also have some holes on the track in the longer events, but their runners are all potential winners in sprinters Skye Spencer-Layne, Xhane Greenidge and Leilani Haddock. They have four field finalists as well as two relay teams.
Hilda Skeene are a rebuilding side and most of their talent is in the Under-9 division, while Charles F. Broome have all of their relay teams but not enough athletes on the track.
An all-round effort or domination in one area is all that is needed to clinch the boys’ title and, at first glance, West Terrace seem to have the edge. On the track, they will rely heavily on Jamahl Burke and Ajani Haddock, but they also have eight field event finalists and are in three of the four relays.
Conversely, St Giles’ don’t have much sprint power but they will dominate the longer events. Their weakness is in the field and they have only two relay teams.
Four-time champions Charles F. Broome have six track finalists and seven in the field. Milton Lynch have seven track finalists, have qualified in three of the four relays and also have three in the field. Hillaby Turner’s Hall have too many holes on the track and no points coming in from the field to help them.
It may come down to the relays, where the gap can close quickly, and Charles F. Broome have that down to a science with some of the best baton passes.
The first event starts at 11 a.m.
