FOR ALL THE MARKS broken, the only record that counted was the one Cocks set straight.
Make that three in a row for Princess Margaret’s champion house as Red (Cocks) led from pillar to post on their way to winning their latest sports day championship yesterday at the National Stadium.
On a day where some 32 records fell, Cocks only accounted for five of them but still managed to hold off an early challenge from Alleyne (Blue) by winning six of the ten relays on offer before finishing with 950 points. Alleyne, who pulled within 25 points, came second with 878 while Greenhalgh (Green) and Peebles (Purple) ended third and fourth with 853 and 786 points, respectively.
Blue were at least able to field both the meet’s top performers in victrix ludorum Bianca Burton and her male counterpart Shaquille Browne after the two athletes won their respective Under-20 crowns.
Barton appeared to have no equal in the shorter races, breaking the 100-metre record (13.54 seconds) on the way to doing the sprint double. She added a pair of bronze medal runs in the 400 and 800 for good measure on her way to a meet-best 51 points.
Browne wasn’t nearly as dominant but still accumulated 49 points after winning the discus (26.69 metres); coming second in the 800 and javelin; and placing third in the 200, 400 and 1500.
Cocks had some divisional champions of their own, though, and record breakers at that, as Under-15 king Donnel Sylvester set new marks in both the 400 (1:00.53) and 800 (2:26:76) before finishing second in the 100, 200 and 1500.
His running mate Towain King also accounted for the Under-17 category even without winning a single event following second-place finishes in the 100, 200, shot put and javelin.
However, King had to settle for a share of those Under-17 honours after Peebles’ Darran Squires won the 200 (24.18) and 400 (1:09.25) en route to 37 points.
And he was just one of Purple’s three divisional champions, including Under-13 girls’ 400 record holder Aaliyah Ellis, who set a new mark of 2:58.30 before coming second in the 100, 200 and 800.
Under-17 queen Keanna Sealy was the other division winner for Peebles, but her efforts didn’t nearly match those of Greenhalgh’s Dakiala Kellman in the Under-15 category where she broke the 400 (1:07.68) and 800 (2:58.30) records.
Her teammate Keon Waithe also accounted for a pair of marks in the Under-13 category after winning the 800 (2:48.28) and 1500 (6:20.19) in record-setting time.
