Boasting some of the school’s top athletes, Lynch House had no competition in retaining the title at the Foundation School’s Inter-House Track and Field Championships yesterday at the National Stadium.
Not only was repeat senior victor ludorum Shaquille Alleyne in their ranks, but when you add fellow CARIFTA athlete Nicolai Gall, Oyinpreye (Pierre) Ekiyor, junior victor ludorum Arrigo Gill, Tia-Adana Belle and Chelsi Corbin, it wasn’t an even fight. Lynch ran away with the title, amassing 1 081 points.
Skeete, their nearest challengers, were a distant second with 788, and not even the presence of CARIFTA half-miler John Haynes was enough to help Inniss (732) finish higher than third.
Talma were a distant fourth with 681 points and Wellington even further back with 510.
Alleyne had wins in the 100 metres (11.1 seconds), 200m (22.19), 400m (48.93), 800m (2 mins, 23.23 secs), high jump, long jump and triple jump. He was second in the 1 500 metres, shot put and javelin, and third in the discus. He and Gall, who was nursing a slight cold, were at it all day, with Alleyne getting the better of his rival in the individual races.
Haynes and Ekiyor fought for supremacy in the Under-17 division. Ekiyor won the 100m in 11.46 seconds from Haynes (11.73). But Haynes came back with a blistering run in a personal best 22.55 seconds to win the 200, with Ekiyor second in 22.78. Haynes also won the 400 in 50.05 seconds.
Belle dominated the Under-17 division, winning the 100, 200 and 400m; Corbin was better over the longer distances. Shashamani Kellman of Wellington clocked 12.99 seconds to post a new record in the Under-13 boys’ division, en route to a sprint double with 26.85 in the 200m.
Robert Clarke (12.58) of Wellington won the Under-15 boys’ race, with Deshon Trent of Skeet winning the 100 in 25.34. Daria Ward of Inniss won the Under-13 girls’ 100 metres (14.00 seconds), 200m (28.59) and 400m (68.97).
Senior victrix ludorum Radigra Babb had wins in the 100, 200, 400, 1 500, long jump and shot put.
Six other records were broken, including three in the longer distances.
Junior victrix ludorum Krista Maloney of Skeete set a mark of 13 minutes, 11.23 seconds in the junior girls’ 3 000 metres, cutting the time from 13:50. Kameisha Harewood of Talma (13:23.45) was also inside of the old mark set by Corbin.
Maloney also won the 400m, 800m and 1 500m, and was second in the 100m and 200m.
The boys’ 3 000m record also fell by the wayside, with Gill entering the books in a time of 11:10.25, down from the 11:12.20 set by Andre Caine ten years ago.
Gill picked up more points with wins in the 800m and 1 500m and was second in the 400m and shot put.
Kevin Luke’s time of 20:38.10 in the senior boys’ 5 000m from 2001 was erased by Wellington’s Joshua Hunte (19:56.54), with Rico Rice of Talma also under record time with 20:12.32.
Christopher Taitt of Wellington erased Kevin Chesney-Bynoe’s Under-13 record of 62.10 in the 400 metres, replacing it with 61.55 seconds, and Wellington’s 4x100m Under-13 boys’ team shattered the record of 56.91, crossing the line in 55.57 seconds.
Corbin and Belle set up victory for Lynch in the Under-17 girls’ 4×100 and then ran moments later in the Under-20 girls’ race, posting a record 55.22 seconds, just inside the 55.40 set six years ago by Wellington.
Gall and Alleyne brought the house down on the last two legs of the Under-20 Boys’ 4×400 metres – a race in which an Old Scholars team was invited to participate as there were not enough old scholars to form their own relay event.
Alleyne overturned a lead of close to 75m and handed off almost simultaneously with the Old Scholars after a magnificent chase.
The Old Scholars might have thought they had the race wrapped up, as Gall was slow off the mark on the final exchange, but he was equally impressive, chasing down the anchor and catching him about 30 metres from the finish, holding on for the victory.
Foundation has an embarrassment of riches and with the likes of Alleyne, Gall, Haynes, Ekiyor and Nicholas Gill, should have an excellent 4×400 metres relay team, reminiscent of the days of Wilan Louis, Caine, Chesney-Bynoe, Kevin Cave and Fabian Massiah.
