BLUE COULDN’T STAY on their feet long in successive tug-of-war defeats to Gold.
Such was the day for all those who tried to stand up to Alma Parris’ new champion house.
Led by victor ludorum King Layne and a dominate performance in the relays, Gold pulled down Blue House and two-time defending champs Green on their way to the inter-house title on Friday at the Speightstown Playing Field.
Sweeping the three relays, Gold surged ahead of Blue late in the afternoon session to take the sports meet with an overall tally of 465, relegating Blue (449) to second while Green (365) brought up the rear some 100 points adrift.
However, it looked like Blue were the ones certain of dethroning Green after Jamaine Profit and company dominated the early sprints.
With the Under-20 Boys’ division champ leading the charge, Blue opened up an initial 20-point lead at the start of the day, taking five of the eight 100 metres before evenly splitting the 800s with the other two houses.
And their advantage grew even further after Profit, Johnte Payne and Carl Sealy won their 200s to secure three of the four boys’ half-lap events.
But the emphatic victory in the tug-of-war proved to be Gold’s launching pad as Blue crumbled under their chaser’s evening onslaught.
Blue fell within two seconds of the first tug of war battle before barely holding out much longer in the second.
They didn’t provide any resistance in the ensuing relays either.
Layne comfortably anchored two of the boys’ 4×100 relays, sandwiching Iyesha Gibbs and company’s triumph in the lone girls’ equivalent, to seal the deal.
Those tremendous anchor legs proved the crowning point of a domineering performance where Layne won the Under-15 Boys’ 75 metre hurdles, 100, 200 and 400 metres for a meet high 48 points.
He was one of three Gold house athletes to win division titles, as Gibbs and Shanice Alleyne took Under-20 and Under-13 Girls’ crowns.
Awarded joint victrix ludorum with Blue’s Kyla Dottin, Alleyne had a clean sweep of the 100, 200 and 400, while Gibbs won the 200 after finishing second in the 400 metres.
Like Alleyne, Dottin secured the 100, 200 and 400 metres to top the Under-15 Girls’ division with 36 points.
Profit also completed the sprint treble to take the Under-20 boys’ equivalent, while Sealy and Payne both finished with 32 points to win the under-13 and Under-15 Boys’ crowns respectively.
Green’s Kimeka Sargeant copped gold in the 200 and 400 metres for an Under-17 Girls’ division high 24 points.
