NEVER HAS SECOND felt so good.
Although it was Straughn (Blue) who captured their fifth successive title when Ellerslie hosted their annual inter-house sports at the National Stadium yesterday, from the looks of things you would have sworn Gooding (Green) were the real champions.
Having consistently finished last over the past few years, Gooding put in a much improved performance, chasing the eventual winners all the way to the day’s final event to finish a commendable second.
They actually even led at one point, before Straughn came storming back in the relay events to claim the top spot with 794 points, 13 and a half more than their nearest rivals, who finished on 780.5
Brathwaite (Gold) was a long way back in third position with 652.5 points, while Trotman (Red) brought up the rear, totalling 381 points.
Straughn’s fightback was led by an all-round performance from eventual victor ludorum, Keymar Holligan, who finished with a meet-high 57 points.
He achieved most of his points in events which were held prior to yesterday’s sports, with those results being unavailable up to press time.
Competing in the Under-15 division, he did gain some valuable points in both the 400 metres (60.28) and the 200m (27.99), where he finished second and fourth, respectively.
Katrina Small of Brathwaite House sped to the victrix ludorum title by virtue of capturing all three of the Under-20 girls’ sprint events on her way to amassing 54 points.
She registered wins in the 100m (13.57), 200m (27.84) and the 400m (67.78), relegating her arch-rival, Gooding’s Shanya Cheltenham to second place in all three events.
Straughn also boasted of two other divisional champions in Dondria Alleyne, who was crowned the Under-15 queen after accumulating 31 points and Under-13 king, Ori Edwards, who amassed 40 points.
Edwards was unstoppable in the sprint events, winning the 100m (14.03), 200m (28.06) and 400m (66.24), all by comfortable margins.
Under-15 athlete Safari Grant of Gold House can now boast of being the quickest girl in the school after she posted the fastest time of all the females in the 100m, clocking 13.51.
However, the coveted honour of fastest boy in the school had to be shared between Gooding’s Layton Payne, who competed in the Under-17 division, and Trotman’s Under-20 sprinter Kevin Hinds, who were both timed at 11.99 seconds.
Â
