Three words, West Terrace Primary, summed up the day of junior school track and field supremacy.
The overall boys and girls champions of the 2012 National Primary Schools Athletic Championships walked away double crown winners of the Patsy Callender Zone at the Usain Bolt Complex yesterday.
The Williams Industries West Terrace Tigers captured the girls title with 145 points.
Second was Wesley Hall Junior with 134 points and third Bayley’s Primary with 132.
And last year’s big boys champs in the competition and winners of the Champion of Champions title, Bayley’s Primary, placed a disappointing fifth.
In the boys’ competition, the Tigers eventually moved to the front of the pack after holding the second place to St Stephen’s just before the sprint medleys.
They amassed 139.25 points, while St Stephen’s and Wilkie Cumberbatch Primary placed second and third with 134 and 127.50 points, respectively.
The sensational Solange Holford spearheaded the West Terrace girls with a sizzling performance, earning 30 points on the way to capturing the victrix ludorum title.
Holford once again transferred her strength and focus from the road tennis court to the track to win the Under-11 Girls’ 100 metres in 14.64 seconds, 200 metres in 30.16 seconds and the long jump with a leap of 3.70 metres.
Ratanang Barker of St Stephen’s Primary slammed his opponents in the Under-13 Boys’ division, reaching 28 points and sharing the victor ludorum title.
Barker won the 200 metres in 27.73 secs and the Boys Open 800 metres, crossing the finish line in two minutes 27.52 seconds.
He was beaten by teammate Ziko Rogers, who clocked one minute, 3.85 secs in the 400 metres. Barker was second in 1:03.91.
Josiah Gill of Wilkie Cumberbatch shared the boys’ title with Barker. Gill was a force to be reckoned with in the Under-9 Boys division. He won gold in the 100 metres in 15.20 seconds, and the 150 metres in 22.46 seconds.
However, he had to settle for second place in the long jump. Both he and Justin Sandiford of Luther Thorne had leaps measured at 3.12 metres, but Sandiford was judged the winner from his next best jump.
One record was broken and two equalled on the day. Pride of place went to Under-13 Girls division champion Ashlyn Simmons of the Eden Lodge Primary School, who made the 600 metres open look like a piece of cake when she darted off from the 200 metre mark to lead that race from start to finish in a record time of 1:46.44 minutes.
That record was previously set in 2010 by Jaria Hoyte, formerly of Bayley’s Primary.
The boys high jump record was equalled by two students of Charles F. Broome Primary. Ramero Pinder and Aaron Massiah eclipsed the 1.37 metres set by Kayode Miller of Bayley’s in 2011. (RG)
