IF THERE WAS DEBATE over the naming of the University of the West Indies’ latest facility, there definitely wasn’t any question over who christened its track.
Blue ran away with the latest instalment of Deacons Primary’s sports meet, and its athletes were the top performers, having dominated yesterday’s proceedings on the Ryan Brathwaite Track at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex.
On a day Deacons shared the track with Cuthbert Moore Primary, Blue House hardly split results to amass 250 points and dethrone defending champions Green.
Oddly enough, Green came last despite winning a mere year ago, finishing with just 124 points, while Yellow and Red were second and third, respectively, with 166 and 134 points.
Reanna Cummins didn’t share much glory in the Under-11 category either, with Red’s eventual victrix ludorum winning the 200, 400 and open 600 metres after coming second in the 100.
Like Cummins before him, NAPSAC giant Malachi Harris barely missed out on a perfect showing following victories in the cricket ball throw, 100 (13.32 seconds) and 400 (1:12.00).
The only thing that stopped the rampaging Harris was the poor staggering of the subsequent 200 metres as eventual winner Joshua Marksman was given a shorter distance to run in lane eight.
And Harris still nearly made up ground at the line despite the near 25-metre advantage, placing second with a 27.74 clocking to Marksman’s time of 27.60.
Harris’ teammate Shimya Griffith was equally as impressive in the Under-13 Girls’ division after winning the cricket ball throw and the 400 metres (1:20.00), in addition to second place in the 100.
Yellow’s Camille Belgrave broke up Red’s dominance by taking top honours in the Under-9 Girls via wins in the 80, 100 and 150 metres plus a fourth-place finish in the 400.
Her house had even more to celebrate after Janica Grant was named the Under-7 queen with a pair of wins in the 25 and 50 metres sprints. For good measure, Grant came fourth in the 100 to give second-placed Yellow a decisive lead over Red.
The day got off to a rollicking start, with former World champion hurdler Ryan Brathwaite acknowledging both schools before officially starting the meet’s very first race.
From there, though, the spotlight was squarely on Cummins, Harris and the rest of Red’s title-winning posse.