IT DOESN’T GET any closer than this! Hillaby Turner’s Hall are Anton Norris Zone 3 queens again, but just barely, as they held on to beat rivals Belmont by a single point for the girls’ title during yesterday’s preliminary action of the 2011 Pine Hill NAPSAC Championships at the National Stadium.
The overall victory marked the St Andrew-based school’s third successive girls’ crown in that zone and the smallest of triumphant margins for all the zone meets so far.
It took wins in two of the last three relays to put the champs on 143 points, one better than Belmont, who swapped places atop the standings on at least three occasions during the relays alone.
Cuthbert Moore (158) had a similar nail-biter on their hands – even if the final points tally didn’t show it – before winning the boys’ title ahead of defending champs St Matthew’s and All Saints, who both finished second with 140 points.
St Matthew’s were going for their fourth crown in five years after joint victor ludorum Kobe Waithe’s Under-9 4×100 relay team put them level with Cuthbert Moore with just two relays left.
However, St Matthew’s failed to place in the final two team races while their Market Hill rivals got a second and third-place finish to cement the final 18-point margin.
With victrix ludorum Julisa Jones-Smith at the helm, Belmont threatened to run away with the girls’ championship before lunch while Hillaby languished as far back as seventh.
Even Cuthbert Moore’s girls got off to a better start, announcing their intentions from as early as the first track event when Rianna Alleyne, Simone Carrol and Latoya Mayers swept the top three 600 metre spots.
Then it was the turn of Jones-Smith, who swung the tide in Belmont’s favour after winning the Under-9 long jump (2.90 metres), cricket ball throw (21.61) and 80 metres (12.49 seconds).
But Hillaby’s strange hold wasn’t going to be loosened so easy, not with the likes of Rickyla Fagan (under-9) and Shaquona Scott (Under-11) dominating their sprint events to lead a furious comeback.
And the resulting rivalry in the stands was just as hot, as parents and past students alike were locked in heated debate by the time Hillaby overtook Belmont heading into the relays.
However, the team events did nothing much to separate the two squads, with there being at least three lead changes in the four relays.
Ironically, neither school even placed in the day’s last race – the Under-13 Girls’ 4 x100 relay.
Waithe didn’t leave his boys’ title race up to mere chance though, anchoring victory in the Under-9 4 x100 relay, before Cuthbert Moore added second and third place finishes in the Under-13 and Under-11 equivalents. Waithe also was victorious in the 80 (12.46), 100 (15.62) and 150 (22.85) sprints.
He eventually had to share the victor ludorum title with St Martin’s Mangrove’s Under-11 king Raheem Taitt-Best, who copped gold in the 100 (13.91), 200 (27.49) and 400 (1:07.17)
