Whim Anglican top Tobago schools athletics

Whim Anglican ended Scarborough RC’s stranglehold on the Tobago primary schools track and field title, at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet, on March 7.

Despite winning six gold medals, which was the most by any school, Scarborough RC could not match the 139.5 points accumulated by Whim Anglican. Scarborough RC ended in second position with 134 points.

Rounding off the top five schools were St Andrew’s Anglican with 133.5 points, Scarborough Methodist with 123 points and Moriah Government with 116 points.

Whim Anglican’s two gold medals placed them 12th on the gold medal table. Lambeau Anglican, St Andrew’s Anglican and Bethelsda Government were joint second with four golds each.

The marque performers for the champions were Kaila Agard, who won the under-11 girls long jump with a distance of 2.95 metres, and Daniel Cooper, whose victorious effort in the boys under-13 ball-throw landed at 46.95 metres.

Among the highlights for Scarborough RC were Ayele James, who took pole position in the open boys 1500m, in a time on five minutes and 26 seconds. Kiome Reid’s golden performances in the girls under-9 sprints saw her clock 10.81 seconds in the 60m and 12.98s in the 80m.

Kenya Muir of Belle Garden Anglican received the trophy as the premier female athlete at the meet, and was also the only gold medallist for her school.

Muir won the girls open 1200 metres in a time of four minutes, 25.29 seconds. She posted one minute, 7.16 seconds in the girls 13-15 400m and 29.76 seconds in the 200m. Kellon Thomas of Plymouth Anglican and Azzirion Williams of Scarborough Methodist shared top honours among the boys.

Thomas, competing in the 13-15 boys category, won his three gold medals in field events. His best javelin throw landed at 23.81 metres, followed-up by the winning 10.38m heave in the shot put, and he produced a 22.82m premium effort in the discus.

Williams was a class above his competitors in the boys under-11 sprints. He flashed 13.87 seconds in the 100 metres and stopped the clock at 20.35s in the 150m. Williams also won the ball throw with a distance of 39.45m.

Natalia Trim of St Andrew’s Anglican and Akyah Ottley of Mason Hall awed the spectators with a titanic duel in the girls under-11 sprints.

In the 100m, both athletes exchanged the lead several times, but Trim, who appeared to be the stronger athlete, edged ahead at the line to win in 14.91 seconds. Ottley was timed at 14.93 seconds.

Both athletes were spent after the 150 metres final. They were inseparable up to the final ten metres, where Trim’s superior strength made the difference in clocking 22.20s for the victory. Ottley took second in 22.64 seconds.

Co-ordinator of the event Phillip Roachford, a school supervisor-two at the Division of Education, Research and Technology, was pleased with the event and expressed confidence at retaining the national primary schools title.

He said, "Tobago zone is the current national champions and based on the performances on display, there were some really good athletes and we are confident of defending our title, which championship is scheduled for May."

He added, "The THA secretaries for sport and also education, along with their assistant secretaries and administrator were present at the event, and they were pleased with the experience."