Cougars trample rivals in Keshorn Walcott Golden League

THE youngsters from Cougars Athletics Club turned the Diego Martin Sporting Complex into their playground on February 22 when they dominated the fifth leg of the Keshorn Walcott Golden Athletics series.

Cougars swept the the mixed 4x100-metre relays with wins all four categories and their athletes racked up over 15 first-place finishes on an exciting day of action.

Their relay brilliance aside, there were a number of Cougars athletes who impressed individually, with Nyla Kerr, Nathan La Foucade and Naomi Phillip all registering double-wins on the day.

La Foucade and Phillip were in full flow in their respective boys’ and girls’ under-13 sprint events, taking both the 100m and 200m races. In his 100m event, La Foucade beat teammate Amaziah Marshall with a time of 13.43 seconds, with the latter clocking 13.81. In the 200m, La Foucade again bettered a Cougars teammate when his time of 26.95 earned him top spot ahead of Caleb Arthur 27.80.

Meanwhile, Phillip was in a class of her own in her sprint races as she blew away the competition in the 100m with a 13.09 finish. Toco Tafac’s Arianne Lendor was a distant second in 16.47.

There was no slowing down for Phillip in the 200m either, as her 27.40 clocking was way ahead of Lendor’s time of 35.74.

While La Foucade and Phillip were leaving their counterparts in the dust in the sprints, Kerr was doing her damage in the 400m and 800m events.

In the girls’ under-15 age group, Kerr pulled away from the field in the 400m race to win a time of one minute, 07.20 seconds (1:07.20). Siparia Athletics’ Shurbelle Scipio (1:10.38) came second, with Cougars’ Brittney Morgan (1:12.08) third.

In the under-17 800m race, Morgan was among those in the chasing pack again as she placed third in 2:50.02, with Kerr claiming first place in 2:42.47. Kerr led a top-four finish for Cougars with Jada Felix (2:46.55) and Ashley Serrapio (2:59.37) second and fourth respectively.

Mikael Serrette was also in fine form in the middle-distance races as he won the boys’ under-17 800m and 1,500m races. In the 800m event, Serrette, of Phoenix Athletic Club, clocked 2:00.85 to beat Terrell Hernandez (2:03.40) into second. Meanwhile, in the 1,500m run, Serrette pulled away from Ezekiel Scipio with a winning time of 4:51.00, to Scipio’s 5:16.37.

Serrette’s club mate Alex Seepersad also got the taste of victory as he claimed first place honours in the boys’ under-17 100m and 200m races. Seepersad clocked 10.66 to beat the Cougars pair of Sean Hart (10.94) and Josiah Rogers (11.15) in the 100m, while his time of 21.49 put him ahead of the pack in the 200m race as he again got the better of Hart and Rogers.

Cougars’ presence was felt strongly in the mixed 4x100m relays as they won the under-11, under-13, under-15 and under-17 races, with Hart and Rogers featuring in the latter win.

The South-based athletes had their time to shine in the other relay races, as Point Fortin New Jets won both the boys’ and girls’ under-20 4x100m races, with Southern Track Academy taking the top prize in the boys’ under-17 4x100m. Meanwhile, Toco copped the girls’ under-17 4x100m relay, with their athlete Jenique McLaren also showing her individual star power with wins in the girls’ under-17 100m and 200m events.

The final of the Golden League meet is scheduled for March 8.