Tobago dominates Secondary Schools Track and Field Nationals

THE boys and girls of Roxborough Secondary School stood tallest when the Secondary Schools Track and Field (SSTF) national championship concluded at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo on Wednesday, as they copped both the boys’ and girls’overall titles.

In the girls’category, Roxborough spearheaded a top-three finish from Tobago schools, with Scarborough Secondary and Signal Hill Secondary finishing in second and third spot respectively. Roxborough amassed 263.5 points to take top spot, with their Tobago counterparts Scarborough and Signal Hill accumulating 206 and 175 points respectively.

At the end of day one on Tuesday, Roxborough headed all schools in both categories, and their boys’ contingent ensured a sweep of the national honours with a resounding victory of their own. Roxborough picked up a staggering 291.5 points in the boys’ category — more than 80 points clear of the nearest challengers Queen’s Royal College (QRC) who scored 208 points to claim the second spot. Signal Hill copped another third-place finish as they were next on the standings with 192 points.

As the championships drew to an exciting close, the stadium was buzzing with enthusiasm as the popular 4x400-metre relay events took centre stage.

With supporters of varying Tobago schools nearing the barriers at the bottom of the covered stands to boisterously cheer on their students, the Trinidad schools tried their utmost to prevent a Tobago sweep in the 4x400-metre relays as well. The dominance from Tobago was evident once again, as they ran away with four of the six relay titles in the event.

Roxborough won both the boys’ under-15 and under-17 4x400-metre titles, Scarborough won the girls’ under-15 trophy, Signal Hill won the girls’ 17+ crown, Bishop Anstey High School PoS won the girls’ under-17 crown and El Dorado East Secondary won a controversial boys 17+ finale.

In the last race of the championships, the El Dorado coach Shaun Stuart vigorously and successfully protested QRC’s use of two non-students as the teams lined up for their 4x400-metre final race. QRC were allowed to contest the race despite the protest, and their anchor leg runner Hakeem Chinapoo, a title-winner at the championship, just pipped El Dorado’s last-leg runner to the finish line. When the dust was cleared, though, El Dorado were adjudged as winners ahead of Fatima College.

Though they showed excellent teamwork to take two of the 4x400-metre relay titles on offer, Roxborough also had individual brilliance during the championship. Shezlon Gordon led a one-two finish for Roxborough in the boys’ under-17 triple jump on Wednesday when he edged schoolmate Kareem Thompson with a leap of 12.14 metres. Thompson recorded a distance of 12.11 metres for second, while Signal Hill’s Jhariel Williams (11.95 metres) grabbed the third spot. Gordon also won the boys’ under-17 400-metre crown on Tuesday.

Gordon was one of several athletes who won multiple titles in the two-day championship. Omari Brown (Carapichaima West Secondary), Kadeem Chinapoo (St Benedict’s College), Oshea Cummings (Mason Hall Secondary) Michael Paul (St Mary’s College), Durlaina Rouse (Holy Name Convent Point Fortin), Tafari Waldron (QRC), La Queen Welch (Tunapuna Secondary) and San Juan South Secondary’s standout field athlete Peyton Winter were all among students who walked away with more than one gold medal at the meet.

Scarborough Secondary’s Xiah Tobias was arguably in a class of her own, though, as the 13-year-old copped four gold medals at the championship. In the girls’ under-15 age group, Tobias won an individual sprint double in the 100-metre and 200-metre events, to go along with a long jump title which she clinched with a 5.24-metre jump to beat runner-up Daija Reid (4.84 metres).

To put the icing on the cake, Tobias teamed up with her Scarborough schoolmates to take the under-15 4x400-metre relay crown — running a fine second leg to help her school to victory.

Tobias has lofty dreams of getting to the Olympics, but for now, she has set her targets on making her mark at the upcoming Carifta trials.