St Andrew unseat St Catherine as champions of JTA/Sagicor meet
ST ANDREW gained their 18th hold on the 35th staging of the JTA/Sagicor National Primary/All-Age and Junior High Schools Athletics Championships at National Stadium yesterday.
They claimed the title with a combined boys’ and girls’ team score of 343.50 points, winning ahead of defending champions St Catherine with 320 points.
They were followed by Portland (187), St Elizabeth (185), Manchester (184.50), St Thomas (170.50), Clarendon (107.50), St Ann (99), Trelawny (84), Kingston (65.50), St Mary (54), Westmoreland (48), St James (31.50), and Hanover (10).
St Catherine, however, won the female section with 183 points, followed by St Andrew 148, St Thomas 101, Manchester 98, St Elizabeth 91, Portland 81 and Clarendon with 46 points.
St Andrew took top honours in the boys’ team section with 195.50 points, followed by St Catherine 137 points, Portland 106, St Elizabeth 94, Manchester 86.50, St Thomas 69.50, and St Ann with 53 points.
Ramoya Thompson of St Thomas was the overall Champion Girl, accumulating 27 points. She captured the girls’ Under-11 100 metres in 14.43 seconds, and the 200m in 28.78 seconds for the sprint double. She also won the cricket ball throw.
Dushawn Grant from St Andrew was the overall Champion Boy with 19 points. He won the Under-13 200 metres in 25.87 seconds and was second in the 400m in 58.63 seconds.
Kyle Bodden of St Andrew won the boys’ under-11 100m in 28.92 seconds, Monique Stewart of Westmoreland won the girls’ Under-15 200m in 27.73 seconds, while Asanie Holness from St Elizabeth captured the boys’ Under-15 200m in 25.31 seconds.
The only new record was in the girls’ 1200 metres final where Rihanna Gayle from St Elizabeth erased her record of 4:09.75 minutes set on Friday with a new time of 4:07.04, while Joash Jones of St Elizabeth set a record on Friday in the boys’ 1200 metres with a time of 3:42.85, but was unable to go one better in the final.
Both the girls’ and boys’ 1200-metre events were introduced for the first time, replacing the traditional 1500 metres.
— Gerald Reid
