MONTEGO BAY, St James – After one of their best seasons in years, Mt Alvernia High School are looking to even more success in sports, particularly track & field and lucky young ladies could even be offered ‘scholarships’ to the Montego Bay-based high school.

This past high school season, Mt Alvernia High finished third at the County of Cornwall Athletics Association (COCAA) with 238 points and were 10th at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Girls’ Champs with 39 points, their best placing at the championships in years.

With Principal Kayon Whyne lending her full support to the programme led by Andrew Henry, they hope with new initiatives and the continued backing from past students and other supporters, the programme will see even more success in years to come.

“We are looking to score 70-plus points at Champs,” Henry said, adding that this is just a start.

Mt Alvernia High, the Jamaica Observer West was told, would now be offering ‘scholarships’ to talented young athletes and Henry explained how the school intends to improve on what now exists.

“We do offer assistance to qualified students who are already in the school,” he said, adding that applicants have to be outstanding both in the classroom and in their events to get assistance.

There are no housing facilities for a dorm, he said, but they are prepared to go the extra mile by taking care of school fees and other associated costs.

This past year the Mt Alvernia High track and field programme was boosted by an initial donation of US$10,000 from past student Veronica Bradbudy of the class of 1987. Henry said those funds were used to purchase well-needed equipment as well as specialised gear such as throwing and jumping shoes.

Whyne said the donations would continue and past students groups such as one based in South Florida have also started to assist.

Mt Alvernia High competed at the annual Penn Relays Carnival in Philadelphia, USA, for the first time this past April where long jumper Aaliyah Foster was third and the first Jamaican, while the 4x100m relay team finished fifth in the international final.

Whyne thanked past student chapters that funded the trip as well as past students Andrean Hall-Williams and Georgette Fletcher as well as the Cornwall College Old Boys’ Mid Atlantic Chapter that assisted with accommodations.

The Mt Alvernia principal said they spent in excess of $7 million on the programme last year, “and a large chunk of this was in transportation as all the meets were outside of Montego Bay”.

“Every weekend they are on the road and we need to get the track in Montego Bay fixed so the athletes can compete here and we can save on some of that money that goes into transportation,” he added.