by RENALDO
Just 14.5 points separate the teams atop the leaderboard at the BASIS Track and Field Championships, setting the stage for a thrilling finish in today’s finale.
The St. Augustine’s College Big Red Machine headed into day two with a 46 point advantage over the Queen’s College Comets, but the Comets were able to cut into that defect by 31.50 points.
Heading into the final day of competition, the defending champion Big Red Machine has totaled 748 points, just ahead of the Comets’ 733.50 points.
The standings remained virtually unchanged for the rest of the 12-team field, but the race for third could be decided by a single event.
The St Anne’s Blue Waves are third with a total of 193.50 points, followed by the St John’s College Giants in fourth with 191.50 points.
The Temple Christian Suns complete the top five with 161 points and Nassau Christian Academy Crusaders has 117 and the Jordan Prince William Falcons round out the list of teams with three-digit scores with 101.50 points.
The Kingsway Academy Saints are eight with 85 points, the St Andrew’s School Hurricanes, and Aquinas College Aces are tied for ninth with 24 points and the Charles W Saunders Cougars round out the field with eight points.
The 100m finals highlighted day two on the track and SAC took four of the eight races in the event.
Leading the list of performances in the 100m was the Big Red Machine’s Adrian Curry in the Senior Boys division.
Curry finished first in 10.50 secs to surpass the CARIFTA qualifying standard of 10.60 secs and also set a new meet record in the process. For the third consecutive year, the top three in the field finished in the exact same order. Max Azor of Queen’s College was second in 10.93 secs and Godfrey Arthur of St. Anne’s was third in 10.98 secs.
The Big Red Machine’s duo of Jaida Knowles and Anthaya Charlton continue to dominate the Intermediate Girls division. Both already passed the CARIFTA qualifying standard of 12.06 secs and Knowles finished first in 11.65 secs, followed by Charlton’s 11.86 secs.
SAC also had the top two finishers in the Senior Girls race with Lakelle Kinteh finished first in 11.89 secs followed by Tanae Dorsett in12.09 secs and Tyler Lightbourne of QC third in 12.25 secs.
Danielle Saunders took the Junior Girls race in 12.39 secs while the Comets’ Paige Archer was second in 12.45 and Karis Taylor of Kingsway, third in 12.62 secs.
The Comets’ Nathan Moss took first place in the Intermediate Boys race in 10.99 secs followed by Davon Johnson in 11.10 secs and Lowell Bethel of SAC in 11.20 secs.
QC’s Jamal Flowers stumbled out of the blocks but still managed to recover and take first place in the Junior Boys race in 11.55 secs. It was a top two finish for the Comets with Matthew Chandler in second place with 11.99 ses and Ronald Labranche of Jordan Prince William third in 12.00 secs.
The Bantam Girls race was won by Amari Pratt of Temple Christian in 12.88 secs and Carlos Brown of St. John’s took the Bantam Boys race in 12.23 secs.
Kinteh would later go on to win her second gold of the day in the long jump with a mark of 5.53m and SAC’s Chima Johnson won the Intermediate Boys with a leap of 6.51m with QC’s Nathan Moss second at 6.47m.
Charlton closed out day two with her second top three finish of the afternoon, this time it would be first place in the triple jump. Her mark of 11.55m topped the field with QC’s Destiny Greenslade second at 11.32m and SACs M’Kayla White third at 10.58m.
SAC’s Brian Lockhart took first place in the Intermediate Boys 3000m in 10.53.24 seecs, followed by Travis Smith of NCA in 11:00.94 secs and Ralph Wood of QC in 11:14.54 secs. Nia Kikivarakis of St. Anne’s won the Senior Girls race in 13:21.12 secs, followed by Davia Wright of QC in 13:50.07 secs and Selena Martinez of SAC in 13:53.57 secs
Comets and Big Red Machine competitors swept all but four events in the field yesterday. Omario Barnes of Temple Christian won the Bantam Boys high jump at 1.43m, followed by a pair of Comets – Raheem Thompson and Myron Munroe at 1.32m
Tyler Fowler of Temple Christian won the Junior Boys discus with a throw of 26.92 secs, followed by SAC’s Basil Dorsett at 26.45 and Jonathan Carey at 24.40m
In the javelin, Michaelangelo Bullard of NCA won the Senior boys with a throw of 56.55m, with QC’s Sean Rolle in second place with 55.21m and SAC’s Tnaige Wallace third at 51.75m. NCA had another winner in the field with Joylin Moise in the Bantam Boys shot put with a throw of 9.85m. He beat out a pair of Comets teammates, Kaden Thompson (9.25m) and Raheem Thompson (8.80m).
SAC’s Ann-Marie Oriakhi won the Junior Girls javelin with a throw of 21.46m and teammate Ciara Bowe won the Bantam Girls shot put at 6.90m. The Big Red Machine’s Benjamin Clarke won the Senior Boys high jump at 1.90m to beat out Shaun Miller of QC at 1.85m.
In the Senior Girls discus, SAC’s Dachye Stubbs dominated the field with a first place throw of 11.48m and Tjasa Barr won the Intermediate Girls discus at 26.05m
Lanique Thompson of QC won the Bantam Girls long jump with her mark of 4.60m
Other Comets winners in the field included Ciara Bowe in the Bantam Girls shot put (6.90m), Ahmad Evans in the Junior Boys triple jump (12.16m), Kasha Neilly in the Junior Girls high jump (1.37m) and Kayden Dean in the Intermediate Boys shot put (11.61m).
