The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WILL the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine succeed in winning their 27th straight Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships or will this be the year that the Queen’s College Comets or any of the other 10 schools finally snap their dominance?

“We have a strong team, a nice balanced team with some very good athletes, so we are prepared,” said SAC head coach William ‘Knucklehead’ Johnson. “Everybody knows what they have to do and we will go out there and compete to the best of our ability.”

Last year, the Big Red Machine ended the three-day meet holding off their closest rival Comets 1,399.33-1,244 points. But Johnson admitted that while the 155-point deficit was more than enough for them to celebrate, they are not resting on their laurels as they prepare today through Friday at the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium.

“It’s hard to say what to expect because it appears that athletes are moving around so much now that you don’t know what one school has one year from the next anymore,” he said. “So, you just go there with your best and the idea is just to get them to compete at the best of their abilities.

“At the end of the day, it is what it is, but we feel confident that we have a team that’s capable of going out there and doing it again. But we expect very fierce competition from Queen’s College from day one. We don’t take anything for granted. They have the resources to do some things that no one can and so it puts them in a unique position, but we don’t expect for them and the other teams to just go there and roll over and play dead. We will have to earn it the old fashion way.”

As for the Comets, who closed the gap last year in the final point standings, coach Everette Fraser said they will be coming back with vengeance.

“We are going to be very, very competitive, but it’s going to be up to the athletes to pull it off,” he said. “They have to want it. If they want it, we could get it. But they just have to work hard. Once we stay healthy and do our best, we stand a good chance of winning.

“But we are going to be very, very competitive out there. We are going to compete. I think it’s going to be close. I think whoever shows the most heart is going to win it.”

Looking ahead to the meet, Johnson said the Big Red Machine will be very strong in the intermediate girls division, led by Doneisha Anderson and Blair Catalyn, so we are kind of balanced this year,” Johnson said. “We also have Xavier Coakley, Justin Pinder, Tavonte Mott and Denzil Pratt in the senior division. They have an opportunity to dominate this division, but it has to be done.

“In areas where we are somewhat not strong, we are balanced enough to move some people around. We never want to talk about being weak, but we have had to move some girls up from the intermediate division to the senior girls and in so doing, it has strengthened that division, so we have a very good chance to win that division too.”

Fraser, who watched a number of his athletes compete for the various track clubs in the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ meets so far this year, said Queen’s College will be a force to reckon with in the intermediate boys and their senior boys will surprise a lot of people.

“We know SAC has a very strong senior boys division, but we are not as weak as everybody thinks we are,” Fraser said. “Our strongest division will be our intermediate boys. All of the other divisions, we will be very competitive and we are looking forward to winning quite a few of them.”

Janae Ambrose will lead the Comets’ senior girls division, while Charisma Taylor heads the intermediate girls. On the boys’ side, Samson Colebrooke will lead the senior boys and Branson Rolle the intermediate boys with both the junior and the bantam boys loaded with talent.

“We have some strong areas, we just have to make sure that we are in a position to win,” Fraser said. “If it’s close going into the final day, whoever wants it the most will pull it off.”

Johnson said there are a lot of people out there talking about dethroning the Big Red Machine, but this is time to stop the talking and try and get the job done.

The meet is slated to get started 9am today with the 75/80/100/110 metre hurdles, 1,500 and 400m finals as the marquee events on the track and the field will be the bantam and junior boys and senior girls high jump, intermediate girls and bantam and senior boys long jump, intermediate boys triple jump, intermediate boys and junior girls discus, senior girls, junior boys and bantam girls javelin and senior boys and intermediate girls shot put.

Just to recall last year’s meet, here’s how the final points were tabulated:

1. St Augustine’s College - 1,399.33 points
2. Queen’s College - 1,244 points
3. St Anne’s Bluewaves - 442 points
4. St John’s Giants - 413.70 points
5. Nassau Christian Academy Crusaders - 283 points
6. St Andrew’s Hurricanes - 281.50 points
7. Temple Christian Suns - 150.50 points
8. Jordan Prince Williams Falcons - 150 points
9. Aquinas College Aces - 133 points
10. Charles W Saunders Cougars - 75.50 points
11. Kingsway Academy Saints - 71 points
12. Bahamas Academy Stars 48 points
13. *Westminster College Diplomats 38 points

*denotes that they are no longer a part of the BAISS