The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Eleven new meet records were set, and the two-team race for the 2017 Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools Track and Field title has already developed atop the standings following day one.

The two-time defending champions Queen’s College Comets streaked ahead of the field and set the pace with an already dominant performance.

The Comets posted 449 points, 53 points ahead of perennial powerhouse St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine, who scored 396 yesterday at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

The familiar foes have quickly emerged as the lone contenders yet again for this year’s title as the St Anne’s Blue Waves stand in third with 132 points, the St John’s College Giants are fourth with 96 points while the Nassau Christian Academy Crusaders round out the top five with 91 points.

The remainder of the field includes the Temple Christian Suns with 66.50 points, Jordan Prince William Falcons (53.50 points), Kingsway Academy Saints (32 points), Aquinas College Aces (24 points), St Andrew’s School Hurricanes (23 points),  Westminster College Diplomats (22 points) and Charles W Saunders Cougars (14 points).

In addition to the new meet records set on day one, six athletes surpassed the CARIFTA qualifying standards.

The Big Red Machine’s Megan Moss took the Under-16 girls’ 400m in 54.96 seconds. She surpassed the previous meet record of 56.72 and the U-18 CARIFTA standard of 57.00.

In the U-18 girls’ event, the top three finishers - Wendira Moss of St John’s (54.94), Marrisa White of SAC (56.62) and Tyler Gray of St Anne’s (56.88) all surpassed the previous record in the division and the aforementioned CARIFTA standard.

On the boys’ side, the top three finishers in the U-14 boys’ 400m all surpassed the previous 20-year-old meet record of 1:00.30, with SAC’s Otto Laing in first place at 53.42, the Comets’ Antonio Bethel at 54.24 and SAC’s Shimar Bain at 58.69.

Bethel also set a new record of his own in the long jump with a new mark of 5.31m to erase the 17-year-old mark of 5.18m.

In the U-16 boys’ 400m, Kendrick Major of Queen’s College set a new mark in the event in 49.84, followed by teammate Ethan Hanna in 50.47 and Raymond Oriaki of SAC in 50.92.

Oriaki would return to break an 11-year-old meet record in the 80mH with his time of 11.41.

The middle distance events also produced a new meet record in the U-14 girls’ 1,200m with first place going to the Comets’ Devin Cuffy-Bethel in 4:04.49.

Breyanna Kemp of CW Saunders (4:15.04), and Esther Simms of St John’s (4:19.83) surpassed the old record of 5:39.92.

Several records also fell in the field. The Comets’ Shaunece Miller set a new mark of 1.45m in the U-14 girls’ high jump while Jordan Lewis of Temple Christian set a new mark in the U-18 boys’ discus with his throw of 42.04 metres.

The Big Red Machine also produced a pair of CARIFTA qualifying sprint hurdlers. Oscar Smith ran 14.27 in the U-18 boys’ 110mH to dip below the necessary 14.70, while Travonte Mott took the U-20 boys’ race in 14.00 ahead of the 14.50 pace.

Doniesha Anderson set a new record of 1.73m in the U-20 girls’ high jump and also took first place in the  400m in 55.56.

The Comets’ Lavardo Henfield also took home two first place finishes on day one, winning both the U-20 boys’ 400m (48.77) and long jump (6.72m).

Full results can be found at www.tekresults.net

The Comets are currently ahead of last year’s pace when they posted 462 points on day one – 28 points ahead of the Big Red Machine who scored 434. They went on to lead the duration of the meet and win with a total of 1,477 points while SAC was second with 1365.