Buff Bay cop first Eastern Champs title
BUFF Bay High held off defending champions Oberlin as the two-day Eastern Secondary Schools Sports Association Athletic Championship ended at the National Stadium yesterday.
Some 14 records were broken on the second day to add to the four that went on Monday’s first day.
In winning the championships for the first time, Buff Bay fittingly took the boys mile relay in 3 minutes 24.92 seconds, with their team comprising Alton Palmer, Clayton Thomas, Jason Clarke and Ricardo Vickerman.
Oberlin were runners-up in 3:25.34.
The final points standing among the top five schools were: Buff Bay 551, Oberlin 530.50, Glengoffe 334.50, Morant Bay 328 and Titchfield 224.
Oberlin with 334.5 points were the top girls team ahead of Buff Bay (287) and Glengoffe (215.5), while Buff Bay (264) took the boys section ahead of Oberlin (196) and Morant Bay (184.5).
Records to go on the second day were Glengoffe’s Natasha Morrison, who clocked 56.66secs in the Class Two 400m and 24.69secs in the 200m.
Oberlin’s Kerry-Kaye Lamb also got a double record in timing 57.39secs in the girls Class Two 400m and 2:22.73 in the 800m event.
Travana Morrison of St Thomas Technical ran 21.86secs to break the Class Two boys 200m record.
Oberlin ran a record 51.43secs to win the Class Four girls 4×100 relay, while Romario Grapine-Rodney of Buff Bay threw the disc 35.64 metres in Class Three and cleared 1.65 metres to equal the high jump mark.
Robert Thomas of Paul Bogle threw 39.01m in the boys Class One discus; Jonelle Graham of Buff Bay heaved 31.10m in the girls Class Three; Carlington Benjamin of Morant Bay leaped 14.84m to take the triple jump title, and Kelvin Grant of Buff Bay threw the boys Class Two discus 13.82m.
Meanwhile, Latoya Powell of Oberlin did 5.53m in the Class One girls long jump; Felecia Ferron of Morant Bay clocked 14.74secs in the Class Two girls 100m hurdles, and Kedeshia Sweeney of Buff Bay clocked 12.34secs to win the Class Three girls 80m hurdles.
Coach Kevin Brown was elated with Buff Bay’s victory.
“The students did well and they worked as a team. We had some good hurdlers and we went all out on this. The throwers did well and I want to commend them and the principal for her support.”
Oberlin’s Everton Leslie was gracious in defeat.
“The team did well and I commend the Buff Bay team as they put in the work and did well to take the championship.”