Munro, STETHS retain Western Championship crowns
BY PAUL A REID
Observer writer
CATHERINE HALL, St James — Fifteen new records were set on Saturday’s third and final day of the 2014 County of Cornwall Athletics Association’s (COCAA)/Gatorade/Hanover Co-operative Credit Union Western Championships held at the Montego Bay Sports Complex at Catherine Hall.
A total of 26 records fell over the three days of the championships, including the boys’ eliminations held at Munro College on Tuesday and the girls’ eliminations held at Rusea’s High on Thursday.
On Saturday, there were nine new records for the boys, including two by Cornwall College’s Alrick Ottey who broke both the Class Two boys’ long and triple jump records.
St Elizabeth Technical’s (STETHS) Leroy Francis was the only triple-gold medallist taking the Class Two boys with three individual gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 400m finals.
Meanwhile, Munro College fought off a determined St Elizabeth Technical High to retain the boys’ overall title by just a mere four points (383 to 379) with Petersfield High in third on 236 points, while the STETHS girls used their superior numbers to win their ninth straight title, scoring 368 points to beat Rusea’s High (216.5) and Herbert Morrison (188).
After leading by nearly 30 points early in the day, Munro’s lead was whittled down to single digits and STETHS briefly took the lead before the relays when Munro regained their dominance and held on after placing second in the 4x400m relays.
On Saturday, Ottey who was fifth in the high jump on Tuesday, made up for the disappointment by jumping 14.68m on his final attempt in the triple jump to smash the one year-old record by over a metre, beating the old mark of 13.46m set by STETHS’ Kevaugn Nichols.
The jump would also be good enough to beat the Class One mark of 14.67m held since 2006 by the Manning’s School’s Oshane Foote.
He returned later to jump 6.85m in the long jump, breaking the 6.73m set 14 years ago in 2000 by Ruseas’ Damion Young.
Jauavney James of STETHS, who had broken the Class Two 1500m earlier, added the 800m record after he ran 1:57.45 seconds, beating the 1:58.13 seconds set by Paul Tate when he represented Lacovia a year ago. Tate won the Class One 800m running for STETHS.
IAAF World Youth Championships gold medallist Marvin Williams ran 53.09 seconds to set a new mark for the 400m hurdles Open erasing the 54.07 seconds set by Green Island’s Roxroy Cato in 2007; Williams earlier won the Class One 110m hurdles in 14.66 seconds.
Orlando Smith of STETHS broke the Class Two 110m hurdles record with 14.08 seconds under the 14.25 seconds run by his teammate Okeen Williams last year.
A year after throwing 56.10m to equal Rolando Reid’s record in the javelin Open, STETHS’ Devon Spencer improved on that mark when he threw 60.19m on Saturday to take the mark all by himself.
Munro College’s Rushane Fullerton broke the 3,000m Open record of 10:18.43 held by Lewisville’s Zaire Maitland with a 10:07.91 run, while the STETHS boys 4x400m team ran 3:13.37 seconds to break the 3:15.55 seconds they set last year.
Despite being bothered by a sore ankle, Balaclava High’s Dawnalee Loney provided two of the highlights of the meet, battling Petersfield’s Asaine Hall over the 200m and 400m, winning the latter in 54.49 seconds, beating Hall’s 55.22 seconds set last year.
It took the photo finish cameras to decide the winner of the 200m with Lonely just ahead with 23.98 seconds to Hall’s 23.99 seconds.