STETHS, Rusea’s in sweet repeat at Western Champs
CATHERINE HALL, St James — St Elizabeth Technical High (STETHS) boys and and Rusea’s High girls retained their titles as the County of Cornwall Athletics Association (COCAA) Digicel Western Championships ended at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Saturday evening.
The STETHS boys piled up a massive 389.5 points, over 100 more than their nearest challengers Petersfield High (286.25), who were also more than 100 points better than third-placed Munro College (165), followed by Cornwall College (159 and Rhodes Hall (137).
Going into Saturday’s final day of the three-day championships, which started on Tuesday at St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex and continued Thursday at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, head coach of the Rusea’s High team Roderick Myles told the Jamaica Observer they were targeting 380 points, but surpassed it with 388.25.
They scored more than 80 points more than second-placed STETHS (308.25), Petersfield High (210) third, followed by Mt Alvernia High (64.5), and The Mannings School (58.5).
Myles described the championships as “excellent” and claimed it was a good marker for the upcoming national championships set for next month. “Getting 380 points was always the plan and as we say, we targeted points not other schools or athletes. We knew what we had.
“Everything went to plan and the plus was that two athletes who we were targeting strong performances, Lashawn Haye in Class Two and Shantae Morgan in Class Three, both did what we expected and that is good for us going forward,” he said.
Renaldo Walcott, the head coach at STETHS, was happy his boys repeated, but admitted the school was still short on depth on the girls side.
“The championships was a good spectacle. As a coach I enjoyed it and was entertained… I was pleased with the girls team’s performance, it’s not nice to come second, but at least we did not slip to third, so its back to the drawing board and see where we went wrong,” he noted.
“We are rebuilding through the younger classes, but our throwers and jumpers delivered and we just need to get back to full strength on the track,” Walcott said of the girls.
Despite winning by a healthy margin on the boys side, he said they still had gaps to fill.
“You can never frown at a victory and we are satisfied, but there are still little things that bothered me as we had only one boy in the Class One 400m final and none in Class Two, so we need to deal with that,” he explained.
Over 20 records were set in the three days with three athletes breaking two each: the Petersfield pair of Antonio Watson and Shaquena Foote, and the Munro Class Two thrower Altwayne Bedward.
Cornwall College’s Owayne Owens and Rusea’s High’s Marney Mussenden were named champion boy and girl, respectively, at the end of the meet.
Owens won the Class One triple jump in a season-best 15.10m and the high jump in a personal best 2.00m, and was second in the long jump in a personal best 7.20m for 25 points. Mussenden scored 20.5 points from winning the Class One long jump and was third in the high jump and javelin competitions.
Boys’ points standing
STETHS 389.5
Petersfield High 286.25
Munro College 165
Cornwall College 159
Rhodes Hall 137
Herbert Morrison 113
Rusea’s High 101.5
Mannings 91
Maggotty 63
Green Island 58
William Knibb 52
Lacovia 36.5
Muschett 29
Frome 28
St James 27.5
BB Coke 21
Irwin 17
Lewisville 16
Merlene Ottey 14
Godfrey Stewart 13
Cedric Titus 12
Spot Valley 12
Aberdeen 12
Sydney Pagon 9
Maldon 8
Green Pond 3.75
Newell 3
Knockalva Technical 1
Girls’ points standing
Rusea’s High 388.25
STETHS 308.25
Petersfield High 210
Mt Alvernia High 164.5
Mannings School 158.5
Maggotty High 105
Lacovia 46.75
Montego Bay High 27.25
Lewisville 27
Cedric Titus 25
Green Island 24
Merlene Ottey 22
Newell High 16
William Knibb 16
Rhodes Hall 14
Grange Hill 14
Spot Valley 13
St James 13
Frome 10.5
Albert Town 10
BB Coke 10
Irwin High 7
Westwood 7
Aberdeen High 5
Hopewell High 4
Muschett High 4
Green Pond 2
Godfrey Stewart 1