Principal of the Princess Margaret School (PMS), Dr. Colin Greene, pointed to the hard work and dedication of his students and staff following their recent successes at the Cool & Smooth/Joma Inter-Schools Track & Field Championships held over the weekend.
PMS won both the Boys’ and Girls’ categories of the championships which climaxed on Sunday at the YASCO Sports Complex. They amassed 340 points to claim the Girls’ division while compiling 346 points to win the Boys’ category. It is the fourth straight year since the championships restarted in 2021, following the Covid-19 pandemic, that PMS has won both categories.
“I am just happy for the children who went out and worked hard because I think a lot of people underestimate the challenge of trying to win two championships at the same time. Princess Margaret School is the only school that has done that successfully, and consecutively, for years. I am just pleased with the performance of the youngsters who came out and the fine display of athleticism they displayed. I think there was no surprise because they worked hard and when you work hard you end up getting good results,” he said.
St Anthony’s Secondary School (SASS) and Antigua Girls High School (AGHS) were distant second place finishers in the Girls’ category after having both amassed 128 points. Sir Novelle Richards Academy (SNRA) was third with 96 points.
In the Boys’ category, St Joseph’s Academy (SJA) finished second with 148 points with Antigua Grammar School (AGS) in third place with 146 points.
Dr Greene said the school had much better all-round teams for this year’s championships than they did last year.
“When we looked at what happened with us last year and analysed it, a lot of our better runners didn’t run last year because of injury and they were back here this year so we were expecting a dominant performance from them and those star athletes performed up to potential. We also had a number of new athletes who performed outstandingly well in all areas; in the field events and the middle distances,” he said.
“In the middle distances in particular, we had the unveiling of Kiara Francis who was outstanding and she won the 1600 and the 800 meters. The emergence, again, of Geron Henry who we were expecting to peak this year and he did so magnificently, winning four gold medals in the 100, 200, 400 and the 800 meters so we kind of anticipated that we were going to do well,” the principal added.
Rounding off the top five in the Girls’ division are Pares Secondary School (PSS) with 94 points and Glanvilles Secondary School (GSS) with 64 points. In the Boys’ category, Ottos Comprehensive School (OCS) and Clare Hall Secondary School (CHSS) were fourth and fifth with 137 and 112 points respectively.
PMS’ Kasiya Daley was MVP in the U20 Boys Division with gold medals in the 100, 200 and 400 meters while he also won silver in the long jump. The Girls’ equivalent was captured by Cato Jolisa also of PMS. She won gold in the 800, 1500 and 3000 meters event while finishing fourth in the long jump.
In the U17 Boys Division, OCS’ Javon Simon claimed the MVP Prize following first place finishes in the 200 and 400 meters events while winning silver in the 100 meters. Tyra Fenton of St Anthony’s Secondary School was best on show in the Girls’ U17 with first place finishes in the 100, 200 and 400 meters.
Geron Henry of PMS dominated the Boys U15 with gold medals in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 meters with Pares Secondary School’s Marian Whyte claiming the Girls’ equivalent with gold in the long jump, silver in the 100 and 200 and bronze in the 400 meters.
