LEADER OF THE PACK: Athletes compete yesterday on day one of the BAISS Track and Field Championships at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

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 Queens 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 Augustines 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 years title as the St Annes Blue Waves stand in third with 132 points, the St Johns 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 Andrews 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 Machines 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 Johns (54.94), Marrisa White of SAC (56.62) and Tyler Gray of St Annes (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 SACs Otto Laing in first place at 53.42, the Comets Antonio Bethel at 54.24 and SACs 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 Queens 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 Johns (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 http://www.tekresults.net

The Comets are currently ahead of last years 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.

Continued here:

Comets Strike On Day 1 - Bahamas Tribune