Mona trounce fellow campuses at Usain Bolt Complex

THE University of the West Indies, Mona Campus obliterated the opposition to win the Track & Field competition for the 2017 edition of the Inter-Campus Games at the Usain Bolt Sports Complex.

Taking the top spot in every event they participated in except the Men’s Open 100m and 200m races, Mona was unstoppable on both the track and the field. Mona finished with a total of 410 points, UWI Blackbirds was second on 234, St. Augustine was third with 188 and UWI Open Campus placed fourth with 104.

The women’s division was solid for Mona as they took the top two spots in nine of the 11 individual events for the day. It was not one athlete who dominated the day’s proceedings, but a combination of the whole Mona team. Isheka Binns was the field event bully as she finished the day with an impressive three gold medals. She won the Shot Put with a put of 14.56m, won the Javelin with a throw of 35.47m and finally, the Discus with a toss of 55.44m.

Natrena Hooper and Jodean Williams were the only female competitors for the Mona Campus to take two individual golds at the games. Williams won the 200m and 400m Open races with times of 23.21 and 53.07 seconds respectively. Hooper made her impact on the field in the jumps with gold in the High Jump and then went on to win the Long Jump as well. Her High Jump performance was outstanding as she left the competition far behind to leap over a mark of 1.79m. In the Long Jump, her jump of 5.38m was enough to take home the number 1 spot.

Mona’s Xian George-Reid was the fastest woman on the track as she out-leaned her counterpart Milissa Fletcher at the line to clock a time of 12.47, with Fletcher finishing in 12.51 seconds. Danae David was third in a time of 12.57 for St. Augustine. Nickiesha Grant of Mona won the 1500m race in fine fashion in a time of 5:26.67 minutes with Toni Bailey crossing the line second in a time of 5:38.44. Bailey may have been keeping something in reserve and was later crowned with gold after she took down Grant in the 3000m race. She won in a time of 15:43.49 and Grant was second in 15:55.49 minutes.

In the Men’s category, the domination on the Ryan Brathwaite Track on a warm overcast day continued. Winning all but two of the events, Mona were well ahead of second-place UWI Blackbirds. Delano Rochester, Emmanuel Archibald and Frederick Dacers were the top athletes of the day for Mona, along with Fallon Forde of the UWI Blackbirds. Rochester was the distance boss and went on to place first in the 1500m in a time of 4:14.30 minutes and the 5000m in 16:55.46 minutes. Archibald made his claim to fame with two top-class jumps in the Men’s Long Jump and Triple Jump events. He took to the air and glided a distance of 7.49m in the Long Jump and finished with gold in the Triple Jump after a leap of 13.85m.

Dacers was the name to talk about after the throws during the Inter-Campus Games. He was the one to beat, but no one stood a chance. He threw four metres more than his nearest rival, Kesean Rowe of UWI St. Augustine, in the Shot Put. His throw of 19.87m was as impressive as an athlete could get, but then he backed it up with a first-place performance in the Discus. His distance of 64.40m was more than 13 metres ahead of his teammate, Zaavan Richards.

Fallon Forde of UWI Blackbirds saved the other campuses from a clean sweep by the Mona athletes. He was outstanding in the 100m Open Men’s Sprint and then edged Shadrique Griffiths at the line in the 200m. Forde ran a time of 10.59 seconds in the 100m, beating out Zandre Blake of Mona in 10.65 seconds. For the 200m, it was a closer affair with Griffiths pushing him all the way to the line. Forde’s time was 21.44 just ahead of Griffiths with 21.45 seconds. (AS)