Toco Secondary and Queen's Royal College (QRC) are leading the standings after day one of the Walcott/Lendore/Ahye North Regionals Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo Port-of-Spain on Tuesday.
In the girls' competition, the Toco team is on 95 points with Bishop Anstey High on 75 and Bishop Anstey East on 58. In the boys' title race, QRC is out front on 87 points followed by El Dorado East (52) and Fatima College (38).
Michelle Lyons got Toco off to a winning start taking the first title of the day, taking the girls' Open hammer with a distance of 17.58 metres. Lyons was among some 20 athletes to attain the qualifying standards for the National Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships at the Hasely Crawford Stadium from February 20-21.
Heading the list of qualifiers were Kayleigh Forde (St Joseph's Convent-Port of Spain) and Kyrell Thomas (St Francis Boys) who were among four athletes who also surpassed the qualifying standards for this year's Carifta Games set for Grenada from March 30 to April 2.
Forde, the 2022 Carifta girls' Under-17 1500m silver medallist, won the girls 17 and over 1,500m in 4:57.77 to dip under the 5:15.00 National finals and 4:59.15 Carifta girls' U-20 standards.
Thomas took the boys' 17 and over 400m in 48.34, which was quicker than the 49.00 (National) and 48.48 (Carifta boys' U-20) barriers.
Vincent twins, Tenique and Tyrique, were the other Carifta qualifiers. Tenique (Bishop Anstey) recorded a personal best (pb) distance of 5.83in the long jump component of the girls' 15 and over pentathlon to go beyond the 5.25/5.42 qualifying distances. The 2023 North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) U-18 heptathlon silver medallist is leading the pentathlon with 2,165 points which concludes later Wednesday with the shot put, high jump and 800m.
Tenique also won the girls' U-17 100m hurdles in 15.11 seconds (16.00).
Fatima College student Tyrique similarly got over the boys' U-17 long jump with 5.90m and 6.34 qualifiers with a pb of 7.02m in the long jump discipline of the boys' 15 and over heptathlon. He is also leading the multi-event after day one with 2,963 points. The heptathlon continues Wednesday with the high, javelin, and 800m. Tyrique also won the boys' U-17 high jump equalling the National Finals standard of 1.70m.
Peyton Winters (San Juan North Secondary) was also among the National Finals qualifiers on the first day. The reigning NACAC U-18 shot put champion took the girls' U-17 discus (32.60) and javelin (31.89). Adriana Quamina of North Eastern (Girls 17 and over discus), Bishop Anstey East duo of Isis Gaskin of Bishop Anstey East (Girls 17 and over 1,500m) and Karissa Williams in the girls' U-15 javelin as well as the top three in the girls' U-15 60m hurdles. Nyla Kerr (San Juan North), Reyann Graham (Tunapuana Secondary) and Janicia Morris (Bishop Anstey all booked their spots in the February 20-21 national finals.
Joshua Gonzalez of Sangre Grande Education Centre and El Dorado East took the top two spots in the boys' 17 and over long jump in National Finals qualifying performances. So did, Mickael Serrette of Arima North Central and Jamal Bailey of Diego Martin North in the boys' U-15 1,500m. Fatima's Mikhal did the mark for the boys' U-15 400m.
Action in the Walcott/Lendore/Ahye North Regionals Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships continues with the second of the three-day meet Wednesday with the 5,000m (Boys' Open), the 800m and 200m (all age groups), boys' U-17 long jump, boys' 17 and over javelin, boys' U-15 shot put, girls' U-17 high jump, boys' U-13 shot put and long jump, boys' U-15 long jump, girls' U-17 shot put and girls' U-17 discus.
The Walcott/Lendore/North Regionals are the second of three qualifying meets for students seeking to compete in the National Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships. The first, the Richards/Cedenio/Borel South Regionals were held on January 24 and 25 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. The Stewart/Quow/Baptiste Tobago Regionals are set for the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet is scheduled for February 7-8.