Luke and Laila McIntyre ensured Harrison College enjoyed the perfect start to the Dasani BSSAC Finals at the Usain Bolt Complex.
The CARIFTA Games-bound brother and sister won their respective distance events in convincing fashion to retain the titles they won last year.
Competing in the first of the day’s three finals, Laila, who also broke the BSSAC 1500m record during zonal action last week, crossed the line in the Open girls’ 3 000 metres in 10:14.07, to smash the record she set last year of 10:34.32 by more than 20 seconds.
Second place went to Alexis Lashley of The St Michael School, with Taryn Sutherland of Combermere finishing third.
“I’’m very happy with the time, I haven’t been doing too well in 3Ks this year, so to be able to do that time just now, I’m very grateful, especially considering that I’m traveling to Grenada next week for the CARIFTA Games. I’m also excited to compete at that event there,” she told Barbados TODAY in an interview.
Having broken two records in less than a week, Laila said she was especially happy with her current form and mindset.
“The performances so far at BSSAC have definitely given me great confidence in my abilities and what I can run next week. I’m very excited to see how I perform and compete against new people that I’ve never raced against before.
“I think last year I was more focused on swimming because I was preparing for CARIFTA swimming but this year, knowing that I was going to the track championships, I realised that I had to step it up and train more and harder and be more consistent, in order to have a good performance at the Games,” Laila said.
The younger of the McIntyre siblings is especially happy to be attending CARIFTA with Luke, with the pair already having represented Barbados at the CARIFTA Swimming and Triathlon Championships.
Luke also dominated the field to win the Open boys’ 5 000 metres in 16:03.07, ahead of Harrison College teammate Zindzele Renwick-Williams and Tamarion Lynch of St George Secondary.
In the day’s remaining final, Davion Thorne ensured that two-time defending boys’ champions Comberemere were back on the podium, by clinching gold in the Under-20 boys’ triple jump.
His leap of 14.00 metres relegated Jaquan Williams of Coleridge and Parry to second (13.87m) and while Lynch captured his second bronze medal of the day with his effort measured at 13.81m.
The other events on a shortened opening day of track finals, were the semis of the 400m in all divisions.
Amira Mayers of Springer Memorial has the fastest qualifying time heading into the Under-13 girls’ final, having clocked 63.69 seconds.
Among the Under-13 boys’, Alex Jones Ifill of St Leonard’s Boys’ topped the list of qualifiers with a time of 58.19 seconds.
Janae Belgrave of Christ Church Foundation booked her spot in the Under-15 girls’ 400m final, with the fastest qualifying time of 59.26 seconds.
The top Under-15 boys’ qualifier was Jalino Hamlet of St Leonard’s Boys’, who eased across the line in 50.72 seconds, having established a new record of 49.28 last week. The CARIFTA Games qualifier looks to have lots left in the tank and could be eying another record in the coming days.
Savannah Thorne of Combermere has the fastest qualifying time going into the Under-17 girls’ 400m final after clocking 59.08 seconds, while in the boys’ equivalent, Khalil Bryan of Alleyne stopped the clock in 50.83 seconds to lead the pack into the final.
Krystal Bentham of Comberemere is the favourite ahead of the Under-20 girls’ 400m final and lived up to expectations by qualifying fastest in 55.95 seconds. Shamari Greenidge-Lewis of St George Secondary qualified fastest for the boys’ final in 47.34 seconds, just ahead of Nadal Seale of Combermere, who crossed the line in 47.71 seconds.
