Corey Bennett, head coach of dethroned girls’ champions at this year’s ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs), Hydel High, says he is proud of his team’s performance, despite their failure to retain the title.
Hydel, whose preparations were very poor heading into the championships because of a lack of financial assistance, finished runners-up to Edwin Allen High School at the five-day event held at the National Stadium from March 24-28.
The Michael Dyke-coached Edwin Allen tallied 338.5 points to secure the title, finishing ahead of Hydel on 259.5 points. Holmwood (167), Immaculate Conception (110), and St Jago (91) rounded out the top five.
“Once again, we compete with heart and I think that we overperformed in many regards. I also think that, based on the input in terms of resources, I think we punch way above our weight,” said Bennett.
“These girls have heart and the boys did well and I think they all gave a very hearty performance because I thought they dug deep despite the many challenges and I just believe that, if we had more at our disposal, then we could have had a better championships.”
“But no discredit to the champions because they had good championships but I just thought that we surprised ourselves in just how well we were able to compete throughout the five days,” he added.
Hydel also failed to compete at this year’s Central Championships because of a lack of funding.
Limitations
Bennett also highlighted the limitations faced by his programme, particularly in terms of staffing and preparation.
“I can’t tell if we will be stronger but, with more support, we will be able to prepare our athletes much better and we will be able to hire more coaches, because I thought our coaching staff was very meagre based on resources that we had going into the championships,” he stated.
The veteran coach also expressed uncertainty about the team’s participation in the upcoming Penn Relays, citing financial challenges.
“I am really not sure if we are going to the Penn Relays because our earnings from Champs will not be used towards the Penn Relays and this has happened in the past and so I really don’t know and, as it is now, we are not able to go financially,” Bennett explained.
“We are hoping that we can get some assistance to at least go there and defend our 4x400m relay title. But, as it is now, it looks very doubtful for us,” he added. The Penn Relays will be held from April 23-25 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
