Xea Bruce, Janae De Gannes and Devonte St Hillaire were among the standout athletes at the National Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships, held at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago, last week.

Bruce received the Victrix Ludorum trophy for the top female athlete at the meet, the Toco Secondary student earning 30 points from her three wins in the girls’ under-17 category. She topped the 100 metres hurdles in 15.87 seconds, crushed her rivals in the 400m with a 58.53 run, and clocked one minute, 04.28 seconds for a runaway victory in the 400m hurdles. Bruce was a key contributor to Toco’s champion school success. Toco accumulated 391 points for a mere one-point cushion on Bishop’s High School Tobago, the runners-up with 390. Scarborough Secondary (331) finished a distant third. Completing the top ten were Signal Hill Secondary (230), Bishop Anstey High School (BAHS) Port of Spain (195), El Dorado West Secondary (166), Fatima College (132), Queen’s Royal College (122), BAHS East (120) and Holy Cross College (119).

Toco also captured the girls’ team title with 250 points, while Bishop’s Tobago earned 209 for top spot among the boys. The medal table was topped by Bishop’s Tobago – 16 gold, 11 silver and five bronze. Scarborough were second best with 12 gold medals, 12 silver and seven bronze.

De Gannes earned two individual gold medals for BAHS Port of Spain. The 13-year-old student won the girls’ under-15 200m in 25.62 seconds and the long jump with a big 5.33 metres leap. De Gannes missed out on 100m gold by just one-hundredth of a second, clocking 12.42 to earn silver. The winner, Woodbrook Secondary’s Janika Jordan stopped the clock at 12.41.

St Hillaire was presented with the Victor Ludorum trophy as the top male scorer at the meet. The Scarborough Secondary student completed his campaign with boys’ under-13 long jump gold, 200m silver and 400 silver for a total of 26 points. St Hillaire’s winning leap in the long jump was 3.62m.

Gianna Paul was also outstanding at the Championships. She was particularly impressive in the girls’ under-15 high jump, the ElDo West athlete taking gold with a 1.72m clearance. Paul was also golden in the 60m hurdles, getting to the line in 9.78 seconds.

Another standout at the meet was Wesley Rampersad. The Iere High School student topped the boys’ over-17 1500m and 5,000m events. He clocked 4:21.16 in the 1500 and 16:55.54 in the longer race.