WHO HAS THE STRENGTH IN DEPTH ?
This question will be answered by tomorrow afternoon at the close of the Kiribati Inter-Secondary Schools' Athletics Championships (KISSAC) 2008 ! The fate of the overall competition lies, as in the past eight years, between KGV/EBS and St. Louis. For the past seven years, SLHS has finished ahead. This year at St. Louis, with the departure of many of the big points-getting athletes from Form 7 2007, it has been a re-building process to encourage the new F4 intake to train and be of team value for the next four years.
As with most such Championships, and even more now with the increase in training being done by the competing schools, track events will be worked on and new stars will emerge. Most schools can be expected to work hard with their track athletes. The main difference we have found is that the technical events (all field plus Relays) now play a major role in deciding the fate of the Championship overall.
So we look to obtain good points in the field events contested, i.e. LJ, HJ, and TJ, plus Shot and Discus. The Relays are worth double points (this year the winning team gets 26 points). So to be disqualified is a big points loser ! So the advice has to be (for the 4 x 100) "make the changes quick and smooth but safe !"
A GOOD FIRST DAY.
For St. Louis, today was a good day. Out of the 28 track finals to be decided tomorrow, SLHS will be in 26 ! We also had some success on the field with a number of places in the top three, e.g. OG LJ, OBLJ, IB Discus, OB Discus, OG HJ.
So, to return to the original question, we will see who has the strength in depth !
NEWLY INVOLVED.
A late entry was the team from Kauma Adventist (SDA) School on Abemama (an outer island). They have never participated before, so it will be interesting to see what competition they offer. The Ministry of Education is currently blocking the involvement of outer island Government schools. However, for the Church schools there is no such impediment.
DAY 1 COMMENT.
The weather held and cloud kept off some of the burning ! We planned to start the HJ at 0800, but actually started at 0845, due to a shortage of competitors. The track events were due to start at 0900, but the first 1500m. was gunned off at 1000 !! Thereafter the estimated time schedule was fairly accurate. The last Heat of the OB 4 x 400 finished at 530 pm.
One good thing that was achieved was that the last (OB) LJ finished before they were called for their 4 x 100 ! On Day 2, there should be few clashes.
SAIPAN STARS TO THE FORE !
As you will see when we publish the results, several of the stars from Saipan e.g. David, Raobu, and Tanroo, were successful today. In addition, some athletes who were near Saipan selection obtained big points for their teams, e.g. Banrenga, Terina, Itinikaeti, Bonea, Boitu. There are plenty more chances.
Last Modified on 03/07/2008 20:31