– Sanmoogan, DeSantos named Champion athletes

A strong University of Guyana (UG) team was dominant in their overall win at the inaugural Brij Parasnath National College Athletics Championships which was run off at the National Track and Field Centre (NTFC), Leonora, West Coast Demerara on Saturday.

Both UG athletes, Osafa DeSantos and Ruth Sanmoogan were declared as Champion “Male and Female” athletes, respectively, However, Emmanuel Archibald (UG) and Chantoba Bright (Mackenzie High School) were also impressive in their respective events.

UG topped the twelve competing Academic and Training Institutions to finish with 328 points. They were followed by Leonora Technical and Vocational Institute (100), Sophia Training Centre (77), New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI) and Vryman’s Ervin Training Centre joint fourth with 63 each, Linden Technical Institute (43), Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) (40), Mackenzie High School (36), New Amsterdam Secondary (23), Georgetown American University (18), St Roses High (17) and President’s College (15).

DeSantos, who won the shot put and discus, was second in the high jump and javelin with 36 points while Sanmoogan was the leading female with 38 points. She registered a unique triple with heart-warming victories in the 100, 200 and 400 metres and was second in the long jump.

In the 100-metre dash, Sanmoogan was unchallenged and clocked a winning time of 12.41 secs. She finished ahead of Tonya Rawlins (Leonora TI) 12.51s and Kim Chan (UK) 13.40s.

In the 200m, Sanmoogan was impressive as she staved off the challenges of Rawlins and Bright who led briefly. Sanmoogan clocked 25.27 secs for the gold while Rawlins (25.66s) and Bright (25.74s) had to settle for silver and bronze respectively.

Meanwhile, Archibald missed the 100m which was won by his UG teammate Owen Adonis in 10.87s. However, Archibald showed his class with a comfortable victory in the 200m, cruising home in 21.49s ahead of Daniel Williams (21.59s) and Adonis (21.83s).

Archibald followed up his 200m victory with another gold medal in the long jump with a leap of 8.07m, ahead of Anthony Williams (Leonora TI) 7.00m and Ronaldo Greene (Linden TI) 6.40m.

Bright was brilliant with gold medal performances in the long jump and triple jump events. She registered 6.27 metres in the long jump and was engaged in a tussle with Sanmoogan who had to accept the silver with a leap of 6.04m.

Bright was just too good in the triple jump and claimed the gold medal with 12.23m.

The Brij Parasnath NCAC is set to become an annual fixture which will be organized and run off by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG).