By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net    

It was a red letter day as St Augustine’s College yesterday honoured its athletes and swimmers for their stellar performances at its annual Bahamian Day celebrations on its campus of Bernard Road and Prince Charles Drive.

Principal Marici Thompson said it was important for the student body to share in the excitement that the 24 members from the Big Red Machine’s track team and two swimmers did as members of Team Bahamas in Trinidad & Tobago over the Easter holiday weekend.

The event capped off a week of activities that included Bahamian games in Red Square, Bahamian pastries were sold and a Bahamian tuck shop day.

“Today is our annual Bahamian Day and so we choose to celebrate all things Bahamian,” she said. “We have a culture show, Timico ‘Sawyer Boy’ Sawyer is our guest speaker and Preston ‘Puzzle’ Wallace is our entertainer.

“We also use this opportunity to celebrate our track and field athletes,” she said. “We wanted to honour all of those athletes and swimmers who won medals at BAISS meets and we also wanted to celebrate our CARIFTA athletes and swimmers before their peers.

“We wanted the students to show their appreciation to them and or those who are aspiring to become athletes or are athletes and didn’t make it, they can get a chance to see what it’s like to be one of our athletes we celebrate.”

Each member on the CARIFTA team received personal portraits of themselves in red frames designed and created by SAC’s public relations officer Asheka Culmer, who noted they will be placed on SAC’s Wall of Fame in Red Square.

Jason Edwards, head of the Physical Education Department, said all of the athletes, including those honoured for their participation in the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools’ track and field championships, deserve the recognition they got.

“They put in some hard work this year within the coaches,” Edwards said. “But there’s some more big things to come in the future from these athletes.”

He noted that the world got to see the resilience of the Big Red Machine after Jachario Wilson dropped the baton on the first leg, but regained it, got back into the race and Neely was able to cap it off with a tremendous come-from-behind on the anchor leg. 

The other two members on the team were Jireh Woodside and Dylan Simon.

Wilson and Neely also highlighted Team Bahamas’ second place finish with 37 medals, including 16 gold, 13 silver and eight bronze. Wilson picked up a pair of gold in the under-17 boys’ 110 and 400m hurdles and Neely struck for a double in the 200 and 400m. They both also ran on the winning 4 x 100 and 4 x 400m relays for four gold each.

Neely, a 16-year-old 10th grader, said seeing everybody cheering for them when their names were called was very heartwarming.

“To bring back all those gold medals from CARIFTA was very exciting,” he said. “I’m so glad that we were able to have this celebration to share the experience with our friends at school.”

On his performance at Penn, Neely said it was his “confidence in my hard work” that enabled him to go out there and do his best. 

But if he had to choose one over the other, he said it would have been the trip to Trinidad.

“I must admit that after I watched Jahcario fall on the first leg, I was ‘oh boy,’ how are we going to get back in this race,” he said. “But after watching Jireh and Dylan do their thing, I just knew I had to bring it home.”

Wilson, a 15-year-old 10th grader, said it felt good that he went over there and did his best. 

He thanked the principal and the school for recognising him and his team-mates for their accomplishments.

“The crowd was live and my team-mates gave me a lot of support, especially Eagan Neely,” Wilson said. 

As for Penn, Wilson said he was proud of his team-mates for their best and picking up the slack after he had his misfortune at the beginning.

Darvinique Dean, representing the female competitors, noted that she and her team-mates were just as elated as Neely and Wilson for the gesture shown by the school. 

“I’m happy that we are being saluted by our SAC family. This is the best school and came out to support us,” she stated. “So I’m very happy for all of us on the team.”

On a personal note, it wasn’t the type of performance that Dean anticipated in Trinidad. She didn’t get a medal in her individual event in the under-20 girls 400m hurdles, but she did as she anchored the 4 x 400m relay team of Kei-Mahri Hanna, Makaiah Hiutchman and A’Karee Roberts to the bronze.

“It didn’t go as planned for me in my individual event, but I knew I had to bring home a medal for my country in the relay,” she insisted. “We got the bronze, so I’m very happy.”

At Penn, the 17-year-old Dean, now in grade 11, said an injury prevented her from competing in the final after she helped the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays.