By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture’s 2025 Frank “Pancho” Rahming  National Primary Schools Track and Field Championships was deemed a great success.

It was three days of intense competition as the ministry showcased some of the future stars from about 75 schools around the Commonwealth of the Bahamas at the original Thomas A. Robinson Track and Field Stadium.

The meet was held in honour of 80-year-old Rahming, a former assistant director at the ministry, who served as a long-time national coach after he completed his competitive days as a middle distance runner.

It wrapped up yesterday with the crowning of the divisional champions, while the more than 600 athletes demonstrated their prowess in producing some outstanding performances.

No overall champion was crowned, but Temple Christian could hold bragging rights after they emerged with four of the 10 divisional titles. 

Queen’s College walked away with a pair and the others were spread around the other schools. 

Winning the female 13-and-under division was Temple Christian School with 44 points, 10 points ahead of second place finishers Lewis Yard Primary from Grand Bahama with 34. Yellow Elder Primary got third with 22.

Thelma Gibson also accumulated a 10-point margin of victory as they took the female 11-and--under division with 36 points. 

Grand Bahama’s Sunland Baptist Academy and Walter Parker Primary came second and third respectively with 26 and 22 points.

Grace Christian Academy emerged as the champions of the female 9-and-under division in a closely contested matchup with 28 points. Freeport Primary got second with 25 and Albury Sayle Primary made it even more exciting with 21.

Perhaps the closest battle came in the female 9-and-under division where Andros got in the spotlight as Lowe Sound Primary nipped Temple CHristian b y just one point 34-33. Simms Primary School, Green Castle Primary and Palmdale Primary were all right there tied for third with 29.

And in the open female division, it was a run-away train for Temple Christian as they secured the win with 40 points. Freeport Gospel Chapel took second with 28 and Central Andro rounded out the top three with 24.

Ten seemed to be the order of the day as was the case in the male 13-and-under division where Queen’s College emerged with their 34 points victory. Lowe Sound Primary had 24 for second and both Stephen Dillet Temple Christian shared third with 19 apiece.

There was a one-point difference in the male 11-and-under division as Hugh Campbell Primary took the title to Grand Bahama with 23 points, compared to Clara E EVans Primary with 22 for second. Cleveland Eneas came in third with 21.

The lead ballooned back to double figures in the male 9-and-under qs Queen’s College stretched their victory to 35 points, well ahead of Cleveland Eneas with 24. Lowe Sound came third with 23.

Temple Christian also outshined their rivals in the male 7-and-under division with 34 points, but Queen’s C0llege gave them a run for their money with 32 for second. Cleveland Eneas ended up third with 25.

And in the male open division, Celevand Eneas demonstrated their poise as they captured the title with 36 points Stephen Dillet trailed by six with 30 and Freeport Gospel Chapel followed in third with 28

There was only one school registered in the male 13-and-under division with Carlton E Francis racking up 18 points to cart off that crown.

Record breakers

Yesterday’s final day of competition drew the curtain on the meet with all final events where there were a few records broken.

On the track, Elexia Strachan from Temple Christian clocked two minutes and 34.78 seconds to win the girls 13-and-under 800 metres, erasing the 2017 mark set by G’Shan Brown of 2:35.73.

Anna Green of Lewis Yard was a distant second in 2:40.67 and Isabella Munroe of St Andrew’s International was third in 2:40.86.

Xavier Thompson of Freeport Gospel was no match for his rivals as he took the boys 13-and-under 400m in 57.43 to shatter the previous time of 58.06 that Thomontae Curry did in 2018.

Jahree Saunders of Bimini primary was second in 1:00.36 and Chris Dena of Lowe Sound was third in 1:00.68.

Giovanni Bain of Royal Kids Academy was the winner of the boys 7-and-under 400m, but Kamaal Daley of Eva Hilton Primary in 1:22.53 and Tadashi Saunders of Temple Christian in 1:23.48 all went under Lavago Bootle’s previous meet record of 1:23.66 that he posted last year.

And on the field, there was a little bit of excitement as Christian King of Eva Hilton took the title and the meet record with a toss of 61.26m in the boys 11-and-under other throw. 

But Jaleel Bowleg of Queen’s College (59.78m), Taitum Brown of St Andrew;s International (52.56m) and Chaz Cunningham of Temple Christian (52.10m) all throw over the former record of 50.23m that Rohan Culmer set in 2018.

In the other events contested, Andros got to celebrate twice as Chris Dean of Lowe Sound won the boys 13-and-under long jump, soaring 4.79m. Kyrie Campbell of Queen’s College was the runner up with 4.55m and Gary Blysee of Stephen Dillet was third with 4.52m.

Dean’s team-mate Kayshanna Fowler got another outstanding feat for Andros and Lowe Sound Primary as she triumph in the girls 11-and-under other ball throw with her toss of 3.42m. 

Andros also got the runner-up spot as Grace Picktstock of Rozelda Woodside Primary finished with 3.25m and Kenedy Lightbourn of Windsor was third with 3.20m

Walter Parker’s Calayah McDonald and Ky’Zayah Alfred of Sunland Baptist took gold and silver back to Grand Bahama in the girls 11-and-under other ball throw with her heaves of 35.70m and 35.45m respectively. Jurica Black kept third place in New Providence for Thelma Gibson with 33.94m.

Curtain closer

The meet came to a close with the exciting 4 x 400m relays.

In the girls open division, Temple Christian’s quartet of Kailia Symonette, Ravyn Munroe, Deonte Williams and Elexia Strachan posted a wunning time of 4:47.44 in the timed final of three heats.

Freeport Gospel’s team of Rebekkah Saunders, London McPhee, Lailah McPhee and Chardonnay Bethel got second in 4:50.57 and Eva Hilton Primary picked up third in 4:54.93 with the combo of Skylar Pratt, Khaleal Thompson, Sarya Pratt and Kiley Wilson.

And in the boys open 4 x 4m relay, Bradley Davis, Kaydin Thompson, Jaylen McPhee and Fritzell Rigby put their stamp of approval on the title with their winning time of 4:31.02.

Queen’s College picked up second place with the team of Stafford Sweeting, Jadyn Allen, Caiden Bain and Kyrie Campbell in 4:33.09-08  Freeport Gospel took third place to Grand Bahama in 4:34.13 with Giovanni Gibson, Travon Dawkin, Marcian Munroe and Xavier Thompson.