St. Benedict’s and Ratnayake MMV, Walala overall champs
Bens in action
St. Benedict’s College, Colombo and A. Ratnayake MMV, Walala emerged Overall Champions in the Boys and Girls categories for the second year in succession at the All Island Schools Relay Championships concluded at the Duraiappah Stadium in Jaffna last weekend.
Benedictine athletes exhibited their prowess in the schools athletics to dominate proceedings in the Relay Championship to come out with 83 points to win the Boys Overall Championship with Maris Stella College, Negombo placing second with 71 points. A. Ratnayake MMV Walala occupied the third position with 60 points.
It was a clean sweep by A. Ratnayake MMV, Walala in the Girls section to accumulate 112 points and was way ahead of Sir John Kothalawala MV, Kurunegala finished with 66 points to be in the second spot followed by Sumana Balika Vidyalaya in the third place with 42 points.
Bens also won the Under-18 overall championship by gold medal winning performances in 4x100m, 4x 200m and medley relay while securing the second place in one-lap relay. Bens won gold in the 4x200m and medley relay and silver in sprint relay in Under-20 category and were unfortunate to be disqualified and missed out the silver in 4x400m relay. The reason given was that Bens last leg runner ran into the runner from Bandaranaike College Gampaha, however video evidence clearly showed that Bens runner was in front at the bend and runner from Bandaranaike College runner came from inside and bumped into Bens runner, pushing him a bit further out before he was able to come back in. But judges were not ready to reverse their decision.
St. Benedict's receving the main title
In the Under-16 age group Bens won the Gold in sprint relay and again was disqualified in 4x200m and missed out the silver medal due to the blunder made by the track judge who was shown an incorrect stagger and kept the third lap athlete on the wrong place.
Bens junior team collected a well-deserved Bronze Medal in 4x50m in Under-12 age group. The Bens have already won the Saints’ Quadrangular Athletic Meet, Colombo Zonal, Western Province and were runners up in senior John Tarbat Athletic Meet in 2017 season.
Damp track due to rain on the second day made things difficult for athletes as the first lane was in poor condition and most of the athletes opted to run in other lanes after the second leg of the 400 meters relays. Several athletes slipped in the muddied field which hampered the athletes from giving a better performance in the meet .
The lasses and lads from Walala clinched first places in eight relays and ended 1st and second runners-up in four events and were awarded the Best Mixed Schools Overall Champions Trophy, awarded for the first time.The three day event was conducted by the Ministry of Education and sponsored by Nestle Lanka Ltd. was participated by over 5000 athletes from 164 schools in the Boys category and 138 schools in the Girls category.
Walala A. Ratnayake Central leading one of the events
AGE GROUP CHAMPIONS:
Boys
- Under-12: 1. Trinity College, Kandy (20);
- 2. Maris Stella College, Negombo (14), 3. Rahula College, Matara (5)
- Under-14: 1. St. Peter’s College, Colombo (22), 2. Rahula College, Matara (16),
- 3. St. Joseph’s College, Colombo (15)
- Under-16: 1. Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya (30), 2. Trinity College, Kandy (15), 3. S. Thomas’, Mt. Lavinia (14)
- Under-18: 1. St. Benedict’s, Kotahena (38),
- 2. A. Ratnayake MMV, Walala (25), 3. Royal College, Colombo (21)
- Under-20: 1. Maris Stella College, Negombo (41), 2. St. Benedict’s College, Kotahena (29), 3. A. Ratnayake MMV, Walala (23)
Girls
- Under-12: 1.Ave Maria Convent, Negombo (15), 2. Mahamaya BV, Kandy (14),
- 3. Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya (10)
- Under-14: Janadhipathi BV, Nawala (27),
- 2. Sri Ratnapala MV, Mahaussawewa (17),
- 3. Sumana BV, Ratnapura (14)
- Under-16: 1. Sir John Kothalawala MV, Kurunegala (37), 2. A. Ratnayaka MMV, Walala (20), 3. Good Shepherd Convent, Kandy (12)
- Under-18: 1. A. Ratnayake MMV, Walala (45), 2. Sir John Kothalawala MV, Kurunegala (29), 3. Musaeus College, Colombo (21)
- Under-20: A. Ratnayake MMV, Walala (47),
- 2. Ambagamuwa Central (31), 3. Sumana BV, Ratnapura (21)
- Lakshman Ranasinghe;
Pix Samantha Perera
The winning Bens Senior team
The victorious Walala A. Ratnayake Under-18 team