Cassian House wins the overall championship at St. Benedict’s Sports Meet

View(s):

With an overall tally of 572 points, Cassian House emerged champions of the Inter-House Athletic Meet of St. Benedict’s College held at the Sugathadasa Stadium recently. With the win, Cassian House claimed the Rev. Bro. Cyrillus Alexander Memorial Challenge Shield presented to the overall champions.

The Inter-House Athletic Meet of St. Benedict’s College was held in true Olympic Style with a high level of participation of the students. The overall champions, Cassian House, faced stiff battle from Camillus House, who ended up as runners-up with a tally of 561 points. Camillus House won the Rev. Bro. Baptist Croos Memorial Challenge Shield presented to the overall runners-up.

Closing Ceremony and Sports Parade

Angelo Fonseka was the topmost athlete among performers, as he walked away with the Justin Dias Challenge Trophy presented to the Most Outstanding Performance of the Meet. Representing Camillus House, Angelo clocked 22.7secs in the Under-20 200m event, thus also becoming the Best Sprinter of the Meet.

Steve Fernando, also of Camillus House, became the Best Thrower of the Meet for his performance of 10.89m in the Under-20 Shot Putt event. Andrew Akash of Cassian House became the Best Hurdler of the Meet after clocking 15.7secs in the Under-20 100m Hurdles event.

Cassian House receiving the Championship Shield

The Best Long Distance performance came from Kavindu Jayamanne, who competed in the Under-18 800m event and finished it in style within 1minute and 58.4secs. The Best Junior Track Athlete of the Meet award was won by Sithiya Gimhan of Claude House while the Best Junior Field Athlete of the Meet award went to Y. Thulastigan of Luke House. Janidu Kumara of Cassian House won the Road Race event.

Vishal Kavindu of Cassian House became the Under-20 champion while Kalana Jayamanne of Claude House became the best among the Under-18s. Kalana Kuruppu of Camillus House was the best among Under-17 athletes while the Under-16 title went to Sadew Dahamsa of Cassian House, Sinura Salgado of Claude House, Akain Munasinghe of Cassian House and Dison Yuhas of Cassian House respectively won the best athlete’s award in the Under-14, Under-13 and Under-12 segments.

In the past year, St. Benedict’s College reinforced their position and standing as one of the best schools for athletics in the country. In 2023, the Benedictines established 14 college records, six provincial records and two all-island records. The architect of the success of Benedictine athletes is the most dedicated, committed and hardworking master-in-charge and head coach Nuwan Abeywickrema.

Under-14 Shot Putt event medal presentation

Abeywickrema is a past Benedictine athlete and a member of the All-Island Schools Athletics champion team of 2007. He represented Sri Lanka and won medals for the country at South Asian Junior Athletic Championships. He is ably assisted by coaches for jumping, throwing and hurdling with Weerakkody, Jayakody and Yasasiri in the positions. These three assistant coaches were national champions in their respective events and represented
Sri Lanka.

The performance of the athletes was of a high standard as expected from one of the top schools for athletics in Sri Lanka. The chief guest for the event was a distinguished Old Benedictine S.M.Y. Seneviratne, Deputy Inspector of Police (Police Cadet Range). The Meet was attended by Rev. Brothers, teachers, parents, old boys and students.