The 2019 Trinidad and To­ba­go Sec­ondary Schools’ Track & Field (TTSSTF) Cham­pi­onships be­gan with aplomb at the Hasley Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Mu­cu­rapo yes­ter­day. The two-day event will con­tin­ue to­day and based on what was seen yes­ter­day, the in­tense com­pe­ti­tion from stu­dents from 96 schools, rep­re­sent­ing eight dis­tricts across Trinidad and To­ba­go is ex­pect­ed to be very com­pet­i­tive.

In the Over-17 Boys 100 me­tres event, last year's Na­tion­al cham­pi­on Tyrel Ed­wards of To­co Sec­ondary had to set­tle for sec­ond be­hind his Na­tion­al team-mate Kion Ben­jamin of St. An­tho­ny's Col­lege. Ben­jamin clocked the time of 10.53 sec­onds dip­ping be­low the Carif­ta stan­dard.

This is the sec­ond time that Ben­jamin has gone un­der the re­quired Carif­ta time. Ed­wards fin­ished in a time of 10.65 with Do­minic Cole of Queen's Roy­al Col­lege in third with a time of 10.72.

It was very close in the Over-17 Girl's 100 me­tres event which saw

Ak­i­lah Lewis of Bish­ops Anstey Port- of -Spain win­ning in a pho­to-fin­ish from Ay­la Stanis­laus with Leah Bertrand third. Lewis reg­is­tered the time of 11:93 sec­onds while Stanis­laus who rep­re­sent­ed Rox­bor­ough Sec­ondary and came in­to the fi­nal with the fastest time fin­ished sec­ond in a time of 11:96 sec­onds. Be­tre­and reg­is­tered the time of 12:47 sec­onds.

The sprints con­tin­ued to churn out up­set vic­to­ries and Devin Au­gus­tine of Ves­signy Sec­ondary out-ran the Un­der 17 100 Boys favourite Sha­keem McK­ay of Queen's Roy­al Col­lege in an­oth­er nail-bit­ing fin­ish. The for­mer got to the line in 10.85 sec­onds and got be­low the re­quired Carif­ta mark of 10.90 sec­onds. An­tho­ny Di­az of Point Fortin East Sec­ondary was third in a time of 11.21.

The Un­der-17 Girls sprint had no such prob­lem as Ka­res­sa Kir­ton of Prov­i­dence win­ning im­pres­sive­ly in a time of 12.14 sec­ond but the time was out­side the time of 11:80 re­quired to make it on the Carif­ta plane for the Cay­man Is­lands. Jay­cel Bai­ley of Point Fortin West Sec­ondary was sec­ond in the time of 12.69 sec­onds with Ja­da Duprey of Prov­i­dence in third in a time of 12:77 sec­onds.

In the Un­der-15 Girls 100 me­tres sprint, Janae De­Gannes of Bish­ops Anstey Port- of- Spain beat her main ri­val Jani­ka 'Hulk' Jor­dan in­to sec­ond with Jernissa Kadoo of Pleas­antville Sec­ondary in third. De­Gannes clocked 12.23 sec­onds for the trip while Jor­dan clocked 12.57 with Kadoo reg­is­ter­ing a time of 13.00sec­onds.

In the Un­der-15 Boys 100 me­tres event Jor­dan Noel looked su­perb as he won im­pres­sive­ly while reg­is­ter­ing the time of 11.70 sec­onds with Mikail By­er of Pre­sen­ta­tion San Fer­nan­do sec­ond in 11.84 sec­onds. Tyrese James of Queen's Roy­al Col­lege in third in the time of 11.91 sec­onds.