Anthony Minott, Freelance Writer

St Benedict's Primary shrugged off a strong challenge from Portmore-based Naggo Head Primary to retain their Institute of Sports (INSPORTS)/Swizzzle Primary Athletic Championships title by 16 points, as the curtains came down on a super meet at the National Stadium on Saturday.

"Somebody asked me what I give the children (to make them perform so well). Love is what I give the children. Give the children love and they will give you the world," said Marlon Tucker, coach of St Benedict's, after the championships. "The kids stuck to the task and they trained very hard. They know how to win a championship and they worked very hard for it."

St Benedict's scored a combined 226.75 points to retain their overall title. Naggo Head placed second with 210 points, while New Providence were relegated to third on 158 points. Angel's Primary (123), Spanish Town (116.75), St Catherine (94), Belmont Primary (85.25), Waterford (80), Portsmouth (74) and Clan Carthy (56) rounded off the top 10.

Naggo Head took the girls' section with 131 points ahead of St Benedict's (112.75), and New Providence (82). St Benedict's secured the boys' section with 114 points, followed by Belmont Park (80) and Naggo Head (79).

There were a number of double winners at the meet, including overall champion girl Peta-Gay Williams of St Benedict's and Okahalia Buchanan of Portsmouth, who shared the title. Williams copped the 100m and 200m class one sprint double and Buchanan landed the class three 100m and 150m double with times of 14.46 and 21.89 respectively.

Belmont Park had two double winners, Mario Williams in class one 100m and 200m and Reheem Chambers in the class three 100m and 150m events. Day two and three saw overall champion boy, Carlington Moulton, of St Benedict's, winning the open long and high jumps.

The four-day meet, which started on Wednesday, was laced with devastating performances as records tumbled at regular intervals, particularly on the final day of competition.

Waterford Primary's Yanique McNeil broke an eight-year-old 400m girls class one record, running 1:00.59 seconds to slice two-hundredths of a second off the old mark set by Julia Smith. St Catherine Primary's Roje Jackson-Chin shattered the 300m mark, scorching home in 43.78 seconds. The previous record was 44.21. Three schools went below the 800m sprint medley open boys' record of 1:58.23 seconds. Spanish Town now hold the new mark with 1:57.15, followed by St Catherine 1:57.64 and Excelsior 1:57.72. St Benedict's had to produce a record 54.00 run to beat Naggo Head in the girls' 4x100m, the latter running 54.21, also under the old mark. Angel's Natalie Whyte won the 300m class two event in 45.30, being pushed by St Benedict's Chanelle Morrison who timed 45.51. The record coming into champs was 45.91 seconds. Whyte actually broke the record during the heats, running below 45 seconds. St Benedict's broke the 4x200m girls open final, running 1:50.49 seconds.

Angel's warmed the hearts of spectators, with wins in the boys' 4x100m and the 4x200m, the latter a record 1:45.59 seconds, with Jevaun Rattray on both teams. Rattray, the new 200m boys' record holder, ran 24.0 seconds in the heat of the event. He unfortunately has no individual medals to show, after false starting in the 100m semi-final and suffering breathing problems before the 200m final and did not run.