Minister of Sports, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange (centre), shares a happy moment with members of the Naggo Head Primary School track and field team, after handing over the Institute of Sports/Swizzzle Primary Athletic Championship trophy to the Portmore-based institution's winning team at the National Stadium on Saturday. - Anthony Minott/Freelance Photographer

Naggo Head finally reaped reward for the wholesome and dedicated effort that led to the Portmore-based institution winning their first Primary Schools Athletic Championship title.

"It was a long and rocky road full of potholes but we've finally made it," said an elated Floretta Plummer, the school's coach.

"When I took over the school in 1998 we were ranked 48th at Champs and now we are number one.

"We spent a lot on the programme. We have six coaches and 90 per cent of the teachers are directly involved in some sort of way with the team," Plummer pointed out.

They amassed 208.5 points to dethrone two-time champions St Benedict's by a close 6.5 points (202) at the National Stadium, as the curtains came down on Saturday on the record-breaking Institute of Sports (INSPORTS)/ Swizzzle meet.

Other top 10 finishers were New Providence, 127, Lawrence Tavern, 97, Portsmouth, 70, Angel's, 65, St Patrick's, 67, Belmont Primary, 65, Spanish Town, 58 and St Catherine, 55.

Coach happy but ...

Naggo Head won the girls section with 122.5 points, followed by St Benedict's, 108, and Portsmouth 51. St Benedict's claimed the boys' crown with 94 points. They were trailed by Naggo Head, 86, and New Providence 80.

Naggo Head coach, Floyd Coke, was happy but thought his team should have won by a wider margin.

"I thought after being second and third so many times it would have been much sweeter to finally win Primary Champs," Coke said with mixed feelings.

"We should have won by more points but because we were disqualified in some events and a few mishaps by our athletes caused the championship to be this close," he said.

He thanked Plummer for investing time and money into the programme, as well as the coaching staff and all the teachers who threw their support behind the team.

"We couldn't have done it without our principal. This victory is really for her," he said.

Fourteen records were broken, including both 800m boys' and girls' open events. Balmagie's Orville Dixon (2:17.38) and Lisa Buchanan (2:29.20) set new marks in the two-lap events.

Andrewnette Knight, of Morant Bay established the girls Class One 400m record in 59.27, Naggo Head's Akeem Powell cleared 1.53m to set new record in the boys high jump open and Akeeno Minott of St Benedict's broke the long jump boys open record with a 5.26m leap.

Records smashed

Additionally, six relay records were smashed including Naggo Head girls' 4x100m Class One 51.04 clocking.

One of the highlights of the meet occurred when Alandria Dawkins 20.59 beat her twin sister, Aleeaha (20.66), in a Gregory Park one-two finish in the Class Three girls 150m. Aleeaha had earlier won the girls 100m.

Nicardo Phidd of St Benedict's and Raheem Chambers of Belmont Park took sprint doubles.

Phidd won the Class One boys 100m in 12.93 seconds, a lot slower than his 12.50 secs. clocking in the heats. He also won the 200m in a personal best 25.09 secs, beating Naggo Head's Kyno Blackwood (25.44) and New Providence Selvin Seanie (25.46).

Chambers won the Class Two 100m and 200m. Chambers scored an upset 12.96 win over new record holder, Raje Ferron of St Francis 13.09. Ferron had clocked 12.72 in the semi-final.

St Benedict's gave Naggo Head a scare after opening up a 20-plus point lead on the final evening, but Naggo Head responded like champions, tallying 29 points in two events, almost immediately. Shemar Nairne and Akeem Powell landed the 70m hurdles boys open quinela, while the girls' Abigail Bryan and Daniel Dunn took second and third, respectively, behind Morant Bay's outstanding athlete, Andrewnette Knight.

St Benedict's won the last two events, the girls and boys 4x200m Open final, but Naggo Head captured important points in both to land a memorable victory.