Myrie: KC will dig deep
Principal highlights importance of school’s motto at Champs celebration
Published:Tuesday | April 4, 2023 | 1:08 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
Dave Myrie, principal of Kingston College (KC), has warned rivals to never underestimate the abilities of a student athlete based at the institution. Myrie was speaking at yesterday’s victory parade as the school celebrated its 34th boys’ title at the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs).
Myrie said his group were aware of the ‘pre-champs’ predictions that implied that KC could either finish without the title or win by a slight edge at the end of the five-day track meet. He believes these predictions added to their determination to retain the Mortimer Geddes Trophy.
“It wasn’t anything personal going into the championships, but we were looking at all of what the analysts were saying about how KC were going to lose or we were just going to win by two points and all of that and we were here, in KC, just shaking our heads and laughing.
“Never bet against KC because when it comes to championships we are going to dig deep, we are going to fight as our motto states ‘the brave may fall but never yield’. When we get on the field of play, we go out there to win,” Myrie stated.
Head coach of the KC team, Leaford Grant, said that despite the challenges he was pleased with the efforts of his boys throughout the championships. Coach Grant added that annually his coaching team meticulously goes through the process of putting together a squad that will generate over 300 points.
“We couldn’t have asked for anything more. It was a challenging year for us but we managed to persevere. We are happy that this year we made fewer mistakes and some of the youngsters stepped up, some who we didn’t expect to, and they really made us proud,” coach Grant said.
Isaiah Patrick, who was instrumental in his team’s championship run won the gruelling decathlon event amassing a total of 6,969 points. In his second event, the pole vault, Patrick secured the silver medal. Despite those strong showings, he felt he could have done a little more for his team.
“It felt good but I know I could have done way better. In the decathlon, I wanted to score 7,500 points and I could have done that if I executed properly as I think I was under a bit of pressure. Overall, I feel very good because last year I didn’t deliver many points, but this year I was able to deliver 19,” Patrick stated.
Ainsley Campbell, captain of the distance team, who secured gold in both the Class One 1500 and 2000 metres steeplechase, said having a knowledge of his past struggles makes him savour his performances for 2023 a bit more.
“It’s a great feeling to be part of this team as words can’t explain what I’m going through right now because I know where I’m coming from and all I had to do to reach where I’m at right now. At Champs by Wednesday evening heading into Thursday, we knew we already had the championship in the bag,” Campbell said.