INSIDE GRENADA Tuesday February 27,2007 by Lester Smith Queens Park, ST.GEORGE'S: Although it is considered a successful 1st Day of Athletics Championships in the 27th Annual Scotia Bank Secondary Schools Games, questions still hang in the minds of many athletic enthusiast as to the decline in the performance of the various athletes. Is it because of the change in the athletic calendar thus affecting the preparation of the athletes? Is it because there is a lack of appropriate facilities for training? What about the extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors? How about the coaches and managers, do they still feel committed to the task? What about the organizers, has much been done to promote the event? Careful studies in the comparison of the performances of the athletes after Day One revealed that the distances and times of the various events were quite noticeable far from the actual records set these events. Such events as: Boys Javelin Throw for Seniors, the Gold Medal was won by Kenton Olive of Mc Donald College, a distance of 54.32 metres, the record for that event is 65.22 metres set way back in 1994. Similar trends can be observed in the 1500 metres Senior Girls. The Gold Medal went to Taheria Clarke of Happy Hill in a time of 5.22.60 secs. As compared to the record, 4.49.90 secs. And the story goes on…. It must be noted however, that there was definitely keen rivalry from the various participating schools. Defending Champions in the Girls Division, St. Joseph Convent St. Andrew’s has an uphill task to retain their title as they finished the day on 25 points and ranked third some 25 points behind current leaders St. David’s Catholic Secondary who is on 50 points. Ranked second is Happy Hill on 30 points. In the Boys Division: Defending Champions Mc Donald College has a lot to contend with as they end the day ranked second to a strong team performance from St. Andrew’s Anglican Secondary School. S.A.A.S.S. is leading on 63 points while M.D.C. trails them on 58 points. Both schools are way ahead of the other contenders. In fact the third ranked school is Westerhall Secondary on 16 points.