St.Peter’s and Lyceum champions in Western Province meet

St. Peter’s College Bambalapitiya outclassed several athletic power houses such as Mari’s Stella College Negombo and St. Benedict’s College Kotahena to win the boys’ competition  with 220 points at the Western Province Athletics Championship concluded at Sugathadasa Stadium on Friday (22nd) .

Lyceum International School Wattala sealed the girl’s championship with 150 points.
St. Peter’s is taking a big stride in athletics since they hired former St. Benedict’s College instructor I.D. Premasiri as their new head coach and within a little more than a year, they have beaten many leading schools including all island champions such as Bens and Mari’s Stella during recent championship . But large part of that success should go to  recent recruitment all around the country which has powered the school to emerge as one of the leading teams for this year’s all island schools athletics title.

Petes’ prized recruit Hirusha Heshan, who emerged as a future prospect at Sidhartha College, Balapitiya, was responsible for nearly one fifth of their points as they dominated track and field events alike.

Mari’s Stella finished second with 138 points followed by Lyceum Wattala in third place. Royal College finished fourth and St. Benedict’s slumped to fifth position.
Sprinter Chanuka Sandeep of Mari’s Stella who set a new meet record of 21.3 seconds in the 200m for boys under-20, was adjudged as the best male athlete while Gateway triple jumper Randi Cooray who leapt 12.23m (new Meet record) was adjudged as best female athlete.

11 year old future star
Long jumper Shehara Sandamini de Silva of Good Shepherd Convent Panadura showed signs of making a champion with a leap of 4.85m in the girls under-12 long jump event which was a new meet record, better than the boys’ performance in the same age group and even better than a higher age group (under-14 girl’s).

Two and half hour delay for awards
Chief Minister of Western Province Isuru Devapriya’s late arrival delayed proceeding of the closing ceremony by two and a half hours. Helpless athletes had to wait impatiently to get their awards till late last evening. Most of them were scheduled to take the long trip by road of about 7-8 hours today to compete in the Relay Carnival in Badulla which starts tomorrow.

Age group best athletes:

Boys:
Under-12: Thevindu Sandil (Pothupitiya MV Kalutara) Long Jump 4.71m
Under-14: Dimantha Meegoda (Lyceum–Panadura) Shot Put 12.1m
Under-16: Rumesh Tharanga (St. Peter’s College) Discus Throw 52.85m
Under-18: Sadeepa Dilshan (St. Benedict’s College) 110m hurdles 14.3 seconds
Under-20: Chanuka Sandeepa (Mari’s Stella College) 200m 21.3 seconds

Girls:
Under-12: Sandamini de Silva (Good Shepherd Convent –Panadura) Long jump 4.85m
Under-14: Rekha Thathsarani (Clayton College-Marandagahamula) Long jump 4.76m
Under-16: Kavindi Edirisinghe (President’s BV Nawala) 400m 58.5 seconds
Under-18: Shelinda Jansen (Gateway College Colombo) 200m 25.1 seconds
Under-20: Randi Cooray (Gateway College Colombo) Triple Jump 12.23m .