BELIZE CITY, Mon. Apr. 25, 2016–The C-Ray Cycling Club’s High School Series kick-started last Thursday, April 21, inside the Marion Jones Sports Complex with eight participating high schools from the Belize District: SJC, E.P. Yorke, Sadie Vernon, Excelsior, Wesley College, ACC, Maud Williams and Gwen Lizarraga. Each school was allowed to register 18 student athletes – 9 female and 9 male. A total of 104 student athletes registered to compete in the races – 37 female and 67 male.
These races came about in an effort to encourage higher female participation in the sport of cycling. Currently, the female field is very small and, hopefully, by introducing cycling as a high school sport, the numbers will grow, and the field will eventually become significantly bigger.
The C-Ray Cycling Club provides road bikes for all participants who do not have one to race on, as well as helmets.
There are three categories: Female Category; Male Category “A” – all students who are currently riding in junior races; and Male Category “B” – students who are not riding junior races. The male student athletes were divided so as to promote healthy competition between students who have never raced before, and not have them going up against seasoned junior cyclists.
Considering that these are track races, student athletes are divided into groups of six in their respective categories, where they race in a preliminary round. The top two from each heat then advance to the semi-final round, and are again placed in groups of six. The top two again advance to the final round, where the top five winners are awarded with medals. All student athletes who complete their races are awarded with points: 1st place through 6th place are awarded from 6 points to 1 point, respectively. At the end of the series, the points will be added up, and this will determine the overall winners in each category.
The first week of racing saw Wesley College’s female team dominate. They won five of six preliminary heats, three 2nd places and one 3rd, which qualified all 9 females on their team to advance to the semi-final round. Sadie Vernon was the next best with 4 team members qualifying to the next round; while for Excelsior, 3 team members qualified.
In the Male Category “B,” Wesley College also had the most student athletes qualifying to the semi-final round with 4 team members, followed closely by Edward P. Yorke, Excelsior and Maud Williams, who all had 3 team members qualifying.
There are only 10 student athletes in the Male Category “A,” eight from SJC, and one each from Wesley College, Gwen Lizarraga and ACC; so there is no doubt that the finals will be filled with SJC guys. SJC showed their dominance by winning both preliminary round heats and advancing four of their team members to the finals.
The results are as follows:
Female Category – Preliminary Round
Heat #1 – 1st Breann Belgrave (Wesley College); 2nd Kelsey Spencer (Wesley College); 3rd Jasmine Balon (Sadie Vernon)
Heat #2 – 1st Shadae Williams (Wesley College); 2nd Moesha Flowers (WES); 3rd Kelsey Jaime (Excelsior)
Heat #3 – 1st Keylin Gillett (WES); 2nd Kia Foreman (Gwen Lizarraga); 3rd Kadijah Wiltshire (Wesley College)
Heat #4 – 1st Daphney Graham (Excelsior); 2nd Alicee King (Wesley College); 3rd Carlene Pinto (Sadie Vernon)
Heat #5 – 1st Malika Nunez (Wesley College); 2nd Aaliyah Leslie (Sadie Vernon); 3rd Kara Woods (Sadie Vernon)
Heat #6 – 1st Taralee Ordonez (Wesley College); 2nd Anisha Mora (Excelsior)
Male Category “B” – Preliminary Round
Heat #1 – 1st Dylan Belisle (Wesley College); 2nd Chauncey Broaster (SJC)
Heat #2 – 1st Joshua Fuller (ACC); 2nd Andrew Green (Wesley College)
Heat #3 – 1st Warren Flowers (Excelsior); 2nd Demron Palacio (Gwen Lizarraga)
Heat #4 – 1st Leon Leslie (Wesley College); 2nd Hersel Pollard (Excelsior)
Heat #5 – 1st Jefferson Spencer (E.P. Yorke); 2nd Nasir Neal (Maud Williams)
Heat #6 – 1st Ethan Alvarado (E. P. Yorke); 2nd Derrick McKoy (Maud Williams)
Heat #7 – 1st Brandon Pitts (Wesley College); 2nd Quinton Martinez (Maud Williams)
Heat #8 – 1st Jesse Clother (E.P. Yorke); 2nd Richard Wade (Excelsior)
Heat #9 – 1st Sahir Guerra (SJC); 2nd Mervin Martinez (Gwen Lizarraga)
Male Category “A” – Preliminary Round
Heat #1 – 1st Nashen Ysaguirre (SJC); 2nd Patrick Williams (SJC); 3rd Kevaughn Cacho (SJC)
Heat #2 – 1st Sherwin Requena (SJC); 2nd Darien Anderson (ACC); 3rd Andre Belisle (Wesley College)
The winners of the preliminary round have advanced to the semi-final and final rounds, which will take place this Thursday, April 28, inside the Marion Jones Sports Complex at 4:00 p.m.
Next week Thursday, May 5, we commence with Week 3, and all our student athletes will be divided into different groups of six, where they will be given another chance to qualify and gain more points.