The St. Augustine's College (SAC) Big Red Machine emerged as the overall winner of the Bahamas High School All-Star Relays, which was held over the weekend at Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium. SAC finished the two-day event with the most points overall, followed by St. John's College in second and Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools (BAISS) track and field champions Queen's College (QC) in third.

The meet event served as a test event for the upcoming IAAF/BTC World Relays Bahamas 2015, and also as a qualifier for the high school segment of the world relays, where the top eight teams in the 4x100 meters (m), 4x200m and 4x400m relay events will compete in the school segment on the second day of the world relays. On the first day of the world relays, the junior segment will feature the "One Island, One Lane" competition in which the major islands of The Bahamas will be represented. The junior segment of the world relays will get underway at 5 p.m. on May 2 and 3.

This past weekend, Friday's session consisted mostly of preliminary races with just two finals, the boys' 4x100m and the girls' 4x200m events. Tabernacle Baptist won the boys' 4x100m in a time of 40.97 seconds, while St. John's won the girls' 4x200m with a time of 1:40.55.

On Saturday, the Big Red Machine turned up the dial, winning five of the six 'A' relays - the boys' 1,600m sprint medley, the girls' 4x100m, the girls' 4x400m, the girls' 800m sprint medley and the boys' 4x400m. St. John's pulled out the other victory, in the boys' 4x200m.

Bahamas Association of Certified Officials (BACO) President Ralph McKinney said that the relays were good for showcasing the local high school talent. He feels that the athletes pushed hard at the test event to earn their spots on the big stage.

"All of the athletes who were out here, they're competing for their schools in order to be here on May 3rd," said McKinney."They really put out a good effort today and it should make for a good show during the junior segment of the world relays."

Before the start of the relays, Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations' (BAAA) President Mike Sands also spoke on the importance of recognizing the country's younger athletes at the relays.

"We are looking forward to these rivalries that are developing at the high school level," he said. "We want to give our up and coming athletes the recognition they deserve."

The relays also featured individual 100m, 200m and 400m races for elite athletes, as a number of them tried to make their cases for inclusion to The Bahamas' team for the world relays. Ahead of the high school relays this past weekend, a motorcade and pep rally was held for the young athletes, and members of this year's CARIFTA track and field and swimming teams.

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