School Games: Focus shifts to regional competition to be held in Musanze, Rwanda

Laiser Hill, St Anthony’s, Trans Nzoia Mixed and athletics teams dominate Term One Games to earn Rift Valley the national title.

Rift Valley Region garnered 70 cumulative points, six more than Western, to be crowned overall winners of the Brookside Secondary Schools National Term One games at Kangaru School at the weekend.

Nyanza finished third with 58 points while Nairobi and Coast regions were fourth, tied at 51 points.

Hosts Eastern (39), Central (37), and North Eastern (6) finished sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively.

Rift Valley called the shots at the games, winning the boys basketball, boys and girls hockey, and boys and girls athletics trophies.

Kajiado County basketball giants Laiser Hill successfully defended their boys title despite facing stiff competition from newcomers Sigalame, who finished second and also qualified for the East Africa Games.

Their 65-48 victory against Sigalame from Busia County was not a walk in the park.

Laiser Hill’s James Mariel Malek, who was instrumental in the campaign, was voted the most valuable player (MVP) for his unrivalled display.

At the East Africa Games, Laiser Hill will be seeking to end a five-year regional trophy drought. They have won seven East Africa titles and will be chasing an eighth one later in the year in Musanze, Rwanda.

St Anthony’s Boys Kitale also retained their hockey title following their 2-1 victory against Upper Hill.

“We finished third last year but we are determined to perform better this year. We last won the East Africa title in 2015 and it eluded us in 2016 and 2017,” St Anthony’s coach Kelvin Lugalia said.

Last year’s East Africa boys hockey champions Kisumu Day were major casualties at the games as they failed to qualify for the regional championship.

Musingu, who edged out Kisumu Day in third place play-offs, will make their debut at the East Africa games.

Trans Nzoia Mixed reclaimed the girls’ hockey title after beating Tigoi 2-1 in the final. Ian Olando and Joan Anjao of Tigoi walked away with the boys and girls hockey MVP awards. As expected, Rift Valley did not disappoint their fans, ruling in athletics by winning both the boys and girls titles.

Meshack Babu of Rift Valley and Gloria Mulei of Eastern emerged the boys and girls best athletes.

Kaya Tiwi successfully defended their girls’ handball trophy while St Luke’s Kimilili and Moi Girls Kamusinga recaptured their boys and girls handball titles.

In rugby 15s Upper Hill beat Menengai 15-12 in sudden death to win their maiden national title while last year’s champions Kakamega finished third.