National champs Butere and Musingu retain Kakamega titles

Butere Girls' Chelsea Dnamu (right) dribbles past Kaya Tiwi's Scolastica Wileka. [Maarufu Mohamed, Standard]

Reigning national champions Butere Girls High School and Musingu High School yesterday retained their titles as the Kakamega County games ended yesterday.

Butere Cannons had no regard for their hosts, Eregi Girls High School thrashing them 122-26 in what seemed like an early warning to their regional opponents of the tough task that awaits them.

The Cannons won the match in the first quarter after taking a 43-4 lead, leaving Eregi no room for recovery. St Peter’s Mumias thrashed Musingu 100-36 in the boys’ final.

Butere coach Chris Odeke said that he expects his charges to get better as the games progress to higher levels.

“We had a great outing and won all our matches with good margins, but these wins will count for nothing because we expect tougher opponents at the regional games. We aim to retain all our titles,” Odeke said.

Musingu and Shieywe Secondary Schools were crowned hockey champions following victories in the respective finals.

Musingu hammered Kakamega School 6-0 while Shieywe routed Sacred Heart Mukumu 4-0. Marshakas Abdulhabib bagged a brace with Cecilia Gill and Olivia Munyila hitting the board once.

Kakamega’s Barbarians carried the day in rugby 15s after forcing a narrow 5-3 win against St Peter’s Mumias Rough Machines.

In the semis, the Barbarians thrashed Butere Boys 30-5 while the Rough Machines dismissed St Ignatius Mukumu 14-7. All the top two teams qualified for next week’s Western Region games, where they will be chasing tickets to the nationals.

There were no surprises as top guns dominated their opponents on day one of the Nairobi Region games.

At Olympic High School, champions Dagoretti High made their intentions to extend their boys basketball known with a domineering display against Ofafa Jericho. Dagoretti, who has ruled the city since 2018, whipped Ofafa 102-23 in their opening Group A match.

Rugby 15s champions Upper Hill maintained their unbeaten run after bagging a double victory in Group A.

Interestingly, they won their game one without lifting a finger after their fierce rivals, Dagoretti High, failed to honour the encounter.

They then drubbed former national winners Lenana School 46-6 to secure a semi-finals slot. Today, they will take on Moi Forces Academy (MFA) in their last pool match.

After giving Upper Hill free points, Dagoretti then beat MFA 24-3 to revive their hopes of advancing to the knockouts. They will today face off with Lenana School, who had also won against MFA, with the winner to Friday’s semi-finals.

In hockey, boys’ champions Hospital Hill had a great day out, securing two wins to remain on course to retain their title.

They dismissed Jamhuri High 3-0 in their first encounter and ended the day by beating Mwiki Secondary School by the same margin. In the girls' title hunt, State House saw off Kenya High 5-0.