Thrice as nice!
St Jago reigns supreme with third Schools' Challenge Quiz championship in a row
Published:Friday | April 5, 2024 | 12:45 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter -
The St Catherine-based St Jago High School has maintained its standing as all-island champions of Television Jamaica’s Schools' Challenge Quiz (SCQ) competition, topping Calabar High School in a tight final match up last night.
After a sudden death segment, following a tie between the institutions, St Jago defeated Calabar 37-33 for its third consecutive title.
Thursday night’s victory was the eighth overall for the Monk Street-located institution in the 55-year history of the competition.
It was also the 13th final match for St Jago.
Mark Clarke, manager and assistant coach for St Jago’s SCQ team since 2010, stated that team members Jhaneille Esson, Nathaniel Baker, Kevandra Blake and Jermaine Miller were very confident going into the final match.
Clarke said the victory must also be credited to the support from the school and its surrounding community of Rivoli in St Catherine.
“It’s the combination of all the hard work and sacrifices they have made, not just this year, but over the years. We have a village. It’s not just me. It’s not just Mr [Romeo] Lee [the now main coach]. It’s the past students, it’s the principal, it’s the school administration [and] it’s the community,” Clarke told The Gleaner.
“Rivoli is a depressed community and they support us 100 per cent, so every time we go out there and represent, I always tell my students that you have to do twice as much as the schools in town just to be recognised because we come from Spanish Town. So they play with a chip on their shoulder, because they know that they always have something to prove,” he said.
Esson, the team captain who has been on the SCQ team since she was in grade seven, was elated by the victory.
“It’s really surreal, especially because it’s our third victory in a row and there was so much excitement leading up to it, because Calabar has [previously] won three in a row, back in 2004 to 2006. There was a lot of pressure on us to do the same thing, but we really didn’t look at it as the pressure, we just looked at it as another match, and we just went in and executed as we have been taught, and we made it through,” Esson told The Gleaner.
She is looking forward to creating history by taking the title the next two years in a row as well.