Oliver charged up for track season

Middle distance athlete Kasique Oliver has set himself several goals for the rest of the calendar year.{{more}}

The immediate target of the 17-year-old fifth form student of the St Vincent Grammar School is to break the senior division’s records in the 400 and 800 m races, at this year’s inter-schools championships, set for next month at the Arnos Vale Playing Field.

Oliver, two weeks ago, smashed the St Vincent Grammar School’s long standing records in both events, clocking 49.3 seconds in the 400 m and 2 minutes flat in the 800 m.

The 400 m record of 49.83 seconds was established by Marlon Byron in 1996 and the former best mark in the 800 m of 2 minutes 01.12 seconds, was recorded by Eversley Linley in 1988.

Oliver also won the 1,500 m in 4 minutes 24 seconds and was crowned the school’s senior division champion, with 54 points.

Oliver says the inter-schools championships mean a lot to him, as last year, then a student of the St Martin’s Secondary School, and saddled with an injury, he had to stay in the shadows of then Thomas Saunders Secondary student Brandon Parris.

“I want to do well at inter-school, then make the Carifta team and then Windward Islands schools’ games”, Oliver told SEARCHLIGHT.

Oliver is especially eyeing the Carifta games, after missing out in 2012, as he, like others, did not make the minimum standards required to make the trip to Bermuda.

Oliver, who last year was part of a St Vincent and the Grenadines team to the Central America and Caribbean Championship, the OECS Invitational in St Kitts and the Carifta trials in Grenada, is looking to build on the base that he has laid, now that he is in the eyes of the national selectors for overseas assignments.

Additionally, Oliver was part of the St Vincent and the Grenadines team to the NACAC OECS Invitational four-leg road relay classic last September and placed first in the Under-19 male division of the Log Enterprises North Windward race, as well as the Sion Hill Sprint.

Away from the track and the road, Oliver is adjusting to his new school environment, as last September, he joined the St Vincent Grammar School student body, after some relatively successful returns at the 2012 CSEC examinations.

“It is a different environment, but I was able to adjust easily”, Oliver stated.

Oliver, however, conceded that he has been called upon to do more work at his new school, which requires him to put in extra hours at nights.

This, he emphasized, means he has to juggle schoolwork with his regular training sessions, plus practice sessions with the Potential Steel Orchestra, in his hometown of Calliaqua. (RT)