Warwick Academy pupil Ashley Berry and US high school student Henry Carty won the Senior School Girls and Boys' titles respectively after contesting two of the fiercest Front Street Mile races last night.

Berry, 16, bettered her second-place performance from last year, outpacing her three school-mates to take the win in five minutes, 20 seconds – three seconds ahead of Alexis Bean (5:23).

Berry, defending champion Taylor-Ashley Bean (5:32), 2007 champion Alexis Bean, and Berry's sister Megan (5:36) ran stride for stride for much of the race.

"It was a tough race, a little windy but I went hard to keep up with Alexis and I came through in the end," said Ashley.

"I want to continue doing what I am doing and I'm looking forward to the Carifta Games in March and other international events coming up."

Runner-up Bean, who was unable to defend her title last year due to illness said: "It was a good race and I knew it was going to be competitive with all of us training together.

"Starting out was tough as I stepped into a pot hole, but in the end the competition was good. It went to the end and it was good to see that."

Carty, who attends school in Georgia, made a late surge to lift his first Front Street Mile title, crossing the line in four minutes, 46 seconds.

The 16-year-old held his nerve through a strategic race to pull off victory, holding off runner-up for the second year running, Darico Clarke (4:48) of Berkeley Institute, and Trey Simons (4:49) of Saltus.

"The pace was very contained through the first turn and didn't pick up until the turn coming back towards the finish," said Carty. "We all put in our best effort to get to the line first and I came on top. I'm very happy.

"I leave to go back to school on Sunday and will be looking to get a lot of personal bests this season, work hard and win some more races.

"Hopefully over spring or the summer break I will be back to race some more."

The performance of the night, however, belonged to Clearwater Middle School student Dage Minors who set alight his race, winning in emphatic fashion and showing why he is considered one of Bermuda's most promising runners.

Minors ran at a blistering pace, finishing in a time of five minutes, one second.

Justin Ferreira (5:36) of Warwick Academy and Jaquan Burrows (5:44) placed second and third respectively.

In the Middle School girls' event, Kyla Bolden (5:44) relinquished a sizeable lead heading into the backstretch before being caught by eventual winner Shuntae Richardson (5:39) of Whitney Institute and second-placed Molly Pilgrim (5:40) of BHS in a photo finish.

Also lifting honours last night were Zakiyyah Showers of West End Primary, clocking 6:05 to take the Primary School Girls title, holding off Prospect Primary's Quasshie Douglas (6:12) and Anya Smith (6:13), while David Darrell led from start to finish in the Primary School Boys race to cross the line in 5:42 seconds, with Treyshun Sanders (5:45) of Gilbert Institute and Adam Hall (5:48) of Saltus placing second and third respectively.