Ryan Outerbridge and Kayla Raymond claimed exciting wins in the Senior Schools races in the Butterfield Front Street Mile last night.Outerbridge, third behind winner Kahzi Sealey and Nirobi Smith-Mills last year, ran a determined race in cold, windy and rainy conditions to dethrone Sealey and claim victory in his final schools race. The Berkeley Institute student shaved three seconds off his 2019 time of 4min 51.65sec when he broke the tape in 4:48.50, after taking over the lead from Nick Pilgrim with about 300 yards to go. Outerbridge finished just a second ahead of Pilgrim in 4:49.52 with Sealey a further three seconds behind in third place in 4:52.44. “I was just looking to get out hard early, maintain a good position for the majority of the race and then around 400 metres left to give it all I had left, because I learnt from last year,” Outerbridge, 17, said. “The conditions weren’t great, it started raining when we were running out to the start, but everyone has to run in the same conditions. “It was my last Front Street Mile in high school. I won one in primary school and one in middle school so this is my third. “I’m pretty happy, winning my last Front Street Mile in high school. After the disappointment of last year, I am happy to come back strong this year.” Pilgrim took on the challenge from the outset against the Carifta Games qualifying trio of Outerbridge, Sealey and Tommy Marshall, who finished fifth behind Rayquon Woodley-Smith. “I knew I had to go out fast because Ryan and Sealey have a really good kick, so I tried my best to break it up before I got to the finish,” Pilgrim explained. “I’m happy with the way I ran. About 300 metres from the end fatigue started to kick in, but I tried to make sure Sealey stayed behind me.” Raymond, 17, was relieved to get a first victory under her belt, the Mount Saint Agnes student winning over Shayla Cann, of Warwick Academy, in the closest of finishes. Raymond clocked 5:56.15 and Cann 5:56.97, with Jezhari Talbot, of Berkeley, third in 5:58.79.“I’ve been trying so hard to come first,” Raymond admitted. “I’m training under coach [Victoria] Fiddick at MAAC and have become stronger. “I felt pretty comfortable, didn’t want to go out too fast, so I stuck with the pack.”It was a small field of only five runners, with nine entered for the race. They stayed together for the first half of the race when things began to open up with Raymond taking the lead. “It was pretty cold with the rain, and pretty distracting, but I blocked that out,” added Raymond, who is hoping to qualify for the Carifta Games. “I’m trying to go to a meet in New York in February to try to qualify for the 800 and 1,500 [metres],” she revealed. Eoghan Homan, of Somersfield Academy, won the Middle Schools boys’ title in a time of 5:21.26, three seconds ahead of Jaelyn Grant, of Sandys Middle School, in 5:24.66 and Harlan Watson-Brown, of Warwick Academy, in 5:25.56 in a thrilling finish for second spot. “It was really tough, from the start I was battling with Harlan, he passed me for a few seconds, but I passed him back,” Homan said. Jasmin Hasselkuss, of Somersfield Academy, took the Middle Schools’ title with her winning time of 5:30.74, while Jaeda Grant, of Saltus Grammar, who led for most of the race, was second in 5:34.24 and Adriana Argent, of Warwick Academy, third in 5:41.16. “I like to stay behind everyone at the start and pick up at the end,” Hasselkuss said. “The wind was really hard, but I tried to push through on the last stretch. “I felt like I did really good this year. I’m very happy, surprised too.” Tom Hyland, of Saltus, and Century Robinson, of Bermuda Centre for Creative Learning, won the Primary School boys’ and girls’ titles with winning times of 5:41.84 and 6:15.19 respectively. Hyland was one second ahead of Saltus schoolmate Declan Reardon while Robinson was also one second ahead of Azari Jones of Dalton E Tucker.