Marist Brothers High School and Adi Cakobau School have been crowned the 2023 Coca Cola Games champions in the boys’ and girls’ divisions respectively.
MBHS reclaimed the boy’s title after a lapse of six years, collecting 13 gold, six silver and seven bronze medals.
Coach Antonio Raboiliku credited the commitment of the athletes as well as the support of the school community for the eight-month turnaround which saw the boys from Kaunikuila improve from their sixth-place finish in last year’s Fiji Finals.
“We simply went back to the drawing board, there were a lot of big decisions that needed to be made. Marist is well-known for athletics and there are so many good coaches but we have been so blessed to be given a chance and get the school where it used to be. A few of us coaches got together, putting things together and today we have reaped what we sowed.”
Ratu Kadavulevu School won nine gold, eight silver and six bronze medals to finish in second place while defending champions Suva Grammar School finished in third place with seven gold, seven silver and six bronze.
ACS reclaimed the girls’ division title for the third year in a row with 10 gold, seven silver and six bronze medals.
Coach and former sprint queen Makelesi Bulikiobo-Batimala says despite only a seven-week preparation, her athletes followed the strategy set out to pull off the stunning win.
“Time of preparation was very short, we had to be very strategic with what we plan in what we put and we trained them accordingly. we changed a few things in order to get them ready for these games.”
Batimala says the athletes will not rest on their laurels as they now turn their focus to their off-season program, in preparation for next years’ Coca Cola Games.
Suva Grammar finished in second place with eight gold, five silver and eight bronze with MGM finishing in third with seven gold, eight silver and five bronze medals.