Elmo
Filed in Track & field on Apr.15, 2009
This a day to do………
Tags: Track & field
-
-
Recent Posts
-
Recent Comments
- Everard Owen on Jamaica Intl. Invitational 2010
- Everard Owen on Jamaica Intl. Invitational 2010
- Everard Owen on Jamaica Intl. Invitational 2010
- Everard Owen on Jamaica Intl. Invitational 2010
- Everard Owen on Jamaica Intl. Invitational 2010
April 24th, 2010 at 11:23 am
That “Death trap” Stadium argument has certainly been blown out …
of proportion.
I listened closely to what was being said by the “experts” and I heard nothing to suggest that the stadium was unsafe. I feel this is much ado about about nothing and people seem do be suffering from “Mayor McKenzieitis”, otherwise called making a mountain out of a mole hill. However I will agree that the stadium must be properly maintained.
For me, the most important statement was the following:
———-
Clarke, who chairs the KSAC’s Building Town Planning Committee, said that the initial assessment prior to receiving reports from the respective agencies in 48 hours, is that the integrity of the structure seems to be okay.
“On this tour, we introduced the new Schmitt Measuring (Systems) machine for integrity and so fort of the structure… from what we have seen, that is in order,” he said.
————
THE INTEGRITY OF THE STRUCTURE WAS OKAY
All of the problems I hear seem to be maintenance problems. These seem to be the most pressing problems”
—————-
“They are cracks there that needs to be repaired …. the roof is an emergency situation that must be repaired because the water leaks through the roof, and it boils down to a lack of maintenance over the years,
—————
SO GET THE MAINTENANCE MOVING
This seems to be a simple problem. Fix the roof. If we cannot find money to maintain the facility, how can we find money to build a new one.
————–
“It will cost some good money… like the electricity, emergency stairs and so forth… some cracks that the engineer identified need to be repaired,” Clarke added.
————-
I hear that some of the electrical wires are out in the open. This happens in the media area where the media uses the outlets and wires get uncovered. Again simple maintenance solves that problem.
I also hear that the emergency staircases need simple maintenance. Again that is simply solved.
——————
General manager of Independence Park Limited, Major Desmon Brown, whose company has responsibility for the National Stadium, is recommending that the government look to build a new facility in addition to carrying out minor repair work on the existing structure.
——————
So the stadium only needs minor repairs? So what about the “death trap”?
Now this is where I get really “pissed off”
———————
“We also need a slightly larger stadium, properly covered… I’m suggesting between 45 and 50 thousand seats, and for that you’re going to need at least 10,000 parking as we don’t have that space here. If you fix this (National Stadium), you will still have the parking problems, you’ll still have the problems with the surrounding areas,” he added.
————————–
So we need a 50,000 seat stadium properly covered. How many times in the last ten years has the stadium been full? I can think of world juniors final day and that is it . Even at champs empty seats can be seen on the final day.
And it must be properly covered? When I go to meets across the island from Catherine Hall, GC Foster, Jamalco, Kirkvine etc, I cannot even get seats and he is worried about a whole stadium being properly covered?
i know of no event at the stadium where the stadium is full during the day. Even at champs, the crowd comes in after five o’clock on the final day.
You do not build a new stadium because once per year the stadium might be full. What every other country does is sell the correct number of tickets and declare the tickets to be sold out. The rest of the public watches the event on TV (Pay per view… come een).
As to parking, I have never been to the stadium and cannot get parking. If more parking is needed, then expand the space to the mountain view side. There is more than enough land there.
———-
“Right now we have more bathrooms in the grandstand than in the bleachers and we have 5,000 (seats) in the grandstand and 23,000 (seats) in the bleachers, so that needs to change and we’re working on that. Modern stadiums should have access to the complete stadium in a service tunnel, we don’t have that,” he added.
———–
We cannot even maintain our only stadium but we are talking about building a modern stadium. I wonder which construction Company hopes to make a “change” out of the proposed construction pie?
—————
“Our concession areas are inadequate, especially to the bleachers, so all of those areas (need addressing),”
—————
Now we are worried about concession areas in the bleachers. It is good to have, so make provisions or have the vendors continue selling their wares.
This “Death Trap” thing has been totally blown out of proportion.
If we have oil money to burn, then by all means build modern facilities in every parish. But that is a luxury Jamaica can not afford and it is certainly not a necessity. We simply need to ensure that our current facility is properly maintained.
April 23rd, 2010 at 10:29 pm
Holmwood’s Penn relays 8:42 run in the 4 X 800M relay
I was listening to Klas FM this evening and I heard the hosts (Robinson and Palmer) discussing Holmwood’s “surprise” win. They were asking the question “Did Edwin Allen run their best team?” because no way should Holmwood be leading Edwin Allen by close to 70M after the third leg.
The answer of course is that Edwin would have been much stronger if Nikita Tracey had run and might have even challenged for the win, but no one can take away what (to most High School track fans) must be the most unexpected relay performance in the high school category.
At the Gibson relays, Holmwood ran 9:10.99 and placed third to Team Bickle and a full strength Edwin Allen (8:51). The Holmwood girls did improve at champs, but nothing could have prepared anyone for the devastating 8:42 run at Penns.
After the first three legs of the relay, Holmwood was ahead of Vere’s time when they set the record of 8:37, a record that was considered unbreakable. Of course, Holmwood’s anchor Gordon (2:09) did not match Inez Turner’s 2:03 split on that record breaking run, so Holmwood had to be satisfied with running the third fastest High School time ever at Penns. Gordon of course knew she had to run anchor on Holmwood’s mile relay team later in the day, so she might have just done enough to win the relay.
So how fast was that 8:42.49?
When one considers that Holmwood’s run was faster than the US national High School record of 8:43.12, and was seconds slower than the 8:41.92 run by the all star Team Bickle at Gibson relays, then one can get an appreciation of how fast the Holmwood team was.
The fastest individual split of the day was the 2:06 split by Edwin Allen’s Ristannana Tracey, but the Holmwood splits of 2:06 (Plummer), 2:09 (Gordon), 2:11 (Palmer) and 2:12 (Thompson)were the second, third, fourth and sixth fastest of the day. Holmwood was on fire.
PS
Edwin Allen’s Nikita Tracey ran four years at Penns, and based on the Penns rules she could not run this year.
So would Nikita Tracey have made a difference if she was eligible to run?
Well, if Nikita could have run a 2:10 split and replaced Edwin Allen’s slowest split of 2:16, then they would have run 6 seconds faster, thus giving them a 8:41 time.
So on paper, Edwin Allen would have challenged Holmwood and might even have pulled off a win, but…as we all know races are not won on paper.
April 7th, 2010 at 10:05 am
I Would love to know what Criteria is used to decide the Austin Sealy winner for best athlete at the Carifta Games. The award was given to Jehue Gordon of Trinidad who broke the 400H and 100H records. Last years winner Kirani James seemed to have the best single performance, but he did not win.
Number of records broken?
Jehue Gordon wins, but that logic makes no sense. It would mean that for a 200M boy to win the award, he would need to break Bolt’s 19.93 Carifta and World Junior record.
But we have precedence here. In 2006, Dexter Lee broke the 100M U17 record (10.34) and the 200m record (21.09) but he did not win. Yohan Blake did one event and won with his 10.11 over 100M.
The award was obviously given to the top performance.
Last year Kirani James ran only the 400M and his 45.45 won the trophy over Double winners like Murphy (who broke the 200M U17 record with 20.97) and Jehue Gordon (who broke the 400H record with 50.01)
So this year James runs 45.02, certainly the best performance of the games based on any criterion used. he also backs it up with a 20.70 win in the 200M. To say that he needed to break Bolt’s 19.93 record to win the trophy is of course ludicrous.
IAAF Tables
———–
A quick look at the IAAF table makes the final case for Kirani.
Kirani Jame’s 45.02 scores 1180 points. The 400H equivalent is 48.86. a time Jehue is capable of (he did better in Berlin), but did not approach it at these games. His 49.75 gives him 1134 points, a far cry (46 points) from Kirani’s 1180 points
But how about Jehue’s 110H run of 13.41?
The table shows that even over the Olympic height, the points for that time would be 1175, a lesser performance when compared to Kirani’s 1180 points for his 400M run of 45.02. Of course the hurdles were at the world junior height and that would have reduced the sprint hurdles points considerably.
PS
Now we await next years games and wonder what criteria will be used.
Will it be best performance?
Will it be number of records broken?
Will it be number of events won?
I guess we will just have to wait and see.
April 2nd, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Observations from Champs 2010
Class II Boys 800M
————————-
Is there hope for our 800M runners? Before champs 2010, our CII boys were simply awful and only Oshane Turner (Petersfield) and Brian Smith (Clarendon) had run below 2 minutes. At champs I was pleasantly surprised to see four Class two athletes Smith (1:55.55), Turner (1:55.69), first year CII man Robinson of Foga Road (1:56.42) and Stephen Rose of St. Jago1:56.98) all running below 1:57, a time no CII boy had run all season.
There may still be hope for our middle distance runners even after Kemoy.
The Enigma that is Jermaine Ffyfe
——————————————-
Last year, Ffyfe ran 47.9 to win the U17 400M at the Carifta games. This year he ran the shorter sprints at the development meets and had tongues wagging when he anchored St. Georges to victory in the sprint relay at the Gibson relay festival. With his improved speed, quite a few people expected him to run sub 47 at champs, but he struggled through the rounds and placed sixth in 48.24 seconds. Of course, we do not know if he was injured in the early season and could not put in the work he was expected to, but after watching him run stride for stride against Julian Forte at the Gibson relays, we thought he would have had a ”big” season.
Class IV girls sprint relays.
———————————-
Last year, Holmwood’s dominant Class four sprint relay team led by triple record breaker Diana Johnson became the first team to break the 48 second barrier. This year, Edwin Allen broke the record set by Holmwood last year and led a group of FIVE teams (Edwin Allen, Wolmers, Hydel, St. Jago, and Holmwood) to a sub 48 clocking. The future of our female sprinting seems to be in good hands.
Perception and Reality – Extol VS Blackwood
———————————————————
When Jodirae Blackwood of Munro defeated Dwayne Extol of Wolmers in the 400H, the fans and analysts decided that this was a major upset and was due to the work load that Extol was carrying. Everyone seemed to forget the following:
1. Extol ran his PR. That race was the only race where Extol had run below 52 seconds.
2. The last time both athletes had met was at last year’s champs when Blackwood placed fourth and Extol placed sixth. If an athlete is beaten at champs two years in a row by the same athlete, how could that be an upset?
Mr. Blackwood and the Munro coaching staff should demand an apology.
Jordan James and Raheem Robinson of Wolmers
—————————————————————
With Wolmers chasing a championship victory, one would have assumed that they would try to maximise their points across the board. But a strange thing happened with their top CIII sprinters. Jordan James ran only the 400M and placed third in 51.14 while Robinson ran only the 100M and placed fourth in 11.30.
None of these athletes were entered in the 200M, and Wolmers did not have a finalist in this event. The million dollar question is “was Wolmers trying to protect its young athletes from burnout?” or was there another reason for gambling that they did not need the 10 or so points that those athletes would have given them if they had run the 200M.
The state of male junior sprinting in 2010
—————————————————–
With McKenzie, Ashmeade, Lee and Bailey leaving school, it was always on the cards that the standard of male sprinting at champs would fall in 2010.
There was however one poster who thought that the standard would remain high and maybe as much as five juniors would run sub 21 seconds over 200M. Well the poster was wrong… but just barely. The standard of sprinting remained high, and if not for the fact that the 200M races were run in negative wind and that Extol and Forte were celebrating at the 170M mark, we might have had five athletes running below 21 seconds.
What was eye opening, was that Extol and Forte were the only class one boys capable of this feat, but three class II boys Murphy, Williams and Skeen seemed destined to break the barrier if the conditions are right.
So Jama !!!
Your prediction did not happen. But you were mighty close.
The Wolmers Three
————————
Over the years, we have seen fast school sprint relay teams, usually with two top sprinters. If we take a look at the sprint relay teams that ran below 40 seconds, we note that St Jago had Blake and Ashmeade on its record breaking 2007 and 2008 teams while Calabar had McKenzie and Oshane Bailey on its 2009 team.
But can anyone remember a team with three top sprinters like Skeen (10.46/21.27), Forte (10.49/21.08) and Extol (21.38 -0.2w) in the history of champs? Of course they have won nothing yet but Penn relays are just around the corner.
The Top Male athletes who had their first year in the class
—————————————————————————-
Usually male athletes who find themselves in a new class do not do very well at champs. However in 2010, there were a lot of successes in this category. Julian Forte won the sprint double in CI, Ashinia Miller won the CI Shot Put, Lennox Williams won the CII 400M, Clive Pullen won the CII long Jump and the Titchfield sensation Shavanes Robinson won the 800M/1500M double his first year in CIII.
Special mention should also go to Foga Road’s Robinson running 1:56 in his first year in CII while Jordan James 51.14 in his first year in CIII looks like becoming a special one.
Missing and injured Athletes
————————————-
Whatever happened to CII sprinter Morrison of St Thomas Tech? He made the 200M finals in CII last year and won the 200M at eastern champs in CII this year.
CI and CII gold medal 200M runner Travis Drummond of C’bar was also missing this year?
Jovan Brown of KC was seen in action for a few meets and then went MIA.
Whitehorne of Vere was again on the injured list, bringing back memories of her two first years at champs. Hopefully her injuries will be sorted out
Obviously Rolando Birch is a shadow of his CII self and even during early season 2009, he seemed to be in awesome form. Has anyone found out what his problem is?
The injury list of potential medal winners who broke down at champs this year includes: Spaulding (StGC), Whitehorne (Vere), Livingstone (Holm), Lee (C’Bar), Wilson (KC), Morrison (Ggoffe), and Murphy (Bridgeport). Of course there is a much longer list of athletes who actually performed throughout the championships but are recovering from injury and just were not at their best.
The 400M hurdles crew
——————————-
So Extol had to tell the officials manning the hurdles that the hurdles were the wrong height. This brings back memories of Sherene Pinnock who stopped at a hurdle when she realised it was too high. I guess we will never learn.
March 30th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
The Champs 2010 Elmo awards
===========================
It is that time of the year again, and the annual Elmo awards will be given out. The awards are again grouped into two categories. There is the performance category and the special awards category.
PERFORMANCE AWARDS
The Most Outstanding male athlete Award (Track)
Winner: Kemoy Campbell
———————–
His devastation of his own 1500M and 5000M records show that Jamaicans can do well in the middle distances if they decide to put in the hard work. I never thought I would see a schoolboy run 3:45 at champs. But Kemoy did it.
Special mention goes to the following:
Kevaun Rattray
——————–
Although his loss to Walker in the 200M did tarnish his quest for two gold medals, breaking two champs records is nothing to sneeze at.
Rohan Walker
————
A sub 50 second 400M and then the big upset of Rattray in the 200M says it all.
The Most Outstanding Female athlete Award (Track)
Winner: Natoya Goule
——————–
Her complete dominance of the three middle distance races with a record in the 1500M makes her the outstanding female track athlete of champs 2010
Special mention goes to:
Chris-Ann Gordon
———————–
Still recovering from surgery, this lady’s dominance in he 400M and 800M was the key to her school retaining the title.
Sherika Jackson
——————–
This girl from Vere is just dominant. She is expected to win and she wins.
Antonique Campbell
—————————
Not sure why her coach wanted her to do three individual events, but two gold medals and one silver medal is a decent haul. A silver medal in the sprint relay makes her one of the few athletes to win four medals.
The Most Outstanding male athlete Award (Field)
Winner: Chad Wright
——————-
Chad Wright’s two sensational performances in the throwing events make him the top male performer in any category. For many years no one thought we would see a Jamaican junior make any of the qualifying WJ standards. He made both the discus (58.86M) and Shot Put (18.22M) standards.
Special mention goes to:
Travis Smikle
————-
A 58M throw in the discus event and a temporary hold on the champs record makes Smikle one of the outstanding performers.
Most Outstanding Female Athlete Award (Field)
Winner: Chanice Porter
———————-
In her first year in class TWO, this 15 yr old young lady jumps 6.20M in her first attempt in the long jump event. She passes the next two attempts and makes her second and final jump in the fourth round. She jumps 6.43M, a jump that is currently the second best jump in the world. This individual performance surpasses all the performances done at champs 2010.
Special mention goes to:
Candecea Bernard:
—————–
Two throwing records in the discus and shot put events make Bernard one of the outstanding performers.
Rochelle Farquharson
—————————
Her 6.14M long jump effort only gave her a silver medal, but coupled with her 13.20 triple jump performance makes Farquharson one of the top female performances.
Coach Of the year
Winner: Julian Robinson (Calabar)
———————————
Coach Robinson has done what very few of us thought could be done in Jamaica. His athletes broke three of the four throwing records at champs and had TWO athletes making the discus WJ standard and one athlete making the Shot Put WJ standard.
Coach Robinson brought a new excitement into male throwing and suddenly field events are no longer an afterthought.
Most improved Athlete (male)
Winner: Chad Wright
—————————–
Last year he placed third in both the discus (49.67M) and the Shot Put (16.44M). This year his improved performances of 58.86M and 18.22M respectively have not only given him two gold medals, but have also pushed him past the WJ qualifying standards in the two events , a feat that no Jamaican thrower has ever accomplished.
Most Improved athlete (female).
Winner: Danielle Williams
———————————-
The “Queens” sensation did not have much success in previous champs, but with big wins in the 100M and 100H, will be expected to emulate big sister Shermaine.
Most Improved Team
Female Winners: Edwin Allen and St.Jago
—————————————
In previous years Edwin Allen only took specific events seriously. This year they were all over the map, getting serious points in all event categories.
St. Jago ‘s squad also made massive improvements. Their CIV and CIII were very strong and that gives them a good base to build on.
Male Winners Wolmers
——————–
They had a small squad similar to last year’s squad. They virtually had no throwers or middle distance runners. However, their sprinters and jumpers were awesome and just kept winning points in big chunks. Apparently their old coach resigning did not have too much of a negative effect.
ELMO’S SPECIAL AWARDS
The real Big Man Award
Winner: Dwayne Extol
—————————–
Apart from winning one gold and two silver medals (23 pts), Extol was an inspiration whenever he went on the track. He exuded confidence and delivered “the goods” when it mattered.
His composure as a captain was on display in the mile relay, when instead of going for glory (in the relay) and chasing Murray of Vere, he kept his nerve and never tried to challenge the Vere athlete. He knew that chasing the 4 X 400M gold was unimportant, and that ensuring that Calabar did not pass was the only thing that mattered. If he had tried chasing Murray and pulled up, the dream would be dead and he would be the cause of his school not winning the championships. In cricket parlance, we would say “He played a captain’s innings.”
I Refuse to lose award
This award goes to the athlete who seems to be on the verge of being defeated but always finds a way to win.
Winner: Diana Johnson
———————-
This athlete refuses to lose at champs. Last year, she had to pull out all the stops to defeat the Oracabessa sensation in the Class IV sprints. This year she goes toe to toe against the Edwin Allen star Cameron and still finds a way to win the sprint double. With her wins in the sprint relays, she is now 6 -0 in races run at champs.
The Most Valuable persons (MVP) award
This award is given to a group of athletes that have decided to put the weight of their schools champs ambitions on their shoulders and have performed above and beyond all expectations. In other words, they gave an MVP performance.
Winners: Wolmers Sprinters
————————–
Forte and Skeen won sprint doubles in Class one and Class two, while Extol won the class one 400M gold and silver medals in the 400H and 200M events. After watching the performances of the Wolmers sprinters, I can only say that these performances had MVP (wink wink) written all over them.
The “Common Sense is not common” Award
This award is given to a person or group that cannot make “common sense” decisions.
Winner: Starters in charge of the 1500M races.
—————————————————————
The starters kicked out a number of athletes out of the race because they overbalanced when they were told to get to their marks. The starters refused to understand the spirit of the false start rule which punishes athletes who are trying to “pick” the start. In the case of a 1500M race, 12 -16 athletes are bunched together (they have no lane of their own) and are told to “get to their marks”.
Overbalancing can occur because of a number of reasons including being nudged (deliberately or otherwise) by another athlete. This happens all the time and the starter simply calls back the race. This time, the starters simply throw out the athletes from the race and just refusing to use some “common sense”.
The “You have got to be kidding me” award
This award goes to a top five team that shows a serious deficiency in a specific category of events..
Winner: The Calabar Sprinters
—————————————–
Okay !!!
So Wolmers had no finalists in any of the middle distance races, but how could Calabar not have ONE athlete in any of the sprint finals (100M – 400M). Jamaica is the sprint Capitol of the world and they cannot place one sprinter in a sprint finals? That fact defies all logic.
Milk River Bath Award
Winner: KC Class II hurdlers.
————————————-
Fennell and Dennis were expected to place first and third in the 110M hurdles, but a very strange thing happened in the heats. Both athletes crashed into the hurdles and fell. There went 15 points and KC’s chance of winning champs.
I want my School on the Map award
This award goes to that competitor who against all odds, wins a gold medal for his school, the only one they might have won in more than a decade.
Winner: Shavanes Robinson (Titchfield)
————————————–
This 13 year old youth was as cool as a cucumber when he won the CIII 800M/1500M double. Like Foga Road and Oracabessa, Titchfield is now squarely on the track and field map.
The “coming in hot” award
This award goes to the school that enters champs for the first time and make its mark immediately.
Winner: Hydel High
————————–
Hydel did not come in to champs meekly, but came in a blaze of glory. This was largely due to the Class four co-champion girls Carty and Spencer. Who accounted for 38 individual points plus 8 relay points to give Hydel 46 points its first year in the big leagues.
Amanda Carty won the Long Jump, placed third in the 200M and fifth in the 70H for a total of 19 points.
Samara Spencer won the 70H, and placed fourth in both the high jump and 200M for a total of 19 points also.
They both ran on the Hydel sprint relay team that placed third in the finals in a very fast time of 47.79
The “What the Hell Happened?” Award
This award goes to the athlete who was expected to win a medal at champs, but in most cases, could not even make the final eight.
This award has been given to a number of athletes.
Waqar Dacosta
——————–
I am told he had groin problems, but JC fans were expecting at least a bronze medal in the 800M. He placed sixth in the finals.
Ramone Bailey
——————-
After winning the silver medal in the long jump, the Carifta trials winner and defending champion in the triple jump was expected to win the event. He did not make the final eight (ankle problems?). Of course, his third place in the high jump and second place in the long jump helped to put Wolmers over the edge, so all is forgiven.
Ricardo Powell
——————-
It has been rumoured that he was just coming off injury. He looked a shadow of himself and was eliminated early in his races.
Carlton Cousins
——————–
His early season form had C’Bar fans making Cousins the favourite in the Class Two 400M race. However, he did not even make the finals.
Tevaskie Lewin
——————–
Every year, Lewin comes to champs and does a bunch of events. Usually his coach enters him for the long jump, high jump, 200M and 400M events. The high jump was dropped this year, but Lewin (the 2008 CII champion in the 400M) failed to win a point in any of the three events.
Rolando Birch
——————
We were told that Birch’s problems over the last few years, were due to injury but the problem was finally diagnosed and he would reclaim his position at the top of the 400M heap. Apparently he still has injury issues, because he place seventh in the 400M finals.
Again, congrats to Holmwood and Wolmers track teams for pulling off what some may call minor upsets.
March 13th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
So what is wrong with Holmwood?
——————————
Most track analysts (me included) thought that Holmwood after winning by 200 points last year (2009) would easily retain the crown this year (2010), After all, class one was their weakest class so the few athletes that left would not have much of an impact.
Well we were all wrong, and most analysts believe that Holmwood and Edwin Allen are evenly matched and the championship will be very close.
So what is wrong with Holmwood?
Well not much, but there are a number of factors which have made these championships so close.
Holmwood’s class four
———————
Last year, Holmwood dominated this class, broke four records and scored over seventy points. This year, the class four team is weak and might not score as much as twenty points. That is a drop of over fifty points.
Moving Up in Class.
——————
Holmwood dominated class four and class three last year, but athletes have now moved up in class. So those top class four girls have moved up to CIII where they now group with the second year CIII girls like Gordon and Dallas. This means that CIII is very strong, but the few girls who moved up the CII will not have things easy, because competition in CII is fierce.
So Russell and Erskine who totally dominated CIII will have to fight tooth and nail to to win any type of medal.
Injuries, Loss of Form
———————-
Star athlete Gordon, Erskine, Fanti are recovering from injuries and are not 100 %. The middle distance runners (800M-1500m) all seem to have lost form. They won medals last year, but this year they do look a shadow of themselves.
Edwin Allen has stepped up
————————–
This may be the most important point.
Edwin Allen’s strategy usually was to have athletes for some events and just ignore certain field events. This is no longer the case. They have put in a structure that has allowed them to contest all events. So this team has throwers, hurdlers sprinters and jumpers in all classes.
But before anyone is tempted to crown Edwin Allen just yet, remember the following:
1. We have seen Holmwood athletes coming into champs who are not expected to make the finals. But then strange things happen, and those athletes somehow make finals and win medals while other schools just disintegrate around them.
2. Managing athletes over four days is critical for success. Holmwood has mastered the art. Edwin Allen is on new ground here. For the first time they actually have a chance of winning these championships. Let us see how they manage this situation.
May 27th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Those New IAAF rules and the effects on Jamaica’s World Youth and World junior teams.
In previous years, the age limit rules were simple. To be eligible for the world junior games an athlete had to be less than 20 years of age. To be eligible for the World Youth games an athlete had to be less than 18 years of age. There were no lower age limit and Jamaican athletes as young as 14 years old (Usain Bolt, Melaine Walker, Lisa Sharp, Aneisha McLaughlin) represented Jamaica at these games.
Now, the rules have changed and Jamaicans are finding out this year that although Jamaican has a strong under 18 team that would have been eligible for the world youth games in previous years, a number of those top athletes will not be eligible to represent the country.
World Youth Games
————————
The New rule governing World Youth participation states that only athletes who are 16 or 17 years old in the year are eligible. For the first time, athlete below 16 years of age will not be eligible to participate in these games. This means that Jamaica’s top three Youth athletes Chris-Ann Gordon, Sherika Jackson and Jazeel Murphy will not be eligible to participate in those games this year, because they will not be 16 years of age until next year..
A quick look at the results at the last world youth games (2007) and the performances of our three top athletes this year shows how well our athletes would have performed.:
At the last World Youth games, Dexter Lee won the 100M in 10.51. This year, Jazeel Murphy has consistently run 10.4 seconds. He did it at champs and at the carifta games, and would have been a favourite to win the world youth title. His 20.97 in the 200M at the Carifta games shows that he also had a good chance to win the sprint double.
At the last youth games, the 400M for girls was won in 53.57 seconds. This year at champs Chris-Ann Gordon ran 52.6 (and split 51.2 in the mile relay) while Sherika Jackson placed second in 53.1 and went on to set a new carifta games record of 53.48. Jamaica would have had a very good chance to go 1-2 in this event and easily win the medley relay.
This new IAAF ruling will not allow the participation of Gordon, Jackson and Murphy at these games and that will certainly have a serious effect on Jamaica’s world youth expectations and medal count.
World Junior Games
————————–
Most track fans believed that the new rule allowing only 16 and 17 year old to participate in the World Youth Games, meant that the IAAF thought that for medical or other health reasons athletes under 16 years of age should not participate in the games. However, yesterday a top track official showed me the new rules governing the World Junior games and that was an eye opener. The rules state that ONLY 18 AND 19 YEAR OLD ATHLETES will be eligible for the World Junior Games.
The obvious questions to ask about this rule are:
1. What is the objection to 16 and 17 year olds participating in World Juniors?
I can find no sensible answer to that question, but hopefully we will get an answer from the IAAF soon.
2. How will this new rule affect Jamaican Athletes?
This will have a drastic effect on the Jamaican athletes. The rule is basically saying that only class one females (always a small number at champs) and second and third year class one boys will be eligible for world juniors.
Top females who will miss World Juniors next year
————————————————————-
Jamaica has never had the quality of femaleU17 athletes they now have. A quick look at the carifta games U17 result for 2009 clearly show the quality of this group of athletes, but all will miss the World Junior cut.
In the 400M, Chris-Ann Gordon, Sherika Jackson, Sandrae Farquharson and Jeneive Russell have all run sub 54 flat races or relay splits and are arguable our top junior females.
In the 100M, our top juniors for next year are Deandre Whitehorn, Sherika Moulton who won gold and silver both at champs and at the carifta games. They will not be eligible.
In the jumps Chanice Porter and Jeneive Russell both 6m long jumpers will sit out the event while Peta-Gaye Reid and Russell are 1.80M high jumpers and will also have to sit out the meet.
Top Males who will miss World Juniors next year
————————————————————–
All the boys who ran in the U17 division at the Carifta games will miss the cut.
In the 100M, and 200M, Jazeel Murphy, Julian Forte, Travis Drummond, Adam Cummings and Odean Skeene will miss the cut.
In the 400M, Jermaine Fyfe, Rolando Reid, Jovan Williams are among the top quarter milers who will run in class one but will miss the cut. Waqar Dacosta will also have to put his 800M hopes of glory on hold also.
Let us take a look at the former Jamaican athletes who won world medals before age 18?
———————————————————————————————–
If the present rules had applied in previous years, a number of Jamaica’s medalists would not have been allowed to run.
In the 2002 world juniors, McLaughlin (15yrs) and Facey (16 yrs) both won silver medals and Bolt (15 yrs) won our only individual gold medal. These three athletes also ran on the three relay teams that won one gold and two silver medals.
Last year (2008) Dexter Lee won gold in the 100M as a 17 year old, but present rules (only 18 and 19 year olds) would have made him ineligible.
Other athletes who won medals at World juniors before attaining this new age group standard are Claudine Williams (400M silver), Gillian Russell (100H gold), Melaine Walker (400H Bronze), Yohan Blake (100M Bronze), Remaldo Rose (100M Bronze), Nicole Mitchell (100M Silver).
Lisa Sharpe (100M) and Aneisha Mclaughlin (400M) also won medals at world youth at age 14.
So if recent history is to be believed, the Jamaican medal count in the World Junior and World Youth evens will be decimated by IAAF rules that seem to be quite arbitrary. I can think of no other sport, where a 16 or 17 year old is not eligible to participate in the junior event. The question I would like to ask is:
Should Jamaica continue to participate in these junior and Youth games if our top athletes are not allowed to participate due to quite arbitrary IAAF rules?
May 6th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
The Enduring Images of the Junior 2009 season
As far as our high schools are concerned, the 2009 track season has just ended. There will be a few athletes who will continue to train for Panam Juniors and World youth games, but for the majority of juniors, this is it.
There have been great junior performances throughout the year from top male athletes like Ashmeade, McKenzie and Murphy as well as from top female athletes like Carrie and Janeive Russell, Levy and Gordon. Some of the images of these athletes in full flight are fleeting, but some will remain with us even after the 2009 season has ended.
The Thrill of Victory
————————-
Jazeel Murphy at Carifta
——————————
For those of us who saw Jazeel (the Gazelle) at champs and during the track season, we all thought the 15 year old could not add anything more to his 2009 highlight reel. But Jazeel boosted his already growing reputation at the Carifta games, when he had a sensational run in the 100M. After a number of false starts, he was left in the blocks and at 60M was trailing the leader by 5M. Then in a brutal display of top end speed, he blasted his way to the front and won (by 5M) in 10.41.
He then put the icing on thee cake when he ran his 200M PR of 20.97 in the 200M, closing off a fabulous 2009 season.
This youth is definitely my Jamaican male junior athlete for 2009
Kirani James at Carifta
—————————-
It is all well and good to hear that a 16 year old has run sub 46 over 400M, but to actually see him in full flight (You tube video) was something else. In a run reminiscent of Usain Bolt’s 45.3 run at champs 2003, James and his teammate Bartholomew broke the Carifta record by almost a full second. The sky is definitely the limit for these two Grenadian juniors.
Kirani James is definitely my Caribbean Male Junior athlete for 2009.
Chris-Ann Gordon at champs
————————————
Gordon started the 2009 season on fire. There were rumors of last years Class four’s sprint doubles champ running awesome times over 600M, and when she ran 55.00 over 400M on the grass track at Kirkvine, some posters were actually saying that the track was not marked properly.
When Gordon placed second at Central champs running a less than stellar 55.4 seconds, there were many doubts as to whether her early season exploits were exaggerated. However at champs she made a believer of the doubters when she ran 52.6 seconds in the class three 400M, the fastest time posted by any female junior in 2009.
But the best was yet to come in the mile relay, when she blasted a 51.2 leg that had the whole stadium dumbfounded.
No doubt about it, Chris-Ann Gordon is my Female Jamaican and Caribbean junior athlete for 2009.
The Oracabessa Girl at champs
————————————-
Okay, she did not win at champs, but the Image of Christiana Williams (now dubbed the Oracabessa girl) will remain firmly as one of the season’s enduring images. Williams was on no one’s radar when she made her champs debut, but after running blistering times in her 100M heats and semis she was the talk of champs. It took a record run by eventual champs winner Diana Johnson to prevent the Oracabessa girl from winning the class four title.
Oracabessa does not even have a track, but the school is now firmly on the champs map.
Nero and Kemoy at Carifta
——————————–
Over the years, the 800M and 1500M times at champs have been pedestrian by world standards. This year, Gavin Nero of Trinidad and Kemoy Campbell of Jamaica stepped up to junior world class standard when they both ran below 3:50, obliterating the 23 year ld Carifta junior record of 3:51. In fact, Nero ran 3:47 and Kemoy ran 3:48, times that would have featured very well in last year’s world juniors 1500M finals.
Is this the start of our Caribbean athletes moving up to world standards in the 1500M?
Only time will tell for sure.
Keenan Davis at Carifta
—————————-
This Edwin Allen young lady has got to be the most unlikely Carifta Gold medalist. In 2006 she had won the class four 70M hurdles title at champs, but since then only had average results. She placed second in the 100M hurdles at the 2009 carifta trials in a decent 14.8 (-5.2) time, but her season just went downhill from there She placed outside of the top four at central champs and did not even make the finals at champs.
At the carifta games, nothing much was expected of her, but she confounded the doubters when she won the U17 title in a smart 14.15 (-1.3w).
That was a big run from the unknown hurdler.
The St. Hughs girls at Carifta
———————————–
One of the defining images of the junior 2009 track season, was the vast improvement of the throws. This was most evident at the Carifta games, when the two Jamaican female entries in the Discus and Shot Put Candacea Bernard and Micara Vassell (both from St. Hugh’s) threw massive PR’s of 47.09M and 14.03M to win the gold medals in the Discus and Shot Put events. That was definitely a first for Jamaica and in fact was Jamaica’s first female gold medal in the shot Put for more than 30 years.
The distances thrown are not yet world standards, but the standard in the female throws have definitely stepped up.
Ristannana Tracey at Penns
——————————-
“Rista” had toiled in her sister’s shadow for the last two years. Her sister Nikita was a regular champs medalist over 800M and 400H. This year, although winning her first individual gold medal at champs (class II 800M), she still placed second to her sister in the 400H at champs. At the Penn relays, the trend looked like following the same path when Nikita won the 400H. However, “Rista” definitely came into her own when she was asked to anchor Edwin Allen’s 4 X 400M and 4 X 800M relays. She rewarded her coach’s confidence in her, by running blistering anchor legs in both relays and winning the championship of America titles.
Little sister has definitely come out of the shadows.
The UTECH Ladies at Penns
————————————
Okay, these ladies are not juniors so they should not be discussed her. However, the ladies victory at Penns was the most important of all the championships won by Jamaican teams. The UTECH ladies (like their male counterparts) were the first Jamaican college team (female) to win a championship at Penns.
What made this win even more exciting was that the team was not a team made up of former high school stars. Mclaughlin was certainly a star at school, but Spencer (Mannings), McPherson (Mannings) and Day (Tacky) were certainly not stars over the 400M distance in high school. It was indeed a glorious sight to see the UTECH girls decimate the field and win by more that 30M and also to see Day (52 lead off) and McPherson (51.75) serve notice that they will be a factor at national trials.
With UTECH being able to field the same team next year, we will see more of the same at Penns.
The Agony of defeat
————————-
K’Don at Carifta
——————–
The Pole Vault gold medal already had K’Don’s name written on it. The defending Carifta champion had almost “no heighted” at champs when he waited too long to get into the competition. So obviously he would never make that same mistake again, right?.
But history repeated itself when he made the same mistake at the Carifta games but this time he did not get a reprieve.
The Carifta games record holder left the games without a medal, but two weeks after, redeemed himself at the Penn relays where he leapt 4.80M, setting a new record.
Cunningham at champs
—————————
Allayne Cunningham of Guys Hill was going to be the first athlete from the school to win a gold medal at champs. He was the top contender in the Class Three 400M and was expected to win easily.
Things did not go as planned however, because in the semifinals Cunningham started to “tie up” in the home stretch and with 40M to go fell flat on his face. That was the end of Guys Hill’s hopes of winning a gold medal.
I will not forget that fall anytime soon.
Oshane Bailey at champs
——————————
Sometimes truth is really stranger than fiction. If someone had written the story about Oshane’s mishap in the 100M at champs, most would have said the story was too “far fetched”. Who could have imagined that Oshane Bailey after dominating the short sprints throughout the schoolboy season would literally fall flat on his face at the start of the race at champs?
That image will forever remain as one of the top images of 2009 champs.
Javere Bell at champs
————————–
After Javere literally stopped sprinting and started jogging at the 300M mark in his 400M semifinals (48.56), the general expectation was that he would threaten the record of 47.24 set by McKenzie in 2007. But a strange thing happened in the finals. Bell went out way too fast and had nothing coming home. As he “tied up” in the straight, he was passed by three athletes, and his fourth placed finish (49.11) ensured that once again Bell would not win a medal at champs.
C’Bar and the Mile Relay.
——————————-
As champs came down to the wire and KC was leading C’Bar by 4.5 points, C’Bar knew it only had place three places ahead of KC to replace their champs title. And the track and field gods seem to be smiling at C’Bar because three of KC’s top four mile relay sprinters were injured and two of them were not able to even contest the event. On the final leg, with C’Bar ‘s 400M winner McKenzie fighting for the lead, and KC’s Peart close to the back of the pack, it seemed all over for KC. However, the track gods changed their mind and McKenzie “cramped up” and could only manage third place, while Peart made up ground and actually finished 5th. KC therefore won champs by 1.5 points.
That final leg run in has to be the most memorable image of champs 2009.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:53 am
The UTECH Classic – A truly Mixed Bag
————————————–
The UTECH meet was a truly frustrating Affair. On the one hand , you had top class athletes running times that would place them in the top ten world lists, and on the other hand you had announcers who were conducting the meet but seemed to not have a clue as to what track and field was bout.
Let us take a look first at the areas where the meet needs serious improvement
The Announcers.
—————
At champs, it is possible to have poor announcers at the meet, because the fans ensure that the vibe is high and they will pay attention to events that they think deserves. Especially in the field events, it is the champ’s fan that influences the announcer and not the other way round.
Ex
When KC and C’Bar athletes contested the high jump class II, the fans clapped screamed and jeered when a KC or C’Bar man jumped and cleared the height. This then caused to announcer to turn his attention to the event. Talk about the tail wagging the dog.
But at an event where most athletes are unknown and the school /college spirit is absent, it is the announcer who has to act as conductor and as the vehicle via which information is relayed to the spectators. Taking two students out of communications 101 was just not going to do it. Someone with intimate knowledge of the athlete’s bios and good knowledge of how to conduct a meet was going to be vital. And as to the sound system, the sound was not clear and the voice of one of the female announcers was jarring to say the least. It is just a pity that UTECH did not pay attention to this all important area.
Can you imagine how excited I was when Vere ran 44.13 in the high school sprint relay? I was expecting the announcer to tell the crowd that that was the fastest school girl time ever run in Jamaica and quite possibly the world. I was expecting the announcer to say that the time broke the Penn relays record. Of course they did not have a clue and the race just went by.
I guess Bruce James, the big man at MVP realized this because in a few of the more important races, he took the mike and gave us a quick bio of the athletes. And more important he gave us an idea of the world leading and meet record times so people could make a comparison. It is such a pity that this was not done from the beginning.
Field Events
————–
There was also no coordination with the field events. There we saw a Javelin thrower hurling the implement over 70M and the announcers paid the event no attention. The same thing happened in the women’s shot put. At least they introduced the shot put ladies and long jumpers, but very little bio was given.
Of course this is just Par for the course where field events are concerned at Jamaican track meets.
Missing athletes
——————–
A lot of spectators would have expected to see Bolt, Asafa, Sherika, Marvin Anderson, Darrell and Yohan Blake at the meet. Although this might be no ones fault, spectators had visions of seeing these athletes on show,
Empty lanes and sub standard teams.
———————————
In the 4 X 400M female college race, there was one decent team (Utech) and two or three very substandard team. There should have been one invitational 4 X 400M race, and the vive best high school teams matching up against the college teams that were few and far between. No one wants to see a closing relay with one team with a 200M lead and a few “joggers” running behind.
It does not say much for our colleges like GC Foster, UWI, Mico etc that they could not find a mile or sprint relay team. The GC Foster case is just crazy, because they are the sports college in the region. It seems as if the female team is simply the six Holmwood Past students (Calvert, Wilkins, White, Leroy, Rose and Blair) and if they have to run the individual events, then GC Foster cannot find a relay team.
The great performances
—————————
There were enough top performances that almost made up for the negatives.
The Cuban team - Manuel Fajardo.
Not sure if this is a sports college, but they came to run (Not knocking Albany University athletes here) and gave us a display of Cuban prowess on the track. They won the 400M, 200M, and Long Jump individual events and won the female sprit relay and the male mile relay. Their 38.61 run when chasing MVP was not bad either, now was the 10.28 (-0.6)run in the 100M by Flores. But the most impressive runner was the 200M man Perez who ran 20.38.
The Leeds team
This team was quite small, but here athletes won the 400M, the shot Put and the javelin. I am told that 400M man Richard Buck is an international for UK
Not sure who the Swedish runner Claesson represented, but he ran a 1.47, a time not usually run on this track.
Of course there were a lot of top times run by the locals and this is where my interest in the meet was at it’s highest.
The GC Foster Girls
Calvert and White seemed to be in very good form while Leroy and Wilkins were not far behind. They will certainly add to the fireworks later in the year.
The Utech Girls
Is it just me or does Kaleise Spencer look like she will be the one to beat at trials in either the hurdles or flat 400M?
When Aneisha runs a PR in the 100M I wonder if the “comeback is real”.
But my surprise competitor is McPherson who ran Wilkins to the line in the 400M. Her 52.36 had my eyes popping.
The Utech Boys
When Cooper ran 50.7 in the 400H, I had to shake my head. The JC connection continues to tell the same story. Cooper never won a medal at champs last year, but looks as if he will be running low 49’s this year.
Then there is former Cornwall sprinter Ravel Gray (10.43) who ran like he was accustomed to winning medals at champs. There was former JC man Roach (10.38) who seemed to get injured close to the tape but still ran a decent time.
Schoolboy Oshane Bailey from C’bar placed second to his namesake Daniel bailey and one has to wonder what he would have done at champs.
Rasheed Dwyer continues to have the pundits wondering what happened at Camperdown, because he looks like a new athlete. He dipped under 10.4 and has already run sub 21 over 200M this year.
All in all, the performances at the meet were usually of a high standard. However the meet can be improved if we get two more teams like the Cuban teams, UWI, GC Foster start taking the sport seriously, if all our local athletes turn up for the meet and if we get an announcing team that understands what it entails to make a meet successful.
April 18th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
elmo
So how did the Jamaican “Lucky” picks do at Carifta games?
A number of the athletes who represented Jamaica at the carifta games ere considered “lucky” picks. For some of these athletes, their performances at trials and during the season were quite average and winning an individual medal was always going to be a long shot. For others, their performances were good but other athletes who were better medal prospects were just not picked.
So how did these athletes do?
U20 Boys - The Lucky Ones
———————————-
Darrion Mitchell (STGC) – 100M
Grade D (regressed)
This was always going to be wasted pick. He did not make the finals at champs and ran 10.72 (+3.7) in his heats at Carifta and did not make the finals.
Dwayne Powell (KC) – 5000M
Grade D (regressed)
While Kemoy and Co were away on Cross country duties, he won the 5000M at trials. Since then he placed 10th in the champs in the champs finals and has a DNF at the Carifta games.
Did he actually run?
Sheldon Williams (Holm) – 400H
Grade B – (big improvement)
Sheldon ran 53.5 at trials and was lucky to get selected. He did not run the event at trials (That experience was vital) but ran 52.4 at Carifta just missing the bronze by 0.3 seconds.
Okay, he ran 49.1 on his 400M split, but he was never selected for mile relay duties. How was he to know that the selectors would not have sent a replacement for Ming who got injured at champs? How was he to know that McKenzie would also drop out of the relay? Still, for a youth who expected to run 48 out of the block, that was a terrible run.
J. Whyte (St. Jago110H) – Grade C+ (moderate improvement)
K. Henry (KC 110H) – Grade C- (Little or no improvement)
At trials, they got lucky when after leading by a city block, Deuce Carter hit a hurdle and did not finish the race. At champs, while Carter placed second, Whyte placed 4th and Henry 7th.
Although Whyte improved to14.1 at Carifta he still was not good enough to medal. Henry’s 14.5 I simply underlined the type of season he had.
When one realizes that Watson a 17M and record holder in the shot Put was left at home, one wonders why.
U20 Girls – Lucky Ones
—————————–
Kimberley Brown (Manch) - 3000M
Grade B – (No improvement but did what she had to do)
Due to cross country duties, Brown (bronze in 2008) did not run at trials, but was given an automatic pick. She placed 5th at central champs and 4th at Girls champs. Her 10.31 silver medal time at Carifta was still way below her 10.16 time she ran at carifta last year. However, she did what she was supposed to do and delivered the quinella to Jamaica
Shantel Brown (Manch) – 1500M
Grade B- (Continued to improve)
Brown won the 1500M at trials and was selected to partner teammate Goule. However her 4.53 at champs when she placed third showed she would struggle at the carifta Games. She ran her PR of 4:48 but placed 6th. Hey we cannot ask more of her than to run her PR.
U17 boys – the Lucky ones
———————————-
Jason Lewis (Wol) - High Jump
Grade D+ (showed no improvement and actually regressed)
I guess the selectors selected him for the high jump to ensure Jamaica had one entry in the event. His 1.90M jump at trials did not inspire confidence, but his 1.95 third placed jump at trials did. But he placed 7th at trials with a 1.85M jump. That height was never going to be good enough.
Yannick Hart (Wol) 400H
Grade C – (No improvement)
Jamaicas U17 boys will always have problems in this event because the event is not done at champs in classes so the class II boys do limited practice, preferring to concentrate on events they will do at champs.
Hart was a lucky pick, and his 55.5 run and 4th placed finish (out of five) is just par for the course.
Odean Skeene (Wol) - 100M
Grade C+
This was a wasted pick and top sprinters like Julian Forte was left out of the relay squad to ensure he got a run. Shaquille Lewis threw over 15M at trials and champs and should have been selected in this spot. Lewis would have easily won the silver considering that silver and bronze went to athletes nowhere close to 15M.
.
U17 Girls – The lucky ones
———————————
Peta-Gaye Reid (STETHS) – High Jump (1.75M)
Grade A+ (Big PR done when it matters)
Reid was the defending champ and was lucky to be selected when she finished in second place at the trials. Her 1.75M jump was equal to the height jumped by two other girls
She proved the selectors correct when she won gold and jumped a massive 1.80M PR
Carla Thomas (EDA) - 1500M
Grade C – (decent 1500M, but poor 800M)
The 1500M silver medalist was given the nod over St. Jago’s Shavel McDonald to compete as the second string in the 1500M and 800M to the Holmwood pair of Plummer and Gordon. Her 4:48 in the 1500M finals matched her PR but she only placed 4th.. In the 800M, she did not make the finals. That was strange indeed.
Keenan Davis (EDA) -110H - Grade A+ (Only in the movies type performance)
Tatiana Wolfe (Alpha) – 110H - Grade A- (Great Big Day Performance)
When Wolfe and Davis placed first and second at the trials, it was widely acknowledged that the field was weak and the top hurdlers had opted to do other events. When Davis failed to make the finals at champs and Wolfe only placed seventh, not too much was expected at carifta. The ladies confounded the statisticians when Davis won gold (14.15 in -1.4w) and Wolfe placed third.
Who said it only happens in the movies?
April 15th, 2009 at 11:02 am
The Year that changed Track and Field in the Caribbean
——————————————————————–
Everyone on planet who has any idea about what the Olympic Games are, know that the Jamaicans (with Usain Bolt leading the way) dominated the Track and field section of the Beijing games. What may not be as apparent however, is that although the Jamaicans had their best results ever, the rest of the Caribbean also had a stellar year, not only with their senior athletes at the Olympics, but also with their juniors at the world Junior games.