Elmo's Post Champs 2008 Awards
Well folks, it is that time of the year again, and based on the
performances at champs 2008, I will be handing out awards to the performers
and coaches who have made their mark (whether positively or negatively) on these
championships.
The general boys and girls championship awards have already been given out on
Saturday night, where Adam Cummings and Jura Levy
were given best “male” and
best “female” awards for their record breaking performances. The class champions
were also lauded for their
individual performances.
I suspect that if Saturday was not so windy, those awards would not be so clear
cut and athletes like Murphy, McKenzie and Ashmeade
(boys) as well as Gordon,
Farquharson, Goule and Mclean (girls) might have contended for those awards by
recording better statistical
performances.
I also suspect, that the C’bar and Holmwood teams and coaches have been given
all the team and coaching awards, so the awards I am
about to give will not
include the obvious performance awards already given on Saturday night.
COACHING AWARDS
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The “I WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE” award
This award goes to the coach who shows that with dedication and ability, talent
can be discovered and unearthed in the most unlikely schools.
Winner: Coach Vassell (St. Hughs)
For the first time in recent memory, St. Hughs has placed itself squarely on
the track and field map due to the simple fact that they were dominant
in the
throwing events at these championships. Micara Vassell and Candicea Bernard
dominated the Shot put event, and both went on to throw
over 40M in the discus
event. This dominance is of course due to the diligence and ability of coach Vassell who had already coached Nadia
Alexander to champs and college glory in
the shot put event.
Is this the start of a “throws” dynasty at St. Hughs?
Will coach Vassell get to realize his dream of having the throwing events get
the recognition they deserve?
If his recent champs results are any indication, his dreams may come through
sooner than expected.
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The “JUST CAN’T LEARN” award.
This award goes to the coach who goes to championships every year and makes the
same mistake every time.
Winner: Darion Bent’s coach.
“Cherry” has already posted Bent champs history, but some of this still bears
repeating.
In CIII, he did the 400M and 800M double and anchored his school’s mile relay
team. The next year, he did the 200M/400M double plus the
two relays and just
faded badly on the fourth day.
This year, in his first year in CI, he is again fully loaded, doing the
200M/400M double and both relays. To make it worse, he does not take it easy
in
the preliminary rounds. He runs 22.05 and 21.8 in the 200M rounds, runs 47.6 and
47.4 in the 400M rounds, chases JC to the tape in the
4 X 100M and then runs a
low 46 plus leg to defeat St. Jago in the mile relay heats. What was his coach
thinking to have him run so many races at
full throttle?
Of course, by final day he is exhausted and as expected, underperforms in the
400M and does not face the starter again. I just hope he is not
seriously
injured.
As one fan explains it, “Bent (who is slightly built) has a 1000cc engine and
cannot take the work of someone with a 2000cc engine. Lighten his
workload, let
him coast through the rounds and we will all see the awesome talent of this
athlete”.
Coach, you need to think about a change of occupation. What about trying your
hand at another sporting discipline like Squash or Golf ?
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The “HE WHO LAUGHS LAST LAUGHS BESS(T) award
This award goes to the coach who becomes a “laughing stock” when given the job
to handle Top athletes. However, against all odds, he proves
the “nay sayers”
wrong and succeeds “against all odds.
Winner: Coach Bess
When Coach Bess was given the task to take over as hurdling coach at KC and by
extension Alpha, there were very few who believed in him.
There was talk of the
demise of the hurdling program left by Coach Graham, and many wondered when the
“experiment” would collapse.
When the Alpha girls won the shuttle relays at Gibson, eyes were raised, and
after champs 2008, fans had to agree that even though Coach
Graham had left the
scene and his legacy was still obvious, the new coach was starting to make his
mark especially at Alpha where alpha girls
medaled in three of four classes in
the hurdles.
What a lot of folks failed to realize, that the young coach had coaching
experience in the hurdles where he assisted primary aged students
(Francis,
Richards, Scarlett) from Spanish Town, who all went on to win medals for St.
Jago and St. Catherine at these 2008 champs.
It was no “buck up” that a number
of the C4 hurdlers over the last two years were from Spanish Town schools.
Well coach, he who laughs last ……
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The “WANT ALL LOSE ALL” award
This award goes to the coach who thinks his athlete is so good, that he can go
“all out” and break the champs record in the heats or semi finals
and still come
back to win the finals.
Winner: Seafort (Javere Bell) coach
WE all saw Kemoy Campbell try to break the 5000M record in the heats, and lose
the 1500M finals next day. Was that record attempt the
reason he lost that“
final? No one can be sure, but certainly that run did not help his chances. On
the final day, Kemoy won the 5000M and
so went home with medals.
Not so 15 yr old Javere Bell of Seafort, who in his semifinal run against his
rival Dacosta went through the first lap in 51 seconds and then limped
home in
1:54.. That first lap is 1:42 pace and would break the world record. What was
his coach thinking? Did they not realize that the 400M
semifinals and then the
tough final day 400M/800M double would require fresh legs? This was not the Carifta trials two day meet with only
heats and finals being run on different
days. Champs is notorious for breaking the hearts “country come town” runners
who do not understand how
to navigate the heats, semis and finals over the four
days.
Of course, on the final day, Bell did not even medal in the 400M and was a no
show in the 800M.
I guess Bell’s coach and Bent’s coach can compare notes and decide who made the
biggest blunder.
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The “CANNOT PREPARE MY ATHLETES FOR THE BIG DAY” award
This award goes to the head coach and his team of assistants that always seem
to miscalculate the time his athletes should “peak”. Their athletes
look very
competitive in the early season, but during the four days of champs just does
not perform.
Winner: John Mair and the JC coaching staff
Every year, it seems as if Jamaica College has the track talent to match its
field events talent and would join KC and C’Bar as a valid potential
champion.
By the time champs arrive however, the team fades and one wonders what happened.
This year promised to be different. JC was still strong in the field events and
the talent on the track was awesome. Barnes was running 10.34
early in the
season, Bengallo was still a top middle distance runner and the hurdles squad
led by Collins and Dickens was solid.
The track team was ready to vie for a championship and the coach said this to
the media in no uncertain terms.
However, JC failed to live up to expectations, with Barnes looking a shadow of
himself, “Bengi” not even making the 800M finals and could only
place 7th in the
1500M finals. The top hurdlers were also simply missing in action and to make
matters even worse, they lost their usual third place
position at these champs
to St. Jago.
One would have thought that a coaching staff that worked under Michael Clarke
during the dominant nineties would have learnt how to prepare
athletes for the
big day.
I guess we “thought” wrong.
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Athlete Awards
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The “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING” award.
This award goes to the athlete who makes an error that is almost unforgivable.
Winner: Shane Dodd (JC)
Shane made the Carifta team as a discus thrower and actually won the event at
champs this year. However, as the school’s (JC) competitor in the
heptathlon, he
found a way to make THREE no throws in the discus event, eliminating any chance
he had to score points in the heptathlon event.
Shane !!! – Have you ever heard about a safe throw?
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The “NEW SENSATION” award (female)
This award goes to the athlete(s) whose performance(s) are so good, they would
medal in the older classes.
Winner: Sandrae Farquharson and Sherika Jackson
These two 14 year old Class three girls are certainly the find of the year.
Their 400M times were faster than the times run by the CII and CI high
school
juniors. Only Wilkins (not a junior) and Cutenar (not at high school) have run
faster this year. One of the highlights of the track season would
have to be the
duels between the two girls. Jackson won at central champs, but Farquharson won
at trials and at champs.
I await the carifta games to see if the scores will be tied.
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The “NEW SENSATION” award (male)
This award goes to the athlete(s) whose performance(s) are so good, they would
medal in the older classes
Winners; Adam Cummings and Jazeel Murphy
By definition, these guys would not medal in CII and would not therefore be
considered sensations. However, both broke the existing CIII record
and join
Winston Barnes as the only athletes to have run sub 11.0s in CIII.
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The “OUT OF CLASS” award.
This award is given to the athlete who is so obviously better than the “field”,
that only injury could prevent them from winning the gold medal.
Winner(s): Bobby-Gaye Wilkins, Natoya Goule, Chris-Ann Gordon.
All three athletes were just dominant in their respective classes. Wilkins was
easily 3 seconds better than anyone over the 400M and 800M,
Goule’s margin over
her CII compatriots was even bigger, while Gordon was almost 0.4 seconds faster
than the field in the C4 sprints.
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The “COMEBACK KID” award.
This award is given to an athlete who due to injury could not fulfill their
potential, but has overcome their ailments and dominated their event at champs.
Winner: Deandre Whitehorne, Shantea McLean
Over the last two years, Whitehorne of Vere had shown very good early season
form, but got injured before champs. In C4, she was a lock to win the
sprint
double and gain 14 points for her school. Her school lost by 12 points after she
had to withdraw. She did not participate in the carifta trials this year
and
most fans thought “here we go again”. This move seems to have been a
precautionary measure, and she sped to an impressive 11.73 second win in the
CIII 100M.
Last years CIII champion at 800M Shantea McLean of Holmwood chased Natoya Goule
and Joseph to the line at carifta trials but came third running an
awesome 2:10.
This year at trials, she could only manage third place after running 2:15 and
again failed to make the team over supposedly lesser opponents.
Rumour had it that McLean had the flu and would wreak vengeance at champs. She
did just that when she easily defeated the carifta representatives in both
the
800M and 1500M and went on to run a decent leg in the 4 X 400M relay.
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The “OUT OF NOWHERE” award
This award goes to the athlete who is not expected to even contest for any of
the top two medals, but from “out of nowhere” wins the gold medal.
Winner: Tie between Akeem Smith and Nickel Ashmeade
The 200M class one race was supposed to be a duel between Blake and McKenzie.
Ashmeade was an afterthought. He had never defeated McKenzie and
had too much
respect for his teammate Blake. But a funny thing happened in the race when
McKenzie caught Blake at 150M and seemed to have the Gold
medal in his grasp. Ashmeade seemed to be quite irate when he saw his friend about to be beaten and
came out of his comfort zone and gave one of the
strongest finishes one would
ever see at champs. He caught McKenzie on the line and gets his first win over
his two rivals.
The 110M hurdles as billed as a clash between Warren Weir (C’Bar) and Keiron
Stewart (KC). It seems as if Akeem Smith did not read the script and
blasted his
way to winning Gold in a photo finish with Stewart, while Weir after hitting the
first hurdle, jogged to the finish line.
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The “AWESOME PERFORMANCE OF THE MEET” award
This award is given to the athlete who gives a performance that have fans
thinking about the last time they had witnessed any performance that rivaled
what
they had just witnessed.
Winner: Bobby-Gaye Wilkins in the mile relay.
When Wilkins got the baton about 20M from front runners Tracey (EdA) and
Robinson (Vere), most fans thought that she would have to settle for a minor
medal in the relay. She even appeared to forget the coaches mantra about chasing
in a mile relay that you should” take it a little at a time”. Wilkins
immediately sprinted after the two carifta selectees and caught them after the
270M mark. She simply continued the sprint to everyone’s amazement and
eventually won the race with two metres to spare.
Her split of 50.8 was the fastest school girl split ever witnessed at champs.
Olympic teams have medaled with splits much slower than that hers.
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The “BIG QUINELLA” award.
This award goes to the pair of athletes from one school that not only wins gold
and silver, but have both performances rivaling the best ever performance
in the
event at champs.
Winner: KC pair of Keiron Stewart and Andre Peart with runner up being the St.
Hughs pair of Candicea Bernard and Micara Vassell.
There wee quite a number of Quinellas at champs this year.
In the C1 girls 1500M, Petrona Layne and Taneisha Davis took the top two spots.
In the CII boy’s discus, C’bars Dacres and Wilson went one/two.
In the CIII boy’s high jump, KC’s Pullen and Grant won the top spots
In the C1 girls 100M, Edwin Allen’s Anderson and Evans went one/two..
In the CII boys 800M, Dacosta and Grant revived a faded JC challenge by taking
the top medals.
However, as good as those performances were, the class record in the respective
events were not threatened.
The top quinellas therefore went to:
1. KC’s 400M hurdlers Stewart (50.29) and Peart (50.44). For the first time in
champ’s history, two boys went below 50.5 in one race, and both went
close to
threatening the record.
2. The St. Hughs pair of Vassell (12.80M) and Bernard (12.70M) were he first
two athletes to get close to Marlene Lewin’s shot put record of 12.82M.
Conclusion
Well folks I have just run out of awards. Please feel free to add to the list
of awards for those deserving and not so deserving teams and athletes.