THE QUEST CONTINUES - 2010

MCTF Rules Rural Athletics - Three Consecutive Years

Welcome back to friends, family and team members. We have been the Top Rural Track and Field School in Jamaica for the last three years and our quest towards a national championship continues in the 2009 - 2010 season. Our top team goals are:

1. Break into the top four at Champs
2. Three-peat as Western Champions
3. Win Gold at Penn Relays
4. Full-Scholarships for Graduating Seniors

This is also our third season online. We took somewhat of a blog sabbatical as most of our communication has been through our MCTF Facebook page which is now over 950 members strong. A special welcome to all those new friends and family.

We would also like to welcome on board this year, Puma AG, the sporting goods company that has signed on to provide our team with gear for the next three years. This relationship was initiated by MCTF parent and past student, Bryan "Lippy" Cummings. A special thank you goes out to Bryan who has been a keen member of the programme for many years.

Our coaching staff remains the same. Head Coach and Sports Department Head, Neil Harrison, leads the charge once again and is superbly supported by Steve Cole ('95) on hurdles / jumps and the institution known as Dr. Gwyn "Bigga" Jones ('84) on field events. Our team captains are graduating senior Jodi-Rae Blackwood (400m, 400mh - U6) and fifth former Rolando Reid (400m). JB was our 07-08 "most improved athlete of the year" and Rolando has won a gold or silver medal at Champs every year that he has participated. Both continue to lead by example and are coaches in their own right.

Our season was kicked off with the inter-house cross country championship that was won by Pearman Calder for the second year in a row (full results are below). PC also won this year's sports day and could quite possibly be ushering in an era of dominance.

Welcome back! Stay tuned.

Regards,
B. Hayden
Team Manager
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MUNRO'S ADAM CUMMINGS REPRESENTS TEAM JAMAICA AT GLOBAL PRESS CONFERENCE

Cummings at press conference - far left in front row

Excerpt from the IAAF Press Conference Report: Jamaica’s Adam Cummings who was a runner-up at the Jamaican Youth Trials and part of the Class II winning 4x100m relay team at the Boys and Girls Championships declared: “People I respect? I respect Jamaican athletes who from such a small country can go out and do such great things.”

Cummings fielding questions with American sprinter Prezel Hardy.

See the related Observer article by Paul Reid below.

Cummings one of four for World Youth press session

Paul Reid

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Sprinter Adam Cummings will be one of four athletes invited to today's opening press conference for the 6th IAAF World Youth Championships to be held at the Brixen/Brissanone Town Hall in Italy starting at 11:00 am (4:00am Jamaica time).

CUMMINGS... 15-year-old Munro College student will join three other athletes for media presentation

The 15-year-old Munro College student will join American 100m Youth Champion Prezel Hardy, World Junior high jump champion Kimberly Jess of Germany and Italian 100m Youth champion Matteo Didoni at the event that will be attended by the IAAF hierarchy led by president Lamine Diack.

The six-day event will get underway later today with an opening ceremony at the Brixen-Bressanone Sport Arena where the event will be held starting tomorrow.

The 21-member Jamaican team plus coaches and officials were scheduled to arrive in the Italian city on Saturday after a two-day camp in Havana, Cuba.

Tomorrow's opening day will be a busy one for the Jamaicans who will take part in the first round heats of the girls 100m hurdles, the first-round of the boys 800m, the first two rounds of the 100m for boys and girls, the first round of the 400m for boys, the preliminary rounds of the women's high jump as well as the first round of the girls' 400m hurdles.

Jamaica had their best ever medal haul at the 2007 renewal in Ostrava, Czech Republic, when they landed nine medals including two golds from Dexter Lee in the 100m and Ramone McKenzie in the 200m.

ADAM CUMMINGS MAKES WORLD YOUTH TEAM

(L-R) Earl Lee (3rd, Calabar), Kemar Bailey-Cole (1st, Old Harbour), Adam Cummings (2nd, Munro)
Congratulations to Adam Cummings for making the team to the 2009 World Youth Championships!

Six Under 18 athletes were named today to the Boy's National Team for the World Youth Championships to be held in Sudtirol, Italy on July 8 -12. They are Adam Cummings (Munro), Kemar Bailey-Cole (Old Harbour), Javere Bell (Seaforth), Waynee Hyman (Petersfield), Ashawni Mitchell (Wolmers) and Travis Smikle (Calabar)

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED

Lead Sponsor JMMB hands over a cheque to MCTF: (L-R) Keith Duncan (CEO), Jason Morris (Senior Strategist and MC Old Boy), Patrick Campbell, Adam Cummings, Rolando Reid and Delano Williams

WE ARE TRULY GRATEFUL
Munro had its best year ever at the Penn Relays. This could not have happened without the support of those that contributed to the team being able to make the trip in the first place. This year we had significant contributions from "Friends of MCTF" and local corporations. We would like to thank the following:

Regards,
B. Hayden
Team Manager

PENN RELAYS '09: BEST PERFORMANCE EVER!

HSB 4x100m Championship of America (MC - Ln 9)

Neil Harrison is Jamaica's Clyde Hart
On April 18th, less than a week before the start of Penn Relays, at the 2009 UTECH Classic Munro placed 8th in both the sprint and mile relays for High School Boys. That was a blessing. Head Coach, Neil "Juanto" Harrison, set about fixing the glitches the very next afternoon. The sprint relay team was reconfigured to run as Adam Cummings->Rolando Reid->Dexter Mckenzie->Delano Williams. After three days of preparation during a MCTF Pre-Penn Relays Camp at Stadium East the team set off for Philadelphia with glitches fixed.

The results were the best we have ever had at the Penn Relays. The 4x100m team qualified for the Championship of America final after easily winning their heat in a time of 41.82. That was the fourth fastest qualifying time behind Calabar, Wolmers and Herbert Morrison. The final saw a more spirited run from all legs and highlighted Delano Williams holding off reigning World Youth and Junior Champion Dexter Lee for the third place spot (see the video clip above).

The mile relay was were the team felt it could make its greatest impact at the meet as 3:12 or better was definitely in the cards. Munro once again qualified easily for the final with the fourth fastest time of 3:14:78. The team was strategically adjusted to accomodate for the infamous un-staggered line starts at the Penn Relays. Coach Harrison ran O. Reid-Blackwood-McKenzie-R.Reid. The staggered final saw a changed order with Rolando Reid handing to Jodi-Rae Blackwood to Odane Reid to Dexter McKenzie on anchor. I'll let the video speak for itself. The team finished second in 3:13:73 with McKenzie and Blackwood dropping the second and third fastest official splits of the race with 47.22 and 47.40 respectively. After the race the team was disqualified for reasons still truly unknown. An athletes from another school ran within the railing and it is believed that infraction was placed on our team. The video, seen live by millions on ESPN and now by you below clearly shows that no MCTF athlete stepped inside the railing. The protest is continues.

HSB 4x400m Championship of America

In the field events Dexter McKenzie had a best of 7.19m that gave him 5th place in the HSB Long Jump. Omar Bryan (47.32m) and Razzack White (46.07m) placed 12th and 13th respectively in the HSB Discus.

Congrats to all the team members and coaches. A very special thanks must be made to all those that contributed financially and in kind to the team making it to the Penn Relays this year.

Penn '09: HSB COA 4x100m Results
1 Calabar (Kingston 20, JA) 39.91 Earl Lee, Ramone McKenzie, Ricardo Powell, Oshaine Bailey A
2 Wolmer's Boys (Kingston 4, JA) 40.44 Javon Spencer, Dwayne Extol, A-Shawni Mitchell, Julian Forte C
3 Munro College (St. Elizabeth, JA) 41.13 Adam Cummings, Rolando Reid, Dexter McKenzie, Delano Williams D

Penn '09: HSB COA 4x400m Results
1 St. Jago (St. Catherine, JA) 3:12.55 Andre Walshe (48.7), Adolphus Nevers (48.1), Marvin Green (48.28), Nickel Ashmeede (47.51) B
2 Calabar (Kingston 20, JA) 3:14.25 Ravian Robinson (50.5), Rodrick Tennant (47.8), Deman Ricketts (48.89), Ramone McKenzie (47.11) C
3 Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley, CA) 3:14.78 Ramon Marshell (49.2), Greg Hornsby (49.1), Ruben Danielsen (48.25), Paul Robertson (48.23) A
DQ Munro College (St. Elizabeth, JA) DQ (3:13.73) Roland Reid (50.3), Jodi-Rae Blackwood (47.4), Odane Reid (48.77), Dexter McKenzie (47.22) D

CARIFTA '09: MC SENDS FOUR | REAPS TWO

VIDEO: U-17 200m Final (Delano is in the blue in Lane 6)


ALL-TIME BEST FOR TURKS AND CAICOS

Delano Williams (Turks and Caicos), Angelo Germain (Turks and Caicos), Adam Cummings (Jamaica) and Dr. Gwyn Jones (Jamaica) represented their respective countries well at the 2009 Carifta Games.

Dr. Jones, a former national jumper and thrower (Carifta '82 U17 TJ Gold, SP Silver, DT silver) has performed duties as the National Team Physician on a number of occasions. An orthopedic surgeon, Jones can be found in the Medical Room at every major meet held at the National Stadium.

On the track Angelo Germain, representing Turks and Caicos, and Adam Cummings of Jamaica never progressed beyond the semis in their respective events. The multi-talented Germain clocked 53.42 in the U-17 400m semis and Adam clocked a respectable 10.93 (1.5w) for 5th in his semi-final. Cummings did, however, return to win gold running a scintillating leading-off leg in the U-17 4x100. The team set a new championship record of 40.76.



The lone individual medal in 2009 came from Delano Williams of the Turks and Caicos running a personal best of 21.62 (1.4w) to win a bronze in the U17 200m. The time is not only a national junior record for the Turks and Caicos but also a National all-time best across all ages. Congrats to Delano for having his best season ever to date. Delano also won silver in the Class II 200m final at Champs 2009 (22.29, -0.4w) and gold when he anchored the Class II 4x100m team to victory.

MCTF congratulates all our representatives at this year's Carifta Games, on and off the track.

Pics
First: JAM U17 gold medal winning 4x100m team. L-R Odeen Skeen, Travis Drummond, Jazeel Murphy, Adam Cummings
Last: Delano recovers from a bad start and passes the entire field to win his semi in 10.83. Adam was 5th in 10.93.