Rajae "Flajah" Gayle and Rolando "Midnight" Reid will each leave St. Kitts with two gold and two bronze medals.
Reid captured his medals as a member of both U-17 relay teams. He received a bronze for his work in the 4x100m and a gold medal for breaking open Jamaica's lead on the 2nd leg of the 4x400m.
Rajae Gayle continues a stellar tradition for Munro throwers at the CARIFTA Games. On the opening day he took the bronze in the U-17 Shot Put with a throw of 14.75m and came back on the final day to take gold in the Discus with a personal best throw of 48.54m.
Congrats to both Rajae and Rolando you have carried the Munro and Jamaica flags high!
The quest to greatness continues. Champs 2008 is now over and it has been our best performance for many years. We are firmly on our way back to prominence and beyond. Before I get to some outstanding details let me thank the coaching staff for a job well done. Head Coach Richard Wilson has brought tremendous energy to the process since last September and has yielded successful results. Coach Cole came over in January after the football season and helped sharpen the hurdlers and senior sprinters. The evergreen Dr. Gwyn Jones guided the jumpers and throwers to a stellar season that gave the entire team the confidence to roll into this meet and move to 6th position from 21st four years ago. Congrats to them all.
Now to the Outstanding results. Class III 100m Champion Adam "Reds" Cummings broke the 6-yr old event record by a full 8/100th of a second. He posted a time of 10.91 in a performance that one could perhaps only see when visualizing "the perfect race". Coming into the final as the projected runner-up Cummings stamped his class within the first five metres by literally stepping on the rest of the field with a rocket start and an instant two metre lead. He moved this lead to almost five metres before the favourite, Bridgeport's Jazeel Murphy, closed slightly with 60 to go. Cummings responded, stepped away and sprinted tall to the finish and the roar of the stadium crowd who seem to have adopted the copper-topped kid on sight. If you've ever been to Champs then you'll know everyone in the stands in an expert analyst. Post race comments rang out from "Big Horse!!! Im likkle but a big horse dat iyah", "mi did ah tell yu a seh a di copper a tek it", "my yute done im from di gun starrr". Well "my yute" is really the son of our own Bryan "Lippy" Cummings who might have visualized this race himself 14-yrs ago when Adam was born. To top it off, Adam was awarded the trophy for "Most Outstanding Male Athlete". Congrats to both Adam and Bryan.
Last year's Class III 100m Champion Rolando "Midnight" Reid was never tipped by the pundits to win in his 1st year of Class II. He missed the title by less than 1/100th of a second in a photo finish that was a throwback to McKenley's 100m in 1952. The photo-meisters deliberated for quite a while and accurately rebuffed an official protest to give Reid a time of 10.83 seconds behind 2nd-yr man Earl Lee's 10.82. Both athlete's will represent Jamaica in this week's Carifta Games. Reid, running from lane 8, emerged from the blocks behind the field and clawed his way back into the medals and what looked like a win by dipping hard at the line. While his head crossed the line before Earl Lee's torso the photo shows his shoulder and chest were only but a very slight sliver away. Reid is a true warrior in every sense of the word. He never gives up and gives it his all in every final that he steps to the line. He also ran from lane 8 in the 200m final and took the bronze there. Congrats Midnight, you're a true leader.
Rajae "Flaja" Gayle, our second Carifta selection, stepped in the ring for the Class II Discus and clutched a bronze medal with his penultimate throw. He took 5th in the Shot Put final.
Congratulations must go out to all three of our medal winners, Rajae Gayle, Adam Cummings and Rolando Reid.
There were other very notable performances that carried us to our 61 point tally. Erroll "Solli" Davis was a double scorer in the Class II 800 and 1500m finals. Davis, who has nursed a hamstring injury for the greater part of the season displayed great valour in putting together two excellent races to take 6th in the 1500m and 4th in the 800m. Davis won the bronze in the Class III 800m in 2006.
The feather-light first year Class II hurdler Patrick Campbell battled a 3.3m/s headwind to take 6th in the 110mH final.
Class I throwers Razzack White and Omar Bryan took 6th in the discus and 5th in the shot respectively. Head Prefect, Andrene Nelson, made the 400mH final but succumbed to a hamstring strain and finished 8th. The Class II sprint relay quartet of Rasheem Eccleston, Tashane "Champs" Bromfield, Patrick Campbell and Rolando Reid, clocked a season's best of 43.01 to finish in 6th place.
All in all MC Track and Field had a very good meet and sit on the threshold of the big five. When the strategy was laid out this is exactly where we were projected to be in 2008. It has come from the support of the school's administration, dedicated past students and hard work and diligence on the part of the students and coaches.
Congrats to the team. Let's support our two Carifta charges this week and those on the move towards the Penn Relays in late April.
Best Regards, Brando Hayden Team Manager
Class III 100m Final - Adam Cummings Breaks Record
Class II 100m Final - First Year II Rolando Reid Takes Silver
(1) CALABAR HIGH SCHOOL 277.50 (2) KINGSTON COLLEGE 233 (3) ST. JAGO HIGH 155.50 (4) JAMAICA COLLEGE 153 (5) WOLMERS' BOYS SCHOOL 128(6) MUNRO COLLEGE 61 (7) HERBERT MORRISON TECH. 47 (8) BRIDGEPORT HIGH 42 (9) ST. GEORGE'S COLLEGE 37 (10) HOLMWOOD TECHNICAL 34
Rolando "Midnight" Reid and Rajae "Flaja" Gayle have made this year's Carifta team as announced in today's Observer.
Reid (photo left) has the distinction of being the first outright sprinter from Munro to make the Carifta team since Franz "Pocco" Bernard and Pete Coley in the late '90s.While Rajae Gayle (photo right) continues a deep tradition of Munro Throwers who have represented the country. From Dr. Gwyn "Bigga"Jones and Dave "Cudjoe" Grant in the '80s, Rory Marsh, Claston Bernard and Sheldon Lewis in the '90s to Omar Bryan as recently as 2006.
We congratulate them both along with the coaching staff. Job well done gentlemen! Carry the flag high!
Let's celebrate these two spots on the Craifta Team at the MC Track and Field Champs Fish Fry next Friday and Saturday!
Munro carried a small group of ten to the trials for this year's Carifta Games which are to be held in St. Kitts, March 22 - 24. Double Western Champs gold medalist and record holder, Rajae Gayle had a good showing in the U-17 shot with a throw of 14.18m for 2nd place. He followed that up with a 4th place finish in the discus with a best throw of 43.36m. Rolando Reid, also in the U-17 category, sped to 10.95 to take 2nd place in the 100m and 22.08 for third in the 200m (Above: Reid dips for 2nd in the 100m).
Other Highlights:
U-19 Discus Omar Bryan - 46.19m Razzack White - 44.47m
Shot Put Omar Bryan - 14.88m
Triple Jump Moses Watkis - 13.65m
U-17 100m Rolando Reid - 10.95 Adam Cummings - 11.31 (11.04 in heats)
MC Duo Strikes Gold
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