MUNRONIANS GIVE BACK

THE LEGACY IS STRONG

We break from tradition to recognize the achievements and give our appreciation to two former team members who continue to make every effort to support MCTF. We speak of Dr. R Amadeus "Squash" Mason and Mr. Bryan "Lippy" Cummings. Both men are at the top of their respective professions and continue to play an integral role in the sport of track and field.

Dr. Mason (above) is an assistant professor in the Orthopaedics and Family Medicine departments at Emory University in Georgia. He is board certified in Sports Medicine with a special interest in track and field, running injuries and exercise testing. He entered Munro and Coke Farquharson in 1978 and

participated in Track and Field until he left on a scholarship in 1985 to attend Princeton University where he would eventually captain their track team. Dr. Mason received his medical degree from Howard University and completed his Family Practice Residency at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He is the team physician for USA Track and Field, the Nike/National Scholastic Sports Foundation and Georgia Tech Track and Field. He has also been invited to be a resident physician at the US Olympic Training Center and has been the Chief Medical Officer at multiple USA Track and Field international competitions. You can also look for him on CNN as he is a frequent guest on Fit Nation.

This year Dr. Mason and his family covered all costs associated with housing the Penn Relay team and coaching staff at the Wyndham Garden Hotel. He has pledged to do the same for each year the team makes it to the prestigious event. We thank him and his family for the tremendous gift they have given to the school.

Bryan Cummings (above) attended Munro between 1975 and 1982. As a Dickenson House student he participated and set records in Track and Field his entire time at school and captained the team in his final year. He then went on to the University of the West Indies where he received his degree in History and Social Studies. The long-time hobby photographer joined the Jamaica Observer in 1993 as a freelancer and took the position of Photo Editor for the national daily in 2006. Bryan has won numerous awards from the Press Association of Jamaica and the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission for his work in sports journalism and has travelled the world to shoot every major track and field event including numerous Olympic Games and World Championships. His images have also appeared in a number of global periodicals and television news shows.

In 2009 Bryan arranged a gift from Puma AG to

supply the Munro College Track and Field team with gear for

three years at a value of over J$3M per year. We continue to thank Mr. Cummings and Puma for the tremendous gift they have given the school.

Numerous old boys, parents and friends of Munro College have supported and continue to support the school and the track and field programme. For this we remain truly grateful.

Best regards,

B. Hayden ('87)

Team Manager, MCTF

MCTF Blog

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Pics (top-down): Dr. RA Mason; Amadeus "Squash" Mason anchors the 1983 Champs 4x100m team to a bronze at Sabina Park; Bryan Cummings at the Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing, China (2008); Bryan Cummings at work at the Olympic Stadium in Athens (2004)

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED

WE ARE TRULY GRATEFUL

Munro College Track and Field's participation at the 2010 Penn Relays could not have happened without the support of those that contributed. This year we had significant contributions from team members, past students, "Friends of MCTF" and local corporations.

We are truly grateful and would like to thank the following for their continued support:

PENN RELAYS 2010: A BITTERSWEET FAREWELL

Blackwood and McKenzie Move on
MCTF entered the 116th running of the Penn Relays with the focused intention of taking home the HSB 4x400m Championship. The sweet: the team of Rolando Reid, Jodi-rae Blackwood, Delano Williams and Dexter McKenzie qualified for the final with the fastest time of the seven hundred plus schools that competed in the event, 3:12.54. The bitter: all appeared well until anchor Dexter McKenzie (above left) revealed he had been suffereing muscle spasms from the last 200m of his carry in the heats. A fact that made his performance, that much more outstanding as he outran none other than 2009 World Championship 400mh fourth place finisher Jehue Gordon (above right). It has never been team practice to run an injured athlete and as such McKenzie was left out of the final line-up which still retained the potency for victory with the inclusion of the prodigous sprint hurdler Patrick Campbell. The bitter continued when team captain Jodi-rae Blackwood started cramping up on the backstretch during his second-leg carry in the final. The team faded to fourth and eventually finished in sixth with a time of 3:19.55. The team ran in the order of Reid-Blackwood-Campbell-Williams for the final.

The sweet: Patrick Campbell took the bronze in the HSB 400mh in a time of 54.27 and was the best performing Jamaican in the event. Sixteen year old, Emmanuel CA Onyia placed fourth in the HSB shot with a heave of 18.82m. Onyia had the best performance of the Jamaican entrants in the event. He had a controversial final throw that looked to be just over 19m. It was called a foot-foul after the head referee decided on the word of the official closest to the circle. Rajae Gayle placed sixth in the HSB discus with a throw of 52.34m. Chad Wright of Calabar won the event with a record throw of 58.50m. Incedentally there were four Jamaicans in the top six as 2nd place finisher Sam Mattis' father is Jamaican, and Michael Cameron of Jamaica College finished third. Myles Chingara finished 11th in the triple jump with a leap of 13.90m. Myles is in fifth form and should have a couple other shots at the title. Wendrico Seymour cleared 1.96m for 9th place and should have another year to set the record straight.

The team next competes at the Jamaica Invitational on Saturday May 1st in the 4x400m relays for High School Boys.

We thank all those who helped to make this possible, the coaching staff, the MC Track Moms, the teachers and administrators at the school and the friends and past students who put up strong financial support to get the team to, and house the team in Philadelphia.

Best regards,
B. Hayden ('87)
Team Manager
MCTF Blog
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CHAMPS 2010 - THE POSSIBLE IS NOW

NOW LET'S MAKE IT HAPPEN
For years he flew beneath the radar, crossing disciplines and distances with modest success. In 2008 he was named the team's most improved athlete for having made the 400m semi-final at Champs. An achievement that, like all his others, eluded radar detection. Then in 2009 after attempting the event but once he made the Champs 400mH final and placed a respectable fourth. Certainly a performance of that magnitude on a stage such as Champs must have thrust him squarely onto the radar screen? But a year later, his name and reputation remained a stealthly presence.

With 300m to go he already stamped his class on the field, effortlessly leading with the left, then the right as he moved from barrier to barrier. With 100m to go the maroon clad favourite made a surge but could do little to dent his lead and with 15m of track left he looked to heavens, smiled, put his hand to his chest and crossed the line a Champion. Munro College Track and Field respectfully presents, perennial under-dog, Team Captain, Stealth Bomber and Jamaica's 400m hurdles champion from Champs 2010, Mr. Jodi-Rae Blackwood! (above center)

The Captain finished in a personal best time of 51.56 and so did the entire team recording a total of 100.5 points, the highest the school has achieved in a decade. His path to victory fully embodies the experience the team has had over the last few years. Steady progress amidst relative anonymity. Munro College placed 6th for the fourth year in a row at the National Boys and Girls High School Championships and maintained it's lien on the trophy for the best performing rural school. Our point tally has improved from 45 four years ago to 100.5 this year.

Congratulations must go to the Wolmer's Boys School for lifting the Mortimer Geddes trophy 100 years after they won the first Championships. They did it with a team no bigger than ours and no more talented than ours. It with respect that we applaud the efforts of their coaches, teachers, staff and management because they "believed" it was possible and with focus they achieved it.

Munro's only other gold medal came from the defense of the class II 4x100m title (l-r: Cummings, Williams, Harrison, Germain). Having won only one race all season, the team went into the final as underdogs despite returning two from last year's championship team and the '09 class III 100m champion. They ran out of lane one and based on the commentary one would have imagined they were not even in the race. Nevertheless, they quietly made up ground with Cummings on lead-off, Harrison on the back-stretch and Germain on third. By the time the baton got to anchor man Delano Williams the team was in fourth place and 10m behind the leaders from Kingston College. There's not much to say here, except that Delano Williams gunned them down in 41.75 and remains wanted on a charge of triple homicide. The video evidence is below.

Williams also got the school's top medal haul with two silvers (100m, 200m and the 4x100m gold). He's currently on his way to the Carifta Games to represent the Turks and Caicos and we wish him all the best. The other top medalist at the meet for Munro was the irrepressible Adam 'Redz" Cummings, who continues to defy the odds. Cummings took home three medals in the Class II 100m (bronze), long jump (silver) and 4x100m (gold). Redz has never long jumped in a high school championship meet of any kind. In fact, his first jump came at the Youngster Goldsmith meet in February of this year where he popped a 6.52m to qualify for Champs. Someone once said "the long jump is 90% speed and 10% speed". Adam Cummings proved that true on Friday night when he copped the silver with a leap of 7.24m. We're still waiting on him to actually hit the board. By the way, the fifth former, has already passed six (6) CXC subjects with distinctions and will sit a bunch more this June. His performance is a throwback to many legendary Munro athletes who seemed to move effortlessly from book to track to medal stand.

The only other medals came from Emmanuel CA Onyia who took the bronze in the class I shot put with a heave of 16.56m and the mile relay team that took home the bronze with a season's best 3:13:93.

It was a great Champs for the young Munro team (all but three return in 2011) .They saw that with preparation, focus and determination all things are possible. They showed signs of greatness and greater things to come.

We'd like to thank our coaches, Neil Harrison, Steve Cole, Dr. Gwyn Jones and Joe Powell. Our Track Moms, Paula Miller-Foster, Antoinette Davis, Donette Reece, Shelly Brandon, Ivy Lawson and Norma Kerr-Clarke. Special thanks must also go out to our nutritionists Deron Swaby, Denton Smalling and Wilfred Chin; team physios Karey Lewis and Debra Callendar; and physicians Dr. Paul Auden and Dr. Gwyn Jones.

We must also thank the Principal Mr. Branford Gayle and his staff for leading the support the school provides for the team and the sport.

Congrats to Munro College Track and Field, you did yourselves proud!

Best regards,
B. Hayden ('87)
Team Manager
MCTF Blog
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HARRISON ON HITZ

Pre-Champs 100 Interview
Coach Harrison is interviewed by former Munro sprinter and broadcaster Jeremain Brown for Hitz92FM...

Click on link below for interview...
http://mctnf.drivehq.com/harrison-brown.mp3

Rgds,
B. Hayden ('87)

GIBSON 2010: THE QUIET BEFORE THE STORM

FATIGUE SETS IN

For the first time in six years MCTF entered teams in all relay events available for high school boys. There were notable performances from the class II 4x100m (3rd, 42.54), class IV 4x200 (4th, 1:40.13) and the Open 4x400m (4th, 3:17.16). Many of the teams appeared to be fatigued coming off last week's defense of the Western Championships. All can look forward to well needed rest and recuperation before the 100th running of Champs in just over three weeks.

A small number of MCTF team members will compete at Carifta Trials next weekend, March 6 - 7 and at the GC Foster Classic on March 13th.

Best regards,
B. Hayden ('87)
Team Manager
MCTF Blog
MCTF on Facebook
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MCTF THREEPEATS AS WESTERN CHAMPIONS!!!

NULLI SECUNDUS
Munro College won its third consecutive title at the 60th running of the COCAA Western Championships. The sixty-eight man team nabbed 18 gold, 9 silver and 14 bronze medals and scored 409 points to beat second place finisher Herbert Morrison by 131.5 points. The key performance of the meet came from fourth former Emmanuel Oniya (below right) who broke the Class I Shot Put record with a heave of 17.54m (6KG). Oniya has two more years left in Class I. Other outstanding performances came from team captain Jodi-Rae Blackwood who won the open 400mH and the Class I 400m, Rojay Ottey who took the Class IV sprint double, Delano Williams the Class II sprint double and Giovanni Mowatt the Class I middle distance double.

MCTF congratulates coaches Neil Harrison, Dr. Gwyn Jones, Steve Cole and Joseph Powell for putting together another victorious effort for 2010. A very special thanks and congratulations must go out to team nutritionist Chef Swaby, team physio Karey Lewis and team mothers Antoinette Davis, Donnette Reece, Ivy Lawson and our longstanding stalwart Paula Miller-Foster. We would also like to thank Puma and Big Ben Cambio for providing team gear for the 2010 season.

It was a phenomenal championship and we look forward to attempting the Fourpeat in 2011. Complete results can be found in the "2010 Meet Results" section to the right.

MCTF will next compete on Saturday February 27th at the Gibson Relays.

Best regards,
B. Hayden ('87)
Team Manager
MCTF on Facebook
MCTF on Youtube

WR 2010: A MONSOON EPIC

THREE WINS THREE RECORDS

Munro closed out the 2010 Milo Western Relays by breaking the mile relay record under the year's heaviest torrential downpour. It was an epic performance on a day when the team set three meet records. The gun sounded with sheets of rain all but removing visibility of the starter and the athletes in the outer lanes. Class II sprinter Delano Williams drove out the blocks from lane 2 and covered three staggers by the 150m mark. and with 200m to go disconnected the field to hand off in 47.1 -> Mile relay veteran Jodirae Blackwood maintained the lead to the last 10m when he was caught by Holmwood's Denton who must have split the better of 46.5 to make the recovery -> Patrick Campbell took the baton from Blackwood, made off like a scared hare and handed over just ahead of Holmwood to Dexter McKenzie (pictured above) on anchor. -> McKenzie and Holmwood's anchor battled down the backstretch until McKenzie let him go ahead at the 200m mark -> With 120m to go McKenzie went by and powered home to claim the victory and the the record in 3:14.86. The picture above captures some of the epic drama.

Dexter McKenzie also had his hand in a second record when earlier in the day he won the Men's Long Jump title with a leap of 7.34m (-0.5w). The third record came from Class I high jumper Wendrico Seymour who won the men's High Jump with a clearance of 2.00m.

Other notable performances came from the Class III 4x100m (2nd, 46.39), the Class IV 4x100m (4th, 48.12) and the Class II 4x200m (2nd, 1:30.05).

Munro next competes at the 60th Annual COCAA Western Championships on February 18th and 20th.

Above: Class III 4x100m Lead-off Cejay McLaughlin

Best regards,
B. Hayden ('87)
Team Manager
MCTF on Facebook
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YG 2010: MCTF VAULTS INTO HISTORY

SOARING TO NEW HEIGHTS

Sean Lawson (left) and Nicholi Campbell (below right) made history for Munro College at the 2010 Youngster Goldsmith Meet when both cleared heights in the Pole Vault Open. This was the first time any Munronian executed a successful series of vaults at the National Stadium (previous clearances were at Sabina Park or Race Course). Special commendation must go to their instructor Mr. Orville Brown, the region's preeminent pole vault coach, who continues to offer guidance every weekend.

YG 2010 was also the venue for another prodigal return as Class II athlete Adam Cummings participated in the long jump for the first time at the high school level. Cummings, leaped 6.52m (21' 4 5/8") for second place. Later that evening he opened his 100m season with a 10.84 clocking to not only win the Class II event but also record the fastest schoolboy time of the day.

Other notable MCTF performances came from Emmanuel Oniya in the Class I shot put (4th, 15.51m) and Rajae Gayle in the Class I Discus (6th, 46.10m).

JAMALCO 2010: MCTF sent a split squad to the 2010 running of the JAAA JAMALCO meet. The team won the High School Boys 4x400m in a time of 3:20.90. Congratulations to Messrs. Dennis May and Neville Myton for consistently running one of the most enjoyable meets of the year.

MCTF is scheduled to compete at the 2010 Milo Western Relays at GC Foster on Saturday February 13th.

Best regards,
B. Hayden ('87)
Team Manager
MCTF on Facebook
MCTF on Youtube

MC SPORTS DAY 2010

SIGNS OF A DYNASTY

"We whop dem again" was the cry from an elated House Master, Joseph "Daddy P" Powell (pictured left), after Pearman Calder repeated as Sports Day Champions on February 5th, 2010. PC won by a clear 110 points over runner-up Dickenson and had three of the four class champions.

Congrats to all who helped make the day a success!


Class Champions
Class IV: Kirk Goodlit (Pearman Calder)
Class III: Tevin Wilson (Dickenson)
Class II: Delano Williams (Pearman Calder)
Class I: Giovanni Mowatt (Pearman Calder)

How they Finished
Pearman Calder - 493
Dickenson - 383
Coke Farquharson
Harrison
Sangster

Best regards,
B. Hayden (Pearman Calder, '87)
Team Manager
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STETHS 2010: SEVEN GOLD AND ELEVEN MEDALS

MILE RELAY MAVENS
MCTF nabbed six gold and eleven medals at the 2010 STETHS Invitational. The senior mile relay team took the marquis event under the lights in a time of 3:20.71 ahead of new rivals Holmwood Tech in 3:23.13. Other wins came from JodiRae Blackwood in the 400mH Open(55.77), Jevaughn Shaw in the class II discus (47.72), Delano Williams in the Class II 200m (22.08; best time of any class - pictured left), Tevin Wilson in the Class III 200 (24.03), Giovanni Mowatt in the Class I 1500m (4:13.60) and the resolute Myles Chingara in the Triple Jump Open (13.40m). Other medal winning performances came from Wendrico Seymour in the Class I High Jump (2nd, 1.85m), Derron Duncan in the Class III Long Jump (2nd, 5.29m), Rojay Ottey in the Class III 200m (2nd, 24.39; still Class IV), Ahkeim Forbes and Kemar Sutherland in the Class III High Jump (3rd, 1.58m), Patrick Campbell in the 400mH Open (56.59) and Rosean Maxwell in the U17 400mH (3rd, 60.40).

Complete results can be found in the 2010 results section of the blog.

MCTF next competes this Saturday February 6th at the JAAA Jamalco Meet in Clarendon and the Youngster Goldsmith Classic at the National Stadium.

Best regards,
B. Hayden ('87)
Team Manager
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RECORD BREAKING PERFORMANCE AT CENTRAL

TWO WINS AND A RECORD

MCTF produced two wins and a record breaking performance at the 2010 Central Hurdles and Relays Meet held at GC Foster. Jodi-Rae Blackwood took the U20 400mH event in a record time of 54.04 and Patrick Campbell (pictured left) won the U20 110mh in a time of 14.84. Blackwood, still relatively new to the event, (his 5th ever time over the long sticks) showed good promise last year when he clocked 52.65 to place fourth at Champs in his second ever 400mH final.

Other notable performances came from the mile relay "B" team that finished a close second to a Holmwood-based team in a time of 3:17:35. The "B" team ran Dexter McKenzie - Rolando Reid - Kaneil Harrison - Jodirae Blackwood.

MCTF will next Compete at the STETHS Invitaional in Santa Cruz, St. Elizabeth on January 30th.

Regards,
B. Hayden ('87)
Team Manager

BALANCED RESULTS AT KIRKVINE 2010

NEW TALENT RISES TO THE TOP
MCTF had two top three finishers at Kirkvine 2010. First year Class II middle distance runner Jason Lewis (pictured left) placed second in the 800m with a time of 2:06:70s and Delano Williams, also in Class II, placed third in the 400m with a time of 51.8s. Other notable performances came from Tevin Wilson in the Class III 400m (5th, 55.50s), Kaneil Harrison in the Class II 400m (5th, 52.20s), Giovanie Mowatt in the Class I 800m (7th, 2:04:10) and Jason Lewis in the Class II 1500m (7th, 4:39:70s).

Jason Lewis and Giovanie Mowatt are late entrants to the sport and have developed particularly well this season. Both Lewis and Mowatt took top ten places at the Western Cross Country Championships this past November. Credit must be given to coach Neil Harrison for reviving the Inter-house Cross County Championship at Munro as both athletes were discovered during the competition.

The senior mile relay team will make its 2010 season debut this weekend when MCTF competes at the 2010 Central Hurdles and Relays Meet on January 23rd at GC Foster College.

Regards,
B. Hayden ('87)
Team Manager

A ROCKET START AT JC 2010

HARD OUT THE BLOCKS

Munro got off to a strong start for the track and field season with five winning performances at the 2010 JC Invitational. Record breaking performances by throwers Emmanuel Oniya and Jevaughn Shaw were the key highlights of the meet for MCTF (Oniya is pictured left) . Shaw threw 46.47m to win the class II discus and Oniya's put of 17.45m to win the class I shot also qualifies as the best ever performance in the discipline by a Munro athlete. Other excellent openers came from Delano Williams in the class II 100m (1st, 10.65), Giovanni Mowatt in the class I 1500 (1st, 4:24:06) and Wendrico Seymour in the class I High Jump (1st, 1.90m).

The team will next compete at the JAAA/Puma Development Meet at Kirvine on Saturday the 16th.

MCTF RESULTS (click below; complete results to the right)

Oniya CL I Shot Put 17.45 m [HQ]



Shaw CL II Discus 46.47m [HQ]



Regards,

B. Hayden ('87)

Team Manager

munro.tnf@gmail.com

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