World Class Atmosphere at JA. High School Champs

[Paul Henry]

Just announcing that Jaomaica yesterday concluded its 99th high school championships for boys and girls.

Notable patronage included, Coiln Jackson (representing British T.V.), Ato Boldon, and the President of Puma international which partially sponsored this year's meet. Included with these guys were a string of international media spanning Europe to Asia. Crowd attendence capped off at 30,000 heads. Lost in this were the droves off NCAA spotters who salivated.

Most notable performance came from a young lady from Holmwood High; only 12yeras old who ran faster than Merlene, Juliet, Veronica or Shellian ever did at age 12 by setting a new record of 11.90 seconds.

The Boys section was captured by Kingston College who held off a late surge by Calabar to win by 1.5 point drama and tension surrounded this battle by one calabar athlete who had earlier fell in the 110 high hurdles neglecting to cross the line for a crucial point.

The girls section was dominated by Holmwood high.

To Penns we go!!

[Infama]

"Now the world knows that the Olys happen for us every year in Jamaica." LoL

Foreign journalists bowled over by Champs

KAYON RAYNOR, Senior Observer staff reporter [email protected]
Monday, April 06, 2009

'Extra special' was the overwhelming response of the majority of the 40 international journalists who covered last week's 99th staging of the ISSA GraceKennedy Boys' and Girls' Championships at the National Stadium in Kingston.
Public relations manager of the IAAF, Laura Arcolio (centre), and journalists Mattias Schneider of Stern Magazine (left), Leon Mann of the BBC (second left), Connie Aitcheson of Sports Illustrated (second right) and Jen-Denis Coquard of L'equipe (right) covered the 99th ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys' and Girls' Championships last weekend. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)The consensus was that the local high school championships explained why local athletes such as Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell, Melaine Walker and Shelly-Ann Fraser do so well internationally.
Leon Mann of the BBC says the atmosphere which prevailed at the National Stadium compares favourably to any international sporting event.
"It's certainly something special in terms of the number of people attending and in terms of the organisation of an event and the unique atmosphere. I was at the World Cup in Germany and the Euro finals in Portugal and the Olympics in Beijing and I have to say that the atmosphere here even goes a bit further than that," Mann said.
"This really goes to show that what you're doing here in Jamaica is quite special and kind of answers the cynics who said 'Jamaica's success is all about drugs'. Well actually, if people come here and see the development, see what's going on, see how important athletics is to these young people, then it kind of addresses that issue directly," Mann added.
Jen-Denis Coquard of L'equipe in France, who is among a group of 20 journalists in Jamaica for the IAAF's Day in the Programme on Usain Bolt, said: "I'm very impressed to see all these people at a young (age group) competition and the level of performances. We can just imagine about the future of Jamaican athletics when we see all these impressive performances."
Connie Aitcheson, a Jamaican-born journalist with Sports Illustrated, who was observing the ISSA-organised championships for the first time, agreed with Coquard.
"I'm impressed with the participants and the fans and the history that they know. I knew that I would see passion, but I didn't think I would see passion with knowledge, that's what I'm impressed about," Aitcheson reasoned.
Public relations manager of track and field's world governing body, the IAAF, Laura Arcolio, said 'Champs' could rival many international meets.
"The finals of the 100 metres... were amazing. I can't believe how quick they get their feet on the ground and I'm also impressed with the reaction of the crowd and I love the way every supporter (wears) their colours and that's what we need over Europe - the ability to relate to a team, which is so strongly felt here in Jamaica," Arcolio stated.
Mattias Schneider with the Stern Magazine out of Germany said he had never experienced such an atmosphere in all his travels.
"From the standpoint of atmosphere, this is by far the best that I've seen because it's the whole crowd that is getting into it. I never experienced something like this, especially in track and field," said Schneider, who covered the Beijing Olympics last year.

[euan Track Guru]

The future stars of Jamaican athletics

By Dania Bogle
Writing for BBC Caribbean from Kingston, Jamaica





Dexter Lee clocked 10.31 seconds in the junior 100m
The world came. They saw.
Jamaican high school track and field conquered.

Watched by more than 40 international journalists; a contingent from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF); some of athletics’ best known names; sports agents, and a capacity crowd at the National Stadium, Jamaica’s most promising young athletes put on a good show over four days at the country’s Boys’ and Girls’ Athletic Championships.

Reigning World and Youth champion, Dexter Lee, pulled away from the field mid-race, clocking a smart 10.31 seconds (0.1 m/s) to win the boys’ Class One (under-20) 100m ahead of Nickel Ashmeade (10.37).

A World Junior 200m silver medallist himself, Ashmeade was defying the odds. No one who saw him in action on Saturday’s final day would have known the teenager broke his right forearm six weeks before the Championships.

Ashmeade later clocked 21.06 seconds for third in the 200m behind World Youth champion, Ramone McKenzie, who captured the 200m/400m double.

McKenzie – sporting his latest gimmick, a ‘Batman’ mask - timed 20.66 for gold in the 200m and later posted 46.88 for victory in the 400m.

The Ashmeade/McKenzie duel reached fever pitch during the final event of the Championships - the 4x400m Relay Open.

Unfortunately, McKenzie suffered cramps to his hamstring during the crucial anchor leg as Ashmeade powered his team to victory in 3:12.44 with McKenzie two places behind (3:13.78).

World junior bronze medallist, Keiron Stewart, in his last season before heading to pursue studies at the University of Texas, clocked 13.79secs to retain the 110m hurdles title, adding to the 400m hurdles (51.14) crown he earlier won.

Sixteen year old Ashinia Miller threw a championship record and World Youth Champs qualifying 17.41m to win the Class Two (under-18) Shot Put.

Bolt focus

The IAAF contingent was in the island producing the feature ‘A Day in the Life’ of triple Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt.

The 100m/200m world record holder himself was inside the National Stadium cheering on his favourite team, signing autographs and hamming it up in his usual playful manner.

The yearly response to the championships has become the stuff of legend, but those who had only ever heard about it, and were seeing it themselves for the first time, were left in awe.

US-Jamaica clash coming

Former 110m hurdles world record holder, Great Britain’s Colin Jackson, 1976 Olympics 100m champion Hasely Crawford, and 1996 Olympics 100m gold medallist Donovan Bailey, and 200m bronze medallist Ato Boldon, all expressed amazement at the mass response to what was happening on the track.

“This is the kind of atmosphere you want to compete in,” former two-time world champion, Jackson said.

Meanwhile, athletics officials from the USA and Jamaica have agreed that a proposed clash between the countries will take place in 2010 as an already packed calendar ruled out its possibility for this year.

Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association president, Howard Aris, was however quick to point out to BBC Caribbean that no details had yet been finalised.

[sprintblox]

39.90 for the boys 4x100!!! Which is faster than the Penn Relays record.

Watch lane 6. FF to 2:00 for the start of the race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voueiqYxDgk

[Fortis4Eva]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/ap ... -athletics


Champs of the worldThe national obession that is Jamaica's Boys and Girls Athletics Championships

Anna Kessel The Observer,
Sunday 5 April 2009 Article history

Talent unearthed at The National Championships has cemented Jamaica's status as a top athletics nation. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

In Jamaica there is only one event that grips the nation like the Olympic Games or World Championships – the national Boys and Girls Athletics Championships. To the rest of the world "Champs" may sound like a glorified school sports day, but to Jamaicans it is the highlight of the year, with crowds of 30,000 people gathering from across the island to watch over 100 schools battle it out for title of "King" or "Queen".

It is an event with 100 years of history – older even than our own national schools championships by 15 years – but it is only since the advent of Usain Bolt and his achievements in Beijing last summer that the rest of the world has begun to sit up and take notice.

As the four-day competition got underway last week its extraordinary hold over the island is immediately apparent. Everyone from hotel porters to fruit sellers in and around Kingston discuss which teenage stars to look out for. Bars and restaurants set up TV screens to watch the proceedings as the event is broadcast live from the National Stadium, with network channel CVMTV estimating around 1.2m viewers – from a population of 2.8m. Detailed reports dominate the front pages of the island's newspapers, with huge colour photographs hailing the nation's freshest crop of track and field stars.

It is surreal, listening to people on the street debate the merits of 15-year-old sprinters. Everyone has an opinion on who will be the next Bolt or Shelly-Ann Fraser. In the national stadium, supporters of each high school demonstrate their loyalties, screaming for their favourites. Dressed in team colours – the supporters in the purple and white of Kingston College taking up a whole stand to themselves – they bang drums and enjoy soup and roast corn, or jerk chicken wrapped in tin foil. As darkness falls, groups of school kids making their way home take up sticks; there are often violent clashes on the streets outside the stadium. This is no token support, loyalty to high schools goes back generations through a family. Outside the perimeter fence one supporter stands with a gun tucked into his belt. "Y'alright?" he says with a grin.

Every Jamaican athlete worth their salt began at Champs – from Don Quarrie to Bolt himself – and each year the alumni return to watch the next generation. All of them credit the competition as the defining experience in their journey to success. There was even a story going around the island that Asafa Powell lacked mental toughness in competition because he did not compete enough at Champs as a kid. Surely there could not be any truth in it?

"Yeah. I think so, definitely," says Bolt, who brought the house down, aged 16, at the 2003 Champs with a series of brilliant runs that culminated in a record-breaking 200m/400m double in 20.23sec and 45.30sec respectively. "Asafa only did Champs one year and he false started. It's the biggest thing us athletes look forward to every year – I still go every year – it's like the World Championships or the Olympics. It's very competitive – especially the relays – the atmosphere changes completely when the relays start. It prepares you… if you're not strong mentally, you'll crack."

British high jumper Germaine Mason, who grew up in Jamaica and holds the Champs under-16 high jump record, agrees. "The first time I competed I was 13 and really nervous. There were 30,000 people screaming and cheering, and I was shy to look in the stands, I had my head down. But the more I competed the more I got used to it. When I go to a major championships now I use that same method I used then to deal with the pressure."

Mason says that before winning his silver medal in Beijing, an injury put doubt in his mind about his ability to compete. "I had forgotten all about how to approach things, but I thought, 'I need to go back to my high-school days'. You just apply all that you learned from a young age.

"My record is still standing, 2.09, it's been 10 years and every year I go there to watch and see if anyone breaks it. Champs is the biggest thing in track and field here, bigger than the [senior] national championships. It's a traditional thing going way back, my dad did it, everyone's dad did it, and the rivalries go way back depending on what school your family went to."

Established in 1910, Champs are the bedrock of Jamaica's commitment to athletics success. The country eats, sleeps and breathes the sport, with even primary school children competing at the national stadium in the "Preps". Over 3,500 kids now compete annually at Champs, but the country's athletics infrastructure goes beyond annual events. Former Prime Minister Michael Manley – close friends with Fidel Castro – established a legacy when, receiving a grant from Cuba, he set up the GC Foster College in 1978, a higher education institution whose sole aim was to produce sports coaches for Jamaica.

That investment has reaped rewards. "We now have an athletics coach in every school, college and kindergarten in the country," explains Neville McCook, Council member of the IAAF and Secretary General of the Jamaica Olympic Association.

Unlike in the UK, where schools competitions struggle for finance – although a new three-year sponsorship deal with Aviva has kept the event alive up to 2012 – Champs has so much sponsorship money there are leftover funds to help pay for other sports such as hockey and basketball.

"It costs $22m Jamaican [£174,000] to put on Champs each year," says McCook, "which is paid for by our main sponsor, but we also have other sponsors and we get royalties from the broadcasts. That money also assists the colleges in preparing for Champs – which they do from June until March – the old boys association also pay a lot." Like every other alumni on the island and abroad, McCook is expected to dig into his own pocket to help fund future stars. McCook typically sponsors five athletes a year to help pay for, among other costs, medical bills and dental care. "One chapter in New York donated about $20,000 [£13,500], and three years ago our chapter in Miami put up a large sum to put up a new schools canteen."

Jamaicans say it is no surprise that their small island won an unprecedented 11 Olympic medals on the track last summer. While some prominent voices in the media questioned such prolific success, Jamaicans pointed to their investment – and results – at all age groups in recent years. While the rest of the world are fixated on the achievements of Bolt and his three gold medals and three world records in Beijing, Jamaica is already looking ahead to a "second tier" of sprinters. Their excitement is justified.

Last year Jazeel Murphy, aged 15, ran 100m in 10.42sec. Compare that time to Mark Lewis Francis's English schools record of 10.93sec – also aged 15 – and you begin to understand the depth of talent Jamaica has waiting in the wings. Dexter Lee, the current world junior champion over 100m, last night won the senior boys' race in 10.35 seconds, and there are others, such as Yohan Blake, 19, – a former Champs record holder – who now trains with Bolt and claims to be running under 10 seconds in practice.

Such is the reputation of these youngsters that agents and scouts travel from the US to watch what they describe as the world's best talent. Claude Bryan, agent for reigning 100m and 200m Olympic champion Veronica Campbell Brown, says the event is unique.

"Nowhere else in the world will you see 30,000 people cheering on high schoolers. This is the place to be. You've got scouts here, shoe companies here, university coaches here, this is the market place to be at. It's very competitive." Bryan says he doesn't go to other schools events in the US or Europe, "No, they're boring. For me there are only three track and field events I wouldn't miss: the World Championships, the Olympic Games and the Champs."

Slowly the rest of the world is beginning to cotton on. Last week the US announced a proposal to compete head-to-head against Jamaican sprinters from 2010, and McCook says IAAF President Lamine Diack wants to roll out the regional version of Champs – the Carifta Games (Caribbean Free Trade Association) – to the rest of the world.

Bryan questions whether Champs, can truly ever be replicated. "I doubt it. Imitate yes, but replicate? Next year is our 100th anniversary; this isn't something we started yesterday. We have a great handle on what goes on here.

"Try getting 30,000 people screaming and cheering at kids anywhere else in the world, it's virtually impossible, but other nations, if they want to start reaping the rewards, they do have to start now, the formative years is where it happens.

"Jamaica has the template and other nations should try to imitate it. Veronica Campbell says if you can compete at Champs you can compete anywhere. It gives you an indication as to the intensity here. So when a Jamaican athlete walks into an 80,000-seat stadium, it's just another day."

British athletics organisers can only dream of such a day. Despite luminaries such as Paula Radcliffe testifying to the importance of national schools competitions, the English schools championships attracts a crowd of less than 4,000, and is struggling to pay its bills. The Aviva money – around £160,000 over three years – is keeping the organisation afloat, but the costs of putting on the event are at £250,000 and reserves are running low. David Littlewood, secretary of the English Schools Athletics Association, worries what the future might hold. "We can only survive on our reserves for another four years maximum and then we would have to close down. We've never had any government or lottery money, we're on a tightrope budget. If it wasn't for Aviva, we would have disappeared last year."

In a world where the financial climate is making sports sponsorship ever harder to come by, Bolt may just prove the unlikely saviour of Britain's schools championships. It is Bolt's achievements that have lifted athletics out of the doldrums and excited the world about the sport. Even with the economic downturn sponsors are attracted to Bolt as a figurehead to promote their business.

Bolt says that he never follows athletics and is unaware of the bigger picture going on in the sport, yet he is sharply perceptive on what athletics needs to market itself.

"I think I put a spin on the sport," says Bolt in a happy mix of Jamaican colloquialism and PR speak, "people enjoy what I do, that's why people love to see me so much. Other people throw flowers in the crowd, jog around, wave, that's it. But people look forward to seeing what I'm going to do, that's my personality."

The 22-year-old, who ran 9.69 with such ease in Beijing, says he can go even faster – when he wants to. "Every time you break the world record you get paid for it, so if I go 9.52 or 9.54 that's going to be steep, but if I break it 9.68 or 9.65 there's space for more." The hottest property on earth throws back his head and laughs.

"I'm cool," he says, "I'm awesome, man. I'm the fastest man in the world." Athletics looks to have a bright future.

[euan Track Guru]

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/260849.html

Champs of the World
Jamaica's national boys and girls athletics championship draws 30,000 spectators and bloods Usain Bolts of the future, Anna Kessel reports
In Jamaica there is only one event that grips the nation like the Olympic Games or World Championships – the national Boys and Girls Athletics Championships. To the rest of the world "Champs" may sound like a glorified school sports day, but to Jamaicans it is the highlight of the year, with crowds of 30,000 people gathering from across the island to watch over 100 schools battle it out for title of "King" or "Queen".

It is an event with 100 years of history – older even than our own national schools championships by 15 years – but it is only since the advent of Usain Bolt and his achievements in Beijing last summer that the rest of the world has begun to sit up and take notice.

As the four-day competition got underway last week its extraordinary hold over the island is immediately apparent. Everyone from hotel porters to fruit sellers in and around Kingston discuss which teenage stars to look out for. Bars and restaurants set up TV screens to watch the proceedings as the event is broadcast live from the National Stadium, with network channel CVMTV estimating around 1.2m viewers – from a population of 2.8m. Detailed reports dominate the front pages of the island's newspapers, with huge color photographs hailing the nation's freshest crop of track and field stars.

It is surreal, listening to people on the street debate the merits of 15-year-old sprinters. Everyone has an opinion on who will be the next Bolt or Shelly-Ann Fraser. In the national stadium, supporters of each high school demonstrate their loyalties, screaming for their favorites. Dressed in team colors – the supporters in the purple and white of Kingston College taking up a whole stand to themselves – they bang drums and enjoy soup and roast corn, or jerk chicken wrapped in tin foil. As darkness falls, groups of school kids making their way home take up sticks; there are often violent clashes on the streets outside the stadium. This is no token support, loyalty to high schools goes back generations through a family. Outside the perimeter fence one supporter stands with a gun tucked into his belt. "Y'alright?" he says with a grin.

Every Jamaican athlete worth their salt began at Champs – from Don Quarrie to Bolt himself – and each year the alumni return to watch the next generation. All of them credit the competition as the defining experience in their journey to success. There was even a story going around the island that Asafa Powell lacked mental toughness in competition because he did not compete enough at Champs as a kid. Surely there could not be any truth in it?

"Yeah. I think so, definitely," says Bolt, who brought the house down, aged 16, at the 2003 Champs with a series of brilliant runs that culminated in a record-breaking 200m/400m double in 20.23sec and 45.30sec respectively. "Asafa only did Champs one year and he false started. It's the biggest thing us athletes look forward to every year – I still go every year – it's like the World Championships or the Olympics. It's very competitive – especially the relays – the atmosphere changes completely when the relays start. It prepares you… if you're not strong mentally, you'll crack."

British high jumper Germaine Mason, who grew up in Jamaica and holds the Champs under-16 high jump record, agrees. "The first time I competed I was 13 and really nervous. There were 30,000 people screaming and cheering, and I was shy to look in the stands, I had my head down. But the more I competed the more I got used to it. When I go to a major championships now I use that same method I used then to deal with the pressure."

Mason says that before winning his silver medal in Beijing, an injury put doubt in his mind about his ability to compete. "I had forgotten all about how to approach things, but I thought, 'I need to go back to my high-school days'. You just apply all that you learned from a young age.

"My record is still standing, 2.09, it's been 10 years and every year I go there to watch and see if anyone breaks it. Champs is the biggest thing in track and field here, bigger than the [senior] national championships. It's a traditional thing going way back, my dad did it, everyone's dad did it, and the rivalries go way back depending on what school your family went to."

Established in 1910, Champs are the bedrock of Jamaica's commitment to athletics success. The country eats, sleeps and breathes the sport, with even primary school children competing at the national stadium in the "Preps". Over 3,500 kids now compete annually at Champs, but the country's athletics infrastructure goes beyond annual events. Former Prime Minister Michael Manley – close friends with Fidel Castro – established a legacy when, receiving a grant from Cuba, he set up the GC Foster College in 1978, a higher education institution whose sole aim was to produce sports coaches for Jamaica.

That investment has reaped rewards. "We now have an athletics coach in every school, college and kindergarten in the country," explains Neville McCook, Council member of the IAAF and Secretary General of the Jamaica Olympic Association.

Unlike in the UK, where schools competitions struggle for finance – although a new three-year sponsorship deal with Aviva has kept the event alive up to 2012 – Champs has so much sponsorship money there are leftover funds to help pay for other sports such as hockey and basketball.

"It costs $22m Jamaican [£174,000] to put on Champs each year," says McCook, "which is paid for by our main sponsor, but we also have other sponsors and we get royalties from the broadcasts. That money also assists the colleges in preparing for Champs – which they do from June until March – the old boys association also pay a lot." Like every other alumni on the island and abroad, McCook is expected to dig into his own pocket to help fund future stars. McCook typically sponsors five athletes a year to help pay for, among other costs, medical bills and dental care. "One chapter in New York donated about $20,000 [£13,500], and three years ago our chapter in Miami put up a large sum to put up a new schools canteen."

Jamaicans say it is no surprise that their small island won an unprecedented 11 Olympic medals on the track last summer. While some prominent voices in the media questioned such prolific success, Jamaicans pointed to their investment – and results – at all age groups in recent years. While the rest of the world are fixated on the achievements of Bolt and his three gold medals and three world records in Beijing, Jamaica is already looking ahead to a "second tier" of sprinters. Their excitement is justified.

Last year Jazeel Murphy, aged 15, ran 100m in 10.42sec. Compare that time to Mark Lewis Francis's English schools record of 10.93sec – also aged 15 – and you begin to understand the depth of talent Jamaica has waiting in the wings. Dexter Lee, the current world junior champion over 100m, last night won the senior boys' race in 10.35 seconds, and there are others, such as Yohan Blake, 19, – a former Champs record holder – who now trains with Bolt and claims to be running under 10 seconds in practice.

Such is the reputation of these youngsters that agents and scouts travel from the US to watch what they describe as the world's best talent. Claude Bryan, agent for reigning 100m and 200m Olympic champion Veronica Campbell Brown, says the event is unique.

"Nowhere else in the world will you see 30,000 people cheering on high schoolers. This is the place to be. You've got scouts here, shoe companies here, university coaches here, this is the market place to be at. It's very competitive." Bryan says he doesn't go to other schools events in the US or Europe, "No, they're boring. For me there are only three track and field events I wouldn't miss: the World Championships, the Olympic Games and the Champs."

Slowly the rest of the world is beginning to cotton on. Last week the US announced a proposal to compete head-to-head against Jamaican sprinters from 2010, and McCook says IAAF President Lamine Diack wants to roll out the regional version of Champs – the Carifta Games (Caribbean Free Trade Association) – to the rest of the world.

Bryan questions whether Champs, can truly ever be replicated. "I doubt it. Imitate yes, but replicate? Next year is our 100th anniversary; this isn't something we started yesterday. We have a great handle on what goes on here.

"Try getting 30,000 people screaming and cheering at kids anywhere else in the world, it's virtually impossible, but other nations, if they want to start reaping the rewards, they do have to start now, the formative years is where it happens.

"Jamaica has the template and other nations should try to imitate it. Veronica Campbell says if you can compete at Champs you can compete anywhere. It gives you an indication as to the intensity here. So when a Jamaican athlete walks into an 80,000-seat stadium, it's just another day."

British athletics organisers can only dream of such a day. Despite luminaries such as Paula Radcliffe testifying to the importance of national schools competitions, the English schools championships attracts a crowd of less than 4,000, and is struggling to pay its bills. The Aviva money – around £160,000 over three years – is keeping the organization afloat, but the costs of putting on the event are at £250,000 and reserves are running low. David Littlewood, secretary of the English Schools Athletics Association, worries what the future might hold. "We can only survive on our reserves for another four years maximum and then we would have to close down. We've never had any government or lottery money, we're on a tightrope budget. If it wasn't for Aviva, we would have disappeared last year."

In a world where the financial climate is making sports sponsorship ever harder to come by, Bolt may just prove the unlikely savior of Britain's schools championships. It is Bolt's achievements that have lifted athletics out of the doldrums and excited the world about the sport. Even with the economic downturn sponsors are attracted to Bolt as a figurehead to promote their business.

Bolt says that he never follows athletics and is unaware of the bigger picture going on in the sport, yet he is sharply perceptive on what athletics needs to market itself.

"I think I put a spin on the sport," says Bolt in a happy mix of Jamaican colloquialism and PR speak, "people enjoy what I do, that's why people love to see me so much. Other people throw flowers in the crowd, jog around, wave, that's it. But people look forward to seeing what I'm going to do, that's my personality."

The 22-year-old, who ran 9.69 with such ease in Beijing, says he can go even faster – when he wants to. "Every time you break the world record you get paid for it, so if I go 9.52 or 9.54 that's going to be steep, but if I break it 9.68 or 9.65 there's space for more." The hottest property on earth throws back his head and laughs.

"I'm cool," he says, "I'm awesome, man. I'm the fastest man in the world." Athletics looks to have a bright future.

© Guardian News & Media 2008
Published: 4/4/2009

[RAP]

WOW!!!
What about those girls who dropped a 3:34 point on the rest of the field in the 4x4 finals. That is rolling!! Don't think any U.S. squad can handle that.

[Paul Henry]

Texas University is all set to receive the captain of the winning boys team. I Think Texas has gotten a real gem here. This guy not only does the hurdles well but has a good 21.2-5 200m speed and spans out to the 800m.

Most important of all, he held his charges focused to guide them to victory despite a strong challenge form competitors and has become a real battle hardened warrioir.

P.S. Also does a good post race interview.

[onlooker]

P.S. Also does a good post race interview.

True... I had goose bumps watching it.

I watch the post race interview and was impressed. It won't be long before he starts making lots of noise in the NCAA.

Do you know who else is committed to other US Universities and where?

One Love!