JOA President Christopher Samuda flanked by the honourees Veronica Campbell-Brown at Donald Quarrie in New York on Saturday night. Mr Samuda was guest speaker at the gala hosted by Comets Club International.
Leonard McKenzie
Jamaican track and field icons, Olympians Veronica Campbell-Brown and Donald Quarrie were honoured by Comets Club International, formerly the Montego Bay Comets Club at a gala in New York on Saturday, May 28.
At the lavish event held at the Antun’s Banquet Hall in Queens Village, New York, both former athletes received Lifetime Achievement Awards for their respective contributions to the sport of athletics and their enduring legacies are two of the island's greatest ever.
Campbell-Brown, who retired in 2021 and who celebrated her 40th birthday on May 15, is the most decorated female athlete from Jamaica winning eight Olympic medals including three gold. She won two of those gold medals over 200m in Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008, respectively.
She also won 11 World Championships medals including three gold medals – the 100m in Osaka, Japan in 2007, 200m in Daegu, South Korea in 2011 and a 4x100m relay gold in 2015.
“Thanks to the Comets Club International for honouring me alongside the legendary sprints athlete Mr Donald Quarrie with the Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding service to athletics. I am humbled by the recognition,” said Campbell-Brown, who is pregnant with her second child with her husband, Omar.
Quarrie, 71, won 200m gold and 100m silver at the Montreal Olympics in 1976 as well as a bronze in the 200m in Moscow in 1980. He is a six-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist winning the sprint double in 1970 and 1974 and the 100m in 1978.
On retirement from the sport, he served as an administrator with the Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association (JAAA) for many years and was a member of Jamaica's delegation to global championships.
Like Campbell-Brown, Quarrie was moved by the occasion during which the gathering watched in delight a four-minute video of highlights of some of his races from the Montreal Olympics, Pan Am and Commonwealth Games was shown to the gathering.
Founder and executive director of the Montego Bay Comets and Comets International Aubrey Campbell said the event went according to plan with great support from the Diaspora and the honourees themselves were very gracious in the acceptance speeches.
“Donald, of course, pointed out that they are seen on television and in stadiums, but over dinner and in conversation, being honoured made him feel appreciated,” Campbell disclosed.
Campbell, a 3000m bronze medallist at the ISSA Boys Championships in 1977, said Campbell-Brown noted in her acceptance speech that you should not let failure prevent you from achieving success and that despite humble beginnings you can reach for the stars.
Also at the gala, former Edwin Allen athlete Jodi-Ann Dixon, now a student at Hinds Junior College in Mississippi was the first recipient of the organisation’s Rising Star Award.
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Hydel successfully defends High School Girls Championships of America 4x100m title
Hydel High successfully defended their High School Girls Championships of America 4x100m relay title, as Jamaican schools swept the podium on day two of the 128th Penn Relays at the Franklin Field in Philadelphia on Friday.
The team comprising Shemonique Hazel, Alliah Baker, Shania Myers and Jody-Ann Daley, clocked 44.71s in victory, as they fended off the challenge of Edwin Allen’s quartet Trezeguet Taylor, Theianna-Lee Terrelonge, Renecia Edwards and Jounee Armstrong of Edwin Allen, who clocked 44.96s. St Jago's team of Briana Campbell, Adora Campbell, Bryana Davidson and Quanna Walker, placed third in 45.14s.
Hydel’s captain Baker beamed with delight at the feat.
“We came out here to win and we executed we always say that we are one team, we are here for each other and so we just came out and delivered. We were confident, so we just told each other to stay calm and trust God,” she said shortly after the race.
Munro’s Hendricks, JC’s Penn, Israel secure victories on day two at Penn Relays
Munro College’s Chad Hendricks and JC’s Chavez Penn and Balvin Israel all secured wins on day two of the 128th Penn Relays at Franklin Field in Philadelphia on Friday.
Hendricks, a silver medallist at both the ISSA Boys and Girls Championships and the Carifta Games, threw an excellent 66.17m to take top spot in the High School Boys’ discus ahead of Bergen Catholic’s Benjamin Shue (61.55m) and Christian Brothers’ Ashton Hearn (58.42m).
Penn, who won the high jump and triple jump double at both the ISSA Boys and Girls Championships and Carifta Games, produced 15.38m to comfortably win the triple jump ahead of Wolmer’s Boys’ Nicardo Grey-Clarke (14.52m) and Cornwall College’s Obrien Bowen (14.49m).
Israel added to his long jump gold medal at Champs with 7.24m to take top spot Friday. KC’s Nathan Wade, who took silver at Champs, was once again second with 7.09m while Calvert Hall College’s Antoine McNair Jr was third with 7.09m.
Excelsior headlines finalists for Boys Championships of America 4x100m final at Penn Relays
A host of Jamaican schools will line up in the final of the High School Boys Championships of America 4x100m final, as they successfully navigated the qualifiers on day two of the 128th Penn Relays at the Franklin Field in Philadelphia on Friday.
Leading the qualifiers was the Excelsior quartet of Ryeem Walker, Damor Miller, Malike Nugent and Lennon Green, which clocked a brisk 40.62 seconds to top their heat.
They will be joined by local rivals Kingston College (41.30s), St Jago (41.35s), St George’s College (41.42s), Calabar High (41.70s) and Jamaica College (41.73s), and Wolmer’s Boys (41.84s). The other two lanes in the medal event will be occupied by Washington DC-based Archbishop John Carroll (41.49s) and Virginia-based West Springfield (41.77s).
Meanwhile, the High School Boys International final, also scheduled for Saturday, will see six Jamaican schools going up against those from Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent and the Grenadines and The Bahamas, respectively.
St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) headlines that field, after they posted the fastest qualifying time of 42.26s, followed by Cornwall College (42.53s) and the Bahamian school Queens College (42.61s). St Benedict’s, of out the twin island republic, and Munro College, both clocked 42.83s, while St Vincent Grammar (43.11s), Petersfield (43.14s), St Catherine (43.26s) and Vere Technical (43.55s), are the other qualifiers.
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