Jamaica’s middle-distance runners Kemoy Campbell and Natoya Goule are settling down at their new address: South Plains College in Texas. Campbell and Goule, both 19 years old, are established runners in the Caribbean region, at the junior level, and both have amassed numerous medals at the CARIFTAGames
Campbell with a personal best 3:42.57 (1500m) and 8:44.72 (3,000m) was heavily recruited by numerous colleges in the US before he selected South Plains. Goule has a personal best 54.03 in the 400m and 2:03.52 in the 800m. Both Campbell and Goule join the Texan, a team that is loaded with talent, and they should feel right at home as the Texan roster has several Caribbean athletes. Caribbean Tracklife Magazine (CTL) caught up with Blaine Wiley, the associate head coach for the Texan.
“Both Kemoy and Natoya joined us in August and they are doing very well,” said Coach Wiley. “They are currently doing cross-country for us and Kemoy is ranked number one in our division.”
When asked how he felt about Kemoy, Wiley said: “We are very happy to have him here at South Plains College. He is a tremendous talent and he is the best long-distance runner to come out of Jamaica in a very long time, since Mark Elliot [now assistant head coach at Louisiana State University or LSU]. He is adjusting well.”
As far as the plans for Campbell, Wiley said that Campbell will be trained by the head coach Chris Beene and that Campbell has the talent to run any distance from 800m up to 5,000m.
Coach Wiley also expressed gratitude to LSU, which he said was instrumental in getting Kemoy to South Plains College.
Well Spoken, Talented Goule
And just how does Wiley rate Natoya Goule, the Manchester High School graduate? “She is fantastic and she is doing great. She’s well spoken and talented and will be running the 400, 4x400m, 800m, 1000m (indoors) and the medley relays in the upcoming season.”
Coaches Wiley and Beene have just completed a successful outdoor season, which saw the Texan capturing both the Men’s and Women’s National Junior College Championships. The team has return virtually all of its athletes on the men’s side, lead by Rondell Bartholomew (Grenada) and Quincy Wilson (Trinidad). Goule will join Jura Levy (Jamaica-Vere Tech) and Janelle Redhead (Grenada) on the women’s team.
