Track Ledger

24 September 2011

Long season took toll on NCAA Participants in Daegu

COMPETITION

The collegiate track and field season begins in December with the indoor season and ends with the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June for Division I programs. During this long six-month period, athletes have to adjust from the indoor setting to outdoors while competing in Conference championships for their colleges. The Championships are important as colleges offer scholarships to athletes with the desire to win conferences titles. Top athletes are called upon to compete in several events, including the relays, which can obviously take a toll on their bodies. Exhausted after the end of the NCAA season in mid-June, the athletes had two weeks to prepare for their national trials in late June to earn a spot on their national team to the World Championships, and had to stay sharp and focused for the next two months to perform at their best in Daegu. So, should we be surprised that there were only two collegians atop the ....

13 November 2011

Kim Collins Relects on an "Unexpected 2011 Season"

FEATURES

The 2011 season was more than Kim Collins expected. He went to Daegu just to have fun and to run fast. But the 35-year-old St. Kitts and Nevis native, a former Commonwealth Games (Manchester 2002) and World (Seville 2003) 100m champion was perhaps the most surprising performer in Daegu, capturing the 100m bronze medal in 10.09secs (-1.4ws) behind Yohan Blake (Jamaica/9.92) and Walter Dix (USA/10.08). He then followed up that pe....

25 November 2011

Did Steve Mullings get a Raw Deal?

FEATURES

Jamaican sprinter Steve Mullings, who celebrates his 29th birthday on Monday, November 28, was recently sentenced to a lifetime ban from athletics by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCo) for testing positive for Furosemide. The decision was made by the commission’s three-man panel after hearing arguments from Mullings’s attorney. Mullings was absent from the proceedings, and JADCo refused to accept videotaped testimony on his behalf. The body also refused to accept signed affidavits from Mullings and his Mississippi State University coach, Steve Dudley. The testing occurred at the Jamaican National Championships in June this year, when both of the athlete’s A and B test samples returned positive results. This was the second time Mullings was found to be in violation; he was banned for two years (2004-2006) for testing positive for a high level of testosterone while he was a student at Mississippi State Un....

15 December 2011

Mike Rodgers Learns Punishment on Monday

FEATURES

Dec. 15: American sprinter Mike Rodgers isn’t sure when his season will begin. He has a court date scheduled for Monday, December 19 in Los Angeles, California, when the court will decide the length of the suspension for testing positive a few months ago. In August this year, Rodgers’ sample returned positive for methylhexaneamie, a banned stimulant and main ingredient in several pre-workout supplements and energy drinks. He has been on self-imposed provisional suspension since then. In the meantime, Rodgers, who is unable to plan a definitive schedule, told Caribbean TrackLife he was hoping for no more that a six-month suspension, which would allow him to start his season no later than ....

27 January 2012

UNC’s Clayton Parros Targets Sub-45 400m this Season

College

Photo courtesy of UNC's Media Relations Dept.By O'Neil A. Reid “I have done the work and I have done the learning so I am confident that I can go sub-45 on the 400m this season” declared 21 year old Clayton Parros, a junior at the University of North Carolina (UNC). “I feel that this is the year that it will happen.” Clayton, the Seton Hall Prep (NJ) graduate had an impressive 2011 season that saw him establishing his personal best (PB) 45.78 seco....

27 January 2012

UNC’s Clayton Parros Targets Sub-45 400m this Season

COMPETITION

27 January 2012

Jamaica’s Jura Levy Adjusting Well at Oklahoma Baptist University

College

By O’Neil A. Reid “My goal this year is to make the Jamaican Olympic team” said Jura Levy, the former Vere Technical graduate. The 21 year old Levy is currently enrolled at Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU) and is now coached by Ford Mastin. Jura spent the past two years at South Plains College under the guidance of Blaine Wiley. The 2011 season brought lots of success for Levy who re-wrote the record books at South Plains during her tenure, claiming records in all indoor and outdoor sprint events from the 55m (6.80 seconds) indoors to the 100m (11.07 seconds) and the 200m (22.76 seconds) outdoors. Levy is the reigning National Association of Intercollegiate....

27 January 2012

Jamaica’s Jura Levy Adjusting Well at Oklahoma Baptist University

COMPETITION

01 February 2012

Verone Chambers Has Sights on Making Jamaican Olympic Team

College

by O'Neil A. Reid Jamaica’s Verone Chambers, the 23 year old senior at Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU), is looking forward to having a great season. The Ford Mastin coached Chambers has been dominant in the women’s 400m in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) where she is the defending champion in the one-lap event. Verone is perhaps the most decorated track athlete in OBU history, capping 13 national championships and 19 NAIA All-American mentions. Verone, the Edwin Allen High School (Jamaica) graduate, specializes in the 400m. She has has a personal best 52.72 seconds in that event which she established in June 2011. Excited and Driven ....

01 February 2012

Verone Chambers Has Sights on Making Jamaican Olympic Team

COMPETITION