All of my athletes are standouts in one way or another. My seniors are all college bound: Bethune Cookman, Clarion University, Fork Union Military Academy, Coppin State University, Baltimore City Community College, Morgan State University, and Clark Atlanta University. One of our captains, Jared Jackson was honored by McCormick foods and received the "Unsung Hero Award": http://stfrancestrack.blogspot.com/2013/05/jared-jackson-honored-at-73rd-annual.html Our freshman, Kareem Felder will be running the Freshman 400m at NBON this coming week and he is a part of the 4x200m, he is clocked in at 52.24 and it is his first year running. He just jumped out there and surprised us all.
My girls team is outstanding for a different reason, I had 2 dedicated girls. The team started out strong with a nice handful of young ladies, but they dwindled, all but Natyasia Thames-Bey and Denetria Simon. They didn't miss practice, didn't quit, dint miss meets and although they were not the fastest, or the top 3, the showed up to compete every time, every race. I am especially proud that they believed in me enough to keep coming back. It's hard being a new coach, but my kids made it easy.
Garrett Brunson was our team manager, he wanted to run, but circumstance prevented that. However, he still came to meets and scored, kept up with uniforms and supported the team. I'm especially thankful for him because some-days I would have been alone out there on the infield attempting to manage everything. Bennett Ketter, also a senior, kept the team laughing and he kept the 400m runners running. When I got too serious how could I not laugh at him running stairs at top speed and then screaming at the top like it was "Rocky 34". Jawanza Diggs (Co-Captain), Evan Dorsey and Michael Bell Jr, Seniors and a Junior respectively, gave me the chance to coach them, while challenging me to coach them. Mike ran 10.8 consistently this season despite nagging injury, and is part of the 4x200m along with Jawanza Diggs whom is headed to Bethune Cookman to run for Coach Jackson.
