FDU shines in season opener

Jasper Savoy, Lloyd Morris, Marquis Robinson, Montaniz Stills, Kazeem Otus, Darrel Gooding, and Moquiez Headly all placed among the top five runners in the individual 2013 Season Opener meet at Fordham University. All compete for the Fairleigh Dickinson University track and field team and shined on the indoor track in The Bronx.

Savoy won the 60-meter-dash in 6.7; Robinson placed second in the 400-meter-run in 51.2; Gooding was in last place at the start as he was pushed back at the beginning, gradually gained ground, moved up and took his first title in the mile in 4:24.l; Headly tied for first in the 60-meter-high hurdles in 8.4 all in the season opener to see ‘where they ‘are’ and what shape are they in. After their events they wee all evaluated by their coaches.

They all compete under FDU head coach Sharlene Milwood-Lee and her staff in Teaneck, New Jersey. Ms. Lee has been coach of the track and field and cross country programs for 15 years including 11 as head coach and is looking forward to very successful seasons. She has nothing but praise for her athletes.

Milwood-Lee has a background from Jamaica, West Indies, and brought a great deal of experience with her to the coaching position at the time.

Ms. Lee was raised in New Jersey, lived in Jamaica, West Indies, for a while and moved to Florida for a while, as she and her family bounced around, then came back to New Jersey.

“I lived in Jamaica for a year and a half,” she said. “My parents came to this country from Jamaica,” she said. “My father Solomon Milwood-Lee, claims to have been a runner as he competed in road races in Jamaica. My brother Byron is still in Jamaica and my nephew Bryan is an 800, 1500, and 5000-meter runner for Wolmer’s High School in Kingston, Jamaica. My mother Loretta was not an athlete. My parents were born and raised in Kingston.

“I, myself, was an athlete at FDU many moons ago,” she explained during the Fordham Opener Meeting at the Lombardi Center on campus.” I ran under Mike Shea at Fairleigh Dickinson. We (My family) go back and forth to Kingston to visit.”

In 2004, she was inducted into the Fairleigh Dickinson Athletics Hall of Fame.

“I didn’t run in Jamaica, but I (know) there are great runners and sprinters in Jamaica,” added the veteran coach. “And distance runners are coming in. A lot of sprinters come from Jamaica because of the warm weather and of the good food. (Eventually) there will be other surges where the (athlete s) will be moving into other events such as the 800 and up and into the field events such as the throws, as track and field gets bigger in the country. Different athletes are doing a lot to bring popularity to this sport nationwide and worldwide and a lot of attention is given to the sport.”

More and more Caribbean people will be headed into the right direction in track and field and will expand their skills.