6 • PHILLYFREEPRESS.COM • UCREVIEW.COM • MAY 02, 2018


Despite Losing Races, Jamaican Fans Still Showed More Respect For Team USA


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BULLHEADED can be a compliment.


By Napoleon F. Kingcade U-City Review Sports Re- porter


sitting with the Jamaican fans.


L


ast Saturday at the Penn Relays, I spent a great day


All I could see were a bunch of green and gold banners waving around me. The Jamaican fans were chanting and cheer- ing. They were cheering loud for their track teams. The Jamaican fans were all pumped up. But despite all the cheering that was going on, I sat and enjoyed every race that hit the track at Franklin Field. The crowd reached 47,756 which was far short of the attendance record set back in 2002. The Saturday attendance for that year was 50,827. But despite the diff erence in Saturday’s attendance, it seemed like half the crowd were Ja- maican fans. That’s what it looked like all around Franklin Field. Each time, the Jamaican relay teams ran, the crowd sounded like a loud clap of thun- der. Chants of “Ja-mai-ca” would often drown out the “U-S-A” chants. Both chants often went back and forth.


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Since the beginning of this intense rivalry, the competition between Team Jamaica and Team USA seemed to get stronger and stronger. It was 19 years ago when that started. But it was 54 years ago in 1964 when Jamaican runners fi rst ran races at the Penn Relays. However, Jamaica has dominated relay races ever since. But in the last three years, Team USA has become a lot stronger and has been running much faster times. Team USA has


beaten Team Jamaica in the majority of the races. And the results were no diff er- ent last Saturday when the races began.


USA vs. The World, I sat and watched Team USA women and men relay teams win 5 out of six races. They dominated the races. Team USA women’s 4 x 400 relay team brought home the victory in a time of 3:26.73. Then Team USA women brought home a victory the Sprint Medley Relay in a world record time of 1 minute and 35.20 seconds. Meantime, Team USA men won the 4 X 100 relay race in a time of 38.39. Then Team USA men won the Sprint Med- ley with a time of 3:14.91 and the 4 X 400 relay race in 3:01.31. In the 4x 400 relay race, Team Jamaica clocked a time of 3:03.12 which placed them in third place behind Team USA. The only race the Jamaica women relay team won was the 4 X 100 relay race which they clocked an im- pressive time of 43.14. But Team Jamaica men’s also lost in the Sprint Medley event when they got dis- qualifi ed after running a time of 3:17.74.That time would had given Team Ja- maica second place behind Team USA.


In races between Team


Jamaica and American fans leave the Penn Relays showing great respect for each other. Photo: NFK


look at me. They all shook their heads and agreed with me. There was no kind of debate about it. They all cracked a smile. They all knew I was telling them the truth. The proof was right in front of their faces. They all watched their track teams bite the dust. Team USA took home almost all the victories. It was a great day for Team USA. Team USA relay runner Raevyn Rodgers made her remarks known about the Jamaica crowd. Rodgers told a reporter that she always felt she had some- thing to prove every time she stepped on the track, especially when she heard all the noise come from the Jamaican fans.


Overall, I spent a great day sitting in the stands with the Jamaica fans. Each time Team USA won a race, I got up and pumped my fi st in the air. In those events, Jamaica fans had little to cheer about. At one point during the event, I stood up and told a bunch of Jamaica fans that Team USA is the only team that can ever compete against Team Jamaica. Those Ja- maica fans took a hard


“It makes me happy when I’m in that set- ting because I feel I have something to prove,” said Rodgers. “Although you’re on U.S. ground, [the Ja- maicans] they still make it seem like it’s their terri- tory. So in a sense, we’re trying to earn our territory back and let them know, ‘Remember, you’re in the U.S.A.’”


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USA women set a new world record in the Sprint Medley. Rodgers closed out the world record per- formance when she posted a 50.48 split in her anchor leg fi nish in Team USA’s 4 X 400 relay victory. Kim- berlyn Duncan, Destinee Brown and Aaliyah Brown were also great runners for Team USA. They helped Team USA women set a new world record in the Sprint Medley (1:35.20) They broke the old record by 39 seconds. It was great day for everyone on that Sprint Medley team. Kendra Chambers, Daina Harper, Jaide Stepter and Jasmine Blocker were also great runners on Team USA women 4 X 400 relay continued on page 10


Rodgers helped Team


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