A Disappointing Day at West Chester, Pa.

Darnell L Williams training Daniel L Tulloch at Central Dauphin High School field running hills.

The Jamaican Flash had a bad day at West Chester, Pa. June 16, 2012 was the day of the 2012 USATF Mid-Atlantic Association Junior Olympic Track & Field Championship Meet.  Only the qualifiers of the preliminary meets can go to this association meet. They are from Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware.  His mother Stephanie had high hopes for Daniel to qualify for the Region 2 meet at the University of Delaware, Newark Delaware. I expected him to finally break the 6 minute mark in the 1500 M Run and qualify for the 800 M run. Stephanie and my expectations were not meet today.

Daniel’s Long Jump

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsZZaHm9_ZU&feature=youtu.be

Daniel had his best long jump at 1.94 meters or 6 feet and 4.37 inches.  He finished in 17^th place.  Daniel’s mother Stephanie (sitting with Brother David at the long jump pit) was upset that Daniel was not jumping like the others. I explained to her that Daniel just started jumping and is not getting the weekly practice that he needs for this event. It will take time for him to get the concept of jumping. Then I reminded her of when she was in USATF and was learning how to hurdle. She did not get the concept of what to do for 2 years but became the “Go To” person in Ninth Grade on the Central Dauphin High School Track Team.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvZBWY1OTY8&feature=youtu.be

Daniel in the 1500 M Run

You can hear Stephanie from all over the stadium. I was at the top of the bleachers when I started hearing her telling Daniel what to do on the track. You can hear it in the video.  It was not until I got down to the track did Daniel start running the right way and started passing people. He finished with a time of 6 minutes 28.0 seconds. That is about 24 seconds off his best time. He finished second with a silver metal. 

Daniel in the 800 M Run

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_fV_z_f8LU&feature=youtu.be

Again you can hear his mother Stephanie telling Daniel to “move.” I was starting to get concerned that Stephanie was going to hurt her lungs. We are both frustrated with Daniel’s lack of performance today. 

The Results in this meet

Daniel will go on to the Regional Meet that starts on July 5, 2012 and ends on July 8, 2012. He along with two others will represent the Mid-Atlantic Association and Newark Delaware at the Region 2 meet for the 1500 Meter Run. He will compete against USATF members from New York State, New Jersey State, Pennsylvania State, Northern West Virginia, and Eastern Ohio. The qualifiers from the following USATF Associations will participate; Mid-Atlantic, New Jersey, Niagara, and Three Rivers. 

A Side Note

Legends have a life of its own. People know me at these track meets as Daniel’s Grandfather. They don’t know my name. Many know Daniel as “Jamaica” and believe that I am from Jamaica. Some ask me what part of Jamaica am I from. I reply just south of Pittsburgh, Pa.  One lady got excited at this meet and wanted me to meet her husband. He is from Ocho Rios, Jamaica. He likes the colors of Daniel’s uniform. Daniel runs with the colors of Jamaica to honor his father’s family. His track and field heroes live in Jamaica.

The Chief Engineer

The picture above is a 48 year old woman from the City of Harrisburg. Her name is Melody Ann Williams Vines. She is a Civil Engineer, working for VE Engineering Inc.  You may not know her but you know some of her work. She has worked on the roads off of I-83 down by Bel Air, Maryland. Melody was the boss, sending crews out to do road construction in several states. She also prepared bids for presentation to local and state governments.

She had her hands in the construction work to widen the roads around Harrisburg and Hershey, Pa.  Melody has four grown sons. This Civil Engineer was a cheerleader at William Penn High School, graduating in 1981. She went on to graduate from Howard University in 1985. After that she worked in and around Washington, DC until she relocated to Harrisburg. 

 Civil Engineer Melody Ann Williams Vines

I had the pleasure of going to see Melody’s cousins when I was in Culpeper, VA. a few weeks ago. The Cooks live near my x-wife’s family. Her cousin, Reva Cooks and her husband Eugene took Melody and me out to lunch for the holiday. Melody has not seen her cousins since she was a child. We also went to visit her cousins near Flint Hill. As many times as I drove Rt. 522 through Flint Hill, I never thought that Black people lived in that area.

Just up the road is Front Royal. Harrisburg Council Woman Susan Brown Wilson’s people lived in this area.  Melody is a distant cousin of Harrisburg City Council President Wanda Williams as well. It seems like many Blacks around the time of the Industrial Revolution moved away from Central and Northern Virginia and moved to the Harrisburg Area.  Their Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren live in the Harrisburg area today.

 

Reva pulled out her family pictures and showed me her ancestry. Reva, a direct descendent of the Western Cherokee nation is also a direct descendent of President John Tyler. John Tyler (29 March 1790 – 18 January 1862) was the tenth President of the United States (1841–1845), after being the tenth Vice President of the United States (1841).  The President was married but had 5 mistresses. Reva is a product of one of these mistresses.  

My family is also near Culpeper and Stoney Point, Va. around the roads of Rt. 522, Rt 15, and Rt. 29. I noticed that Melody looks a lot like our relatives. My father’s (William J. Williams II); father’s (William J Williams); Father (Williams J. Williams father) was a full blooded Cherokee from Oklahoma (Cherokee Strip).  Reva is descended from the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. Melody has Native American Ancestry. So I wonder! Is Reva and Melody related to me or are they not?

A Good Day in Newark, DE.

 I hope David is not making trades in my online Brokerage Account!

Stephanie Tulloch is working with Daniel as Daniel’s brother David uses his mother’s IPhone. I can’t help but wonder if he is calling in a stock trade with his online broker. I wonder if he is trading Facebook shares.

Meanwhile, the Jamaican Flash is preparing for his first event, the 800 Meter Run. This event has turned out to be a shock since Daniel ran his personal best with a time of 3 minutes, 8.47 seconds. You can hear the people in the stands saying, “Come on Jamaica!”  The starter at the starting line asked Daniel for his name. He said that he always called him "Jamaica." He will advance to the Association Meet with a first place in this event. Here is the end of the 800 Meter Run.

  Daniel has only participated in the Long Jumping for about 30 days. Even with that, Stephanie only had the opportunity to work with him about 4 times in those 30 days. This was his second meet doing the Long Jumping. His best was 7 feet, 8 inches. He received sixth place and will advance to the Association Meet.  Here is that one jump out of 4 jumps.

The last event was the 1500 Meter Run. That is his strongest event. Unfortunately, after seeing him in the 800 Run, all sub-bantam boys dropped out of the event, leaving Daniel as the only sub-bantam boy to compete. The meet director (in pink in the video) who knew and competed against Stephanie when she ran in USATF at 9 years old, decided to have Daniel run against the sub-bantam and the bantam girls (9 and 10 year olds). Daniel just turned 7 years old. This turned out to be good practice for Daniel. We have been practicing trying to get Daniel's 1500 Meter time down below 6 Minutes. He almost did it running his personal best with a time of 6 minutes 3.77 seconds.   Notice in the video Daniel’s friends and well wishers giving me updates of his progress and telling me how he has improved over the years. Here is the race on video. Put this HTTP in your WEB BROWSER to run this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0FlN05UQjA&feature=channel&list=UL

1500 Meter Run at the 2012 USATF Preliminary Meet at Newark, DE

 Daniel holding up his three ribbons after the meet.

So Daniel received a first in the 800 Meter, a first in the 1500 Meter, and a sixth place in the Long Jump. He advances to the Mid-Atlantic Association Championship Meet at West Chester University, West Chester, Pa. on June 16, 2012. In this meet he will face the Philadelphia boys that blew him out in Philadelphia last May 5, 2012. This will be a rematch for him. We will see what happens.

For the next two weeks, Daniel’s will run the bleachers at Central Dauphin’s Stadium twice a practice all the way around the field for 4 days. He will run sprint drills for 2 miles every other day. On the other days, he will sprint a 2 miles run. Then I think he will be ready for West Chester.

David trying to get into my camera bag.

David can do what he does best, scream, “Go Daniel” at the meet.