CE’s Lela Nelson wins Thorpe Cup with a new pr performance!
Despite the heat on the track, Lela Nelson was determine to do like she did in 2007, win the Thorpe Cup combined events competition. This year’s competition was being held in Manhattan, Kansas instead of in Germany and the tempertures soared to 105 degrees by the 2nd day of competition.
Lela won the competition with a Thorpe Cup-record total and career-high of 6,029 points. This is an excellent performance from Lela, coming as it did after injury forced her to pull out of the heptathlon at the recently concluded US Olympic Trials.
Congrats Lela!
New signees distinguish themselves already!
Jamil Hubbard has already shown what his intentions are by gaining the bronze medal at the just concluded NACAC under 23 Championships in Toluca, Mexico. Jamil finished the 400m in 45.96 to earn the bronze.
Ashhad Agyapong was first in the 100m at the 2008 US Club Championships, defeating DeBryan Blanton for the victory.
We are very proud of their efforts and look forward to more great performances in the future.
Codrington Enterprises adds new athletes to their roster
Codrington Enterprises signed some new talent to their growing list of outstanding athletes, looking to add some firepower in key areas, notably, the sprints.
Ashhad Agyapong in the 100m and 200m with 2008 performances of 10.23 and 20.45, Jamil Hubbard in the 400m with a performance of 45.24 in taking the SEC Conference crown at this distance. (The SEC is noted as being the toughest conference in the US). John Yarbrough in the 110m hurdles, who is the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships runner up, boasting a best performance of 13.41 and last but not least, Vanessa Seles of Brazil, who is the #3 ranked female long jumper in that country.
Some outstanding performances can be expected from our talented group of athletes as we proceed through the Olympics and into the World Championships in 2009.
CE’s Lela Nelson wins IAAF Challenge event in Santo Domingo
Don’t be fooled by the killer smile, Lela has the heart of a champion and the eye of the tiger as she demonstrated over the weekend in Santo Domingo as she represented the USA at the Pan American Combined Events Championships from May 31-June 1, 2008
This is part of Lela’s preparation for the USA Olympic Trials, which are now only a month away, to be held in Eugene, Oregon. Lela has the “A” standard in the Heptathlon as well as in her pet event, the Long Jump. Lela’s score of 5944 puts her in a great position to score even higher when she lines up for the grueling 2 day event at the Olympic Trials. Check back often as Lela makes her bid for the Beijing Olympics!!
Great results from Sao Paulo for Linnie and Debbie
After a few days of great training and some rest from all the traveling that was done, Linnie Yarbrough and Debbie Dunn were able to compete very well in Sao Paulo, with Linnie producing a 2nd place in his event while Debbie finished 3rd in the 200m race. Both ran very consistent times with Linnie running 13.57 in the 110m hurdles and Debbie running 22.90 again in the 200m.
Debbie Dunn and Linnie Yarbrough prepare for the last 2 meets in Brazil
Debbie Dunn and Linnie Yarbrough have been training both the morning and evening sessions in Sao Paulo as they prepare to compete on Thursday and then on May 25th in Belem at the big Grand Prix meet there. Linnie’s focus is now on lowering his time as he was affected by the lost of his luggage when he reached Rio de Janiero. All his competition clothes and even his contact lenses were lost when he arrived so that he ran in his reading glasses and borrowed warm-up sweats to run, His luggage has not arrived and he is ready to go. Competition is getting more intense as some of the world’s best come in for the last 2 competitions and Debbie wants to be fully prepared for them.
Debbie Dunn sets p/r in Brazil and other CE athletes perform well
After winning the 400m race in Martinique on May 8th, Debbie Dunn and 3 other CE athletes jetted off to Brazil for the competitions there. Once again, Debbie was the champion in the 400m race and not only set a new stadium record but a persona lone as well as she ran a time of 51.11 secs, bettering her old mark by one hundredth of a second.
Other CE athletes who performed well in the Martinique are Linnie Yarbrough, Philip Lagat, Henderson Dottin, Lela Nelson and Joel Williams.
Adam Shunk and Ashlee Williams both picked up 2nd places in their respective events at the first competition in Uberlandia, Brazil and Adam was the winner of the high jump today in Fortaleza with Ashlee pulling out another 2nd place finish.
Three more competitions are on tap for Brazil so stay tuned for further news.
Debbie Dunn does an excellent double in Baie Mahault, Guadeloupe
Not even the spectacular views of the French Caribbean landscape could distract Debbie Dunn from her goal of running a fast 400m race for the start of her Olympic quest
Debbie had discussed race strategy with her coach Malcolm Watts and told her agent that the goal was 50 point for her first race. She even revealed that she was so focused that she wrote her expected time on the back of her race bib/number before racing.
Debbie executed the stages of her race beautifully and finished strong for the win, but then the bad news came. Her time was hand timed and not the fully automatic time that was expected. An electrical malfunction affected the timing equipment and no automatic time was available. Results had to be gathered from the 10-12 finish line timers. While we waited for the results of the 400m, Debbie had 40 mins to rest before the 200m race.
Then we received the results of the 400m.
| 1 | 50”9 | DUNN Debbie (Usa) | Etats Unis | 000 | _HF | SEF/78 | IB | 1166 |
| 2 | 52”2 | ROBINSON Maoushaumi (Usa) | Etats Unis | 000 | _HF | SEM/81 | R1 | 754 |
| 3 | 52”3 | COUSINS Jessica (Usa) | Etats Unis | 000 | _HF | SEM/85 | R1 | 749 |
| 4 | 52”4 | ETIENNE Ginou (Hai) | Haiti | 000 | _HF | SEM/85 | R1 | 744 |
| 5 | 53”0 | GREGGS Charlette (Usa) | Etats Unis | 000 | _HF | SEF/83 | N1 | 1096 |
| 6 | 53”5 | DARDEN Dominique (Usa) | Etats Unis | 000 | _HF | SEF/83 | N2 | 1080 |
| 7 | 55”3 | WASHINGTON Demetria (Usa) | ETATS UNIS | 000 | _HF | SEF/79 | N2 | 1022 |
| 8 | 56”1 | O’KEILLY Ellakisha (Usa) | Etats Unis |
Debbie ran exactly what she had written at the back of her race number! The excitement did not last long as she had the second race to run. Again, Debbie had an excellent result, winning the race and running a personal best while doing it and defeating the 2003 World Champion and the 2006 Commonwealth Games 100m champion in the process.
| 1 | 22”88 | DUNN Debbie (Usa) | Etats Unis | 000 | _HF | SEF/78 | IB | 1150 |
| 2 | 23”00 | EDWARDS Tori (Usa) | ETATS UNIS | 000 | _HF | SEF/77 | IB | 1141 |
| 2 | 23”00 | JONES FERRETTE Laverne (Isv) | Iles Vierges Américaines | 000 | _HF | SEF/81 | IB | 1141 |
| 4 | 23”23 | BROOKS Sheri Ann (Jam) | Jamaique | 000 | _HF | SEF/83 | N1 | 1124 |
| 5 | 23”54 | MYRICKS Wyllesheia (Usa) | Etats Unis | 000 | _HF | SEF/79 | N1 | 1100 |
| - | AB | DURST Stephanie (Usa) | Etats Unis |
The “Road to Beijing” run is on! Thank you Jesus!
CE’S Lela Nelson defeats Olympic Champion at Boston Indoor Games
Lela V. Nelson opened her long jump season with a solid win against Olympic Champion Carolina Kluft of Sweden at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games tonight. The sell-out crowd was enthusiastic as Carolina prepared for each of her jumps and large sections of the crowd were promised special gifts if she broke the record during her jumps. Meanwhile, Lela focused on the excellent preparation and fall training she had from her coach, Scott Hall, and executed the things she worked on in practice, producing her best indoor mark ever and taking the victory. Lela V was so focused that she was unaware that she had won the competition at first.
View results here.
Philip Lagat wins two in a row in Barbados
On Friday, November 30, CE athlete Philip Lagat ran the Run Barbados Nature Valley 10K with a time of 29.46 minutes — not only did he win the race but he was also the first person in five years to run it in less than thirty minutes!
12 hours later, Philip won the Run Barbados half marathon with a time of 1:05:24 — the fastest time recorded since the race started in 1995.
Congratulations, Philip!
Lela Nelson named Athlete of the Week
Lela Nelson has been named USA Track & Field’s Athlete of the Week after winning the individual women’s title at the 2007 Thorpe Cup, an annual USA vs. Germany multi-event match, over the weekend in Bernhausen, Germany. Congratulations, Lela! (Read the full story here.)
CE athletes to compete around the world
5 of CE’s athletes have been chosen to represent their respective countries at various Championship meets around the world during the hot month of July. Please join us in congratulating the following athletes who will be competing in El Salvador at the NACAC Senior meet:
- Adam Shunk (Men’s High Jump, USA)
- Linnie Yarbrough (Men’s 110m Hurdles, USA)
- Debbie Dunn (Women’s 400m and 4×400m relay, USA)
- Henderson Dottin (Men’s High Jump, Barbados)
Adam Shunk, Debbie Dunn, and Henderson Dottin will then go onto compete in Rio de Janiero, Brazil in the next 2 weeks.
Seth Amoo (Men’s 100m, 200m, Ghana) is competing this week in Algiers at the All Africa Games.
They all are hoping to then move onto the World Championships in Osaka, Japan with Adam Shunk standing the best chance to do so at the present time.
And last but not least, our own Eddie Codrington, a budding track performer at age 10, has qualified for the AAU Youth Olympics in Knoxville, TN and will run the 800m there on Aug 1, 2007!
Outstanding performances from our new clients
New clients Debbie Dunn and Linnie Yarbrough were outstanding in their recent performances over the week of April 28–May 5.
Debbie Dunn was the anchor for the victorious “USA vs The World” red team at the prestigious Penn Relays (April 28) in the women’s 4 x 400m relays, receiving the baton in front of a capacity crowd of over 20,000 and maintaining that lead to the finish. Debbie also won the 400m at the 2007 Grand Prix de Guadeloupe meet on May 1 and ran her fastest 400m race in 3 years at the Jamaica Invitational, where she finished 3rd with a time of 51.66.
In his first race as a professional, hurdler Linnie Yarbrough won the 110m hurdles at the 2007 Grand Prix de Guadeloupe meet in a time of 13.42 seconds into a strong headwind. Linnie has been extremely consistent all year, having performances that were the 3rd best in the world for several weeks. He expects to pose a strong challenge to make the US team to the World Championships in Osaka, Japan in August this year.
Kenyan road runner Philip Lagat has made the successful transition to a track runner, running the 800m and the 1500m. Philip currently has the 7th fastest time in the world for the 1500m. He came in 3rd in the 800m at the 2007 Grand Prix de Guadeloupe meet with a time of 1:48.42 secs and finished 2nd at the Jamaica Invitational on May 5.
These athletes are expected to vie for positions on their respective World Championship and Olympic teams this year and in 2008.
Four new athletes in our roster
On Saturday, Jan 27, 2007, new client Jabari Fields finished 5th in the 60m dash at the 2007 Reebok Indoor Games in Boston in his first race under his new management team, Codrington Enterprises, and new coach, Lloyd Edwards. It was Jabari’s first race in 2 years after his family and focus was affected by Hurricane Katrina.
CE recently signed on four new athletes. Chrystal Dooley, originally from Muskegon, MI and currently living in Ohio, is an All-American in the 400m hurdles. Alice Faliaye of Etobicoke, Canada competed at Rice University in Houston and was an All-American in the long jump. Jabari Fields of New Orleans was named a 2004 NCAA All-American athlete in the 200m and 4×100m relay. Tyree Gailes of Abilene, TX is an NCAA All-American athlete in the 100m.
