Douglas, Guwulani cop JSMCR Sports Boy and Girl awards out west

Western Bureau:

UNDER-20 WORLD Championship bronze medallist Shanoya Douglas and CARIFTA swimming medallist Suraj Guwulani were the toast of yesterday’s inaugural Jill Stewart Montego Bay City Run Champions of the West Awards ceremony at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, in St James, walking away with the Sports Girl and Sports Boy of the Year titles for 2025.

Douglas, who recently transferred from Mushett High School to Holland High School, which are both based in Trelawny, is one of the most promising female junior athletes in Jamaica today, based on her exploits on the world stage, the CARIFA Games, and the ISSA Boys and Girls’ Athltetics Championship, where she won the Class Two 100m and 200m earlier this year.

Guwulani, a student at Herbert Morrison High School, the Blue Marlin Swimming Open Champion and bronze medallist at the CARIFTA Swimming Champions, is arguably the most accomplished young swimmer in western Jamaica today. Additionally, he is an outstanding student leader at his school.

According to Ashley Anguin, conceptualiser of the Champions of the West Awards, the event was designed to highlight the accomplishments of junior sporting personalities from western Jamaica while indicating to the youngsters that they are being noticed and that great things are expected of them going forward.

Douglas and Guwulani walked away with $100,000 each alongside the Jill Stewart City Run/WATA Champion of the West Girls Trophy, and the Jill Stewart City Run/Montego Bay Convention Centre Champion Boy Trophy, respectively.

The other eight contenders, who made the shortlist and who were all recognised with trophies and $50,000 in cash each, were as follows: D’Aire Patterson, Herbert Morrison High School’s exciting basketballer; Sanjay Seymour, the national Under -20 200m champion; Carlyle Tingling, Cornwall College’s outstanding goalkeeper, who is also excelling in basketball and track and field; Damien Daley, Cornwall College star batsman and captain; Ajani Williams, a former track and field star at Irwin High School, who is now a student at GC Foster College; Jade Fearon, of Mt Alvernia High School, who is the number-one ranked Under-14 tennis player in Jamaica; Giana Murray, Mt Alvernia exciting female track star who represented well at the Penn Relays; and Kayden Brown of William Knibb High School, the captain of her school’s track team and a gold-medal winner at the annual Western Athletics Championship.

The guest speaker at the event, respected track and field coach Julian Robinson, spoke about the importance of young athletes creating a balance between sports and academics while striving for excellence, emphasising the importance of hard work and dedication.

“Greatness does not come from wishing. It comes from working hard ... It is okay to make mistakes because it is how you learn and get better. What is wrong is giving up,” Robinson said. “Don’t be worried if success does not come quickly because everybody doesn’t come good at the same time.”

Montego Bay’s Mayor Richard Vernon and Senator Allan Bernard, who both brought greetings, endorsed the event, while highlighting sports as one of the vehicles to steer youngsters away from anti-social behaviour and other debilitating vices, which are not needed in a well-ordered society.

Vernon, who has been a long-standing friend of sports in Montego Bay, playing pivotal roles in the sponsorship of the St James Under-13 Netball Competition and creating the path for Montego Bay United FC to use the Montego Bay Sports Complex as their home venue in the Jamaica Premier League, promises to do all in his power to ensure that the stadium, which has lost it synthetic running track to wear and tear, is fully restored.

According to him, he is looking at the facility being used for swimming, tennis, futsal, football, and track and field in the not-too-distant future.