eigning
National Jumps Coach of the Year, Jake Jacoby, made a break
from a recent tradition.
In the past 10 years or so, a number of Munro past students have
made a bee-line for Baton Rouge to attend Louisiana State
University (LSU), but Powell said he "wanted to make a change
and start a new tradition".
The soft-spoken 6' 4" 195 lbs athlete who was fourth in the triple
jump at the Junior Pan-Am Games held in Brazil last year, said
while he got a number of offers, Louisville was more attractive
given their strong tradition in his specialties.
He said, "I am feeling OK about the scholarship and I have
confidence in the coach because he is a good jumps coach. He has
been the number one jumps coach in the US for the past two years so I'm pretty
confident in his ability."
Andre Black and Tone Belt were NCAA Indoor triple and long jump champions,
respectively, and Powell will have them as teammates this season on a team
ranked No 5 in NCAA Division I outdoor track and field this year.
Powell, who also had offers from LSU, Texas-San Antonio, Tennessee and Kansas
State, has a SAT score of 1,600 from a maximum 2,400 which qualified him for any
Division 1 school in the US, and along with his nine CXC passes and seven CAPE
subjects, and a personal best of 15.33m in the triple jump and 7.08m in the long
jump made him an attraction for many college coaches.
The former Lacovia Primary valedictorian and top GSAT student told the Sunday
Observer he plans to study civil engineering.
Dr Kevin 'Gwyn' Jones, who coached Powell in the jumps at Munro, has high hopes
for the athlete who also excelled in the classroom, placing first in his class at Munro

POWELL... departed
last week for
University of Louisville
every year up to fourth form and was on the Principal's Honour Roll and a regular
student of the month.
Jones described Powell as "very determined and focused... very unassuming when
you talk to him. He is not the type who gets riled up and makes a lot of noise, but
he works hard at his craft and is very dedicated at what he does, which is a good
thing".
Jones, also a Munro Old Boy, said he left Powell to make the choice of schools and
did not try to lead him in any direction.