Dennis Johnson, Director of Sports for UTech (right), hands Ceretsie Campbell, one of the scholarship awardees, a token during the honouring of athletes at UTech for their performance in sports and academics. Robert Barnes (left) looks on. THE University of Technology (UTech) honoured eight of its sportsmen, six of whom received scholarships to attend a university in the United States, at a press briefing at the school's campus last night.
The six athletes, who were enrolled at UTech on scholarships, will attend the New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury Campus.
Former Olympian and director of sports for UTech, Dennis Johnson, said the scholarship programme had been in effect for about 30 years now.
He said the programme was a channel through which athletes would get an opportunity to excel in the areas of sports and academics.
"I hope they will not only do well in school, but do well in their athletic programme and may one day represent us (Jamaica) at the Olympic Games," said Johnson who in his heyday held the world record for 100 yards.
The six scholars are national netball player Georgia Gordon; Ceretsie Campbell, captain of the UTech track and field team and former captain of the Garvey Maceo track team in 1996; Amoi Lawrence, the Intercollegiate high jump champion; Oneil Gayle, a runner-up in both the shot put and discus events at this year's Intercol Championships and national 400m representative Orville Taylor.
The other two athletes, sprinter Clement Campbell and thrower Robert Barnes, received honours and tokens based on their performance at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) University Games which were held at the Interamerican University in San German, Puerto Rico from July 8 to August 5.
Campbell captured the sprint double at the CAC University Championships with times of 10.52 and 21.07 seconds respectively, while Barnes, a new student at UTech, finished fifth in both the discus (44.73m) and javelin (48.49m).
