Former Adams State, current New Mexico Highlands track and field standouts join Jamaican Bobsled team
Seven-Time All-American Kaymarie Jones, current defending national champ Salcia Slack join Jamaican bobsled team
Courtesy ASU Sports Information
ALAMOSA, Colo. (November 21, 2014) – As a track and field athlete from Jamaica, Kaymarie Jones has had the movie
Cool Runnings brought up in countless conversations. Jones—a seven-time All-American at Adams State from 2010-13—is quite fond of the 1993 film starring John Candy based on a true story of Jamaican sprinters turn bobsledders.
Jones now has the opportunity to live that story plot and create her own version as a member of the women's Jamaican bobsled team.
While training to qualify in the heptathlon for the 2015 IAAF World Championships, Jones has remained consistently busy with her newfound involvement in the bobsled community.
"Training for track and field with the bobsled in mind is essential the same type of training." Jones said in regards to similarities with workouts. "It's the same concept, so doing bobsled wouldn't necessarily take me away from my heptathlon training."
The countless hours of work and dedication will hopefully result in competing at both the IAAF World Champions next summer along with a trip to South Korea in 2018 for the 23
rd Winter Olympics.
"We're in preparation for South Korea but it's going to take us some time." Said Jones in reference to bobsledding. "We're a young program in Jamaica. The world isn't expecting us to be in the top three. But based on our team members and training we should be able to crack the top three and shock the world."
Jones and her bobsled team have kept progressing towards their Olympic dreams with extended training sessions in Salt Lake City and Lake Placid. "It was basically driving school." Jones said with laughter in regards to training. "I learned how to drive because I'm one of the lighter and faster members of the group."
However, the training has not come without minor bumps and bruises along the way. During her Salt Lake City training, Jones crashed after misjudging a turn. It was a reminder of the many dangers in which the sport presents. Fortunately for Jones the crash only resulted in a minor elbow burn.
Joining the former Adams State track star in the two-person bobsled is Salcia Slack who hails from Kingston, Jamaica--just two hours away from Jones' hometown of St. Elizabeth. The relationship began as Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) competitors as Salcia suited up for the New Mexico Highlands University track and field program. Their former track and field battles have now forged into a singular focus with Olympic aspirations.
These former individual track and field competitors now rely heavily on each other inside the bobsled. With Jones as the driver and Slack as the brake woman the two finished 13
th in a time of 1:49.88 at the North American Cup in Park City, Utah on Nov. 13.
Guiding Jones and Slack is American head coach Todd Hays. Hays, a former Olympian, earned a silver medal in the four-man bobsled at the 2002 Winter Olympic games in Salt Lake City.
The hard work continues for Jones with forthcoming training in Lake Placid during December and January. After that Jones will continue her focus in the state of North Carolina where she currently resides and trains on the campus of Wingate University. As if Jones' schedule was demanding with hepthalon and bobsled training, she also serves as a sprints and hurdles coach and is currently enrolled in the MBA program at Adams State.
FIBT (International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation) Results | Donate to the Jamacian bobsled team