An athlete stumbling upon a sport in which he excels in totally by chance has certainly been documented but still remains an aberration.

Add Kingston College’s latest marquee athlete Keiron Stewart to that list. The 19 year old chose to stumble upon one of, if not the most difficult discipline in one of the most difficult sports.

Have you ever tried scaling a wall just above waste height (hurdle height 39 inches, or 0.99 m)? Most of us have at some point in time especially if we chose to be a little more delinquent than the typical child.

Stewart breathes hard and watches replays after being nipped by St.Jago's Ackeem Smith in the Clas One Boys 110m hurdles final at the 2008 ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys' and Girls' Athletic championships at the National Stadium Kingston Jamaica.(PHOTO:JaSports)

Sure it is feasible, to most atleast but try doing it fluently at full speed, speed equivalent to 10 plus seconds 100m clocking and repeatedly (10 hurdles in a 110m hurdles race) too over a 100m distance with seven other persons, all vying to out - scale you.

And lest we forget that a modern hurdle will fall over more than likely if a runner hits it, which most times will slow momentum and eventually throw off a hurdler's technique.

Well Stewart has managed to overcome those obstacles quite well so far.

Stewart, who led from the front despite, according to him and his coach Michael Russell, being “only 80% fit” due to quad and hamstring injuries, as captain of a KC team which upstaged long time arch rivals Calabar at April’s ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys’ & Girls’ Track & Field Championships, is looking to trod the road a few great Jamaican men have travelled – Winthrop Graham, the ageless Danny McFarlene (400m hurdles) or Maurice Wignall and the newly emerged Richard Phillips (110m hurdles).

Stewart made history when he finished third at the 12th IAAF World Junior Track & Field Championships (13.51) in the Boys 110m hurdles final in Bydgoszcz Poland becoming the first Jamaican male athlete to win a hurdles medal at a major world track & field championships.

ONE MORE: Stewart completes another victory in the Class One 110m hurdles final at the 2009 ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys' and Girls' Athletic championships at the National Stadium Kingston Jamaica.(PHOTO:JaSports)

That along with his respectable record at the biggest secondary school sports competition in the world lured Texas University, one of the utmost prestigious collegiate sports schools in America.

Stewart leaves in August to start what hopefully will be a successful transition through the notorious junior to senior ranks phase.

A number of Jamaican athletes have perished in that very transition in what unfortunately could be determined as Jamaica’s ‘Bermuda Triangle’ for track & field athletes.

Stewart is not encouraged enough with the recent trend of local athletes opting out of the once no brainer decision of taking up offers from colleges in the United States, and always believed its’ in his best interest to go to the highly perceived ‘greener pastures’.

“More hurdlers are abroad so I will have better competition plus I need to further my schooling and Texas is also a top ranked academics institution as well, so it’s the best decision for me,” said Stewart, who added that he had numerous suitors to choose from including Texas A & M, Florida State and UCLA but yielded to Texas head coach Bubba Thornton’s courtship after he visited KC and offered Stewart a trip to Texas, which he obliged.

Texas head coach Bubba Thornton

The national junior record holder over 110m (13.49) also made it clear the fact that Thornton, a veteran coach (over 25 years as a collegiate coach) and the head coach of USA’s track & field team at last years’ Olympics is highly respected, and the allure of the Austin campus, made the choice easier to become a ‘Longhorn’ as well.

Pressed as to whether it is an advantage or a disadvantage for him to stay Stewart unequivocally replied, “It was actually an easy choice………..in some ways it is a disadvantage for me to stay because to get a lane on the circuit you will have to run like 13.2 or 13.3 plus seconds, so it's the best way for me to further my studies as well.”

Achievements

He has had a lot of success at ‘Champs’ winning easily this year in 13.79, first year in Class One (13.53), first year Class Two (14.20) and if he weren’t edged out by his nemesis Warren Weir (13.92 – then record) and St. Jago’s Ackeem Smith (13.83 – 2008) his strong runs (13.93) and (13.83) in first year Class Two and second year Class One would’ve further bolstered his already potent 110m hurdles record.

The versatile athlete, who has also competed well at 200m, 400m and 4X100m & 4X400m relays for both KC and Jamaica, did just as well at the even more assiduous and notorious 400m hurdles  winning every year he competed - 51.42 (first year Class One), 50.29 (second year) and 51.14 seconds last April.

SWEET VICTORY: Stewart crosses the line first for a third year in a row in the 400m hurdles Open at the 2009 ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys' and Girls' Athletic championships at the National Stadium Kingston Jamaica.(PHOTO:JaSports)

Dominating at 'Champs' carrys some weight for the KC sixth former as it is arguably the best secondary school sports competition in the world.

That notion will be much supported by proud Jamaican track & field aficionados but objectively it is arguable, just as the aforementioned notion that he almost conquered the world last summer.

Testimony to how unforgiving and tenuous the art of hurdling is, with a customary better start and a customary better finish, perhaps Stewart would’ve gotten as much adulation as Dexter Lee had received for his history making run in winning the Boys 100m final at last years' World Juniors.

“I was disappointed with time because I knew I could run much faster than that. I was training well and the last three hurdles messed it up for me but I have to give thanks because not a lot of persons go to there (World Juniors) and come away with a medal,” Stewart lamented.

At one point Stewart was leading the race after his uncustomary bad start but his former head coach and mentor Lennox Graham believes nerves proved to be his biggest demise.

“Honestly I can’t predict what would’ve happened and I wasn’t there but I thought he was good enough for the gold or the silver but he lost concentration at the end, found himself infront and just had to keep his composure and focus but for some reason he got distracted and once you do that in that event you will pay,” said an introspective Graham.

Graham was a major part of a coaching staff that resuscitated the once indomitable KC back to ‘Champs’ life when he led them to six straight titles but was also the catalyst that sprung and cultivated what has been a stellar junior career for Stewart, who ironically had an interest in cricket and not track & field prior to meeting him.

“I saw him at the ‘Melbourne Talent search’ (KC’s internal recruiting camp) and thought he was a very well coordinated athlete that could run anywhere from short sprints up to 600. He quickly developed a keen interest in hurdling thus he caught on very quickly,” said Graham, who is currently located overseas as the head coach of Johnson C Smith University - a division two school located in Charlotte North Carolina

‘Champs’

When Graham described his former athlete as “hyperactive” in our interview, this year’s emphatics after realizing victory in both the 400m and 110m hurdles finals acts as a peak into a competitive soul as well as illustrating his fervor for the sweet taste of victory.

EMPHATIC! Stewart unleashes a roar as he crosses the line to win the Class One 110m hurdles final at the 2009 ISSA/Grace Kennedy Boys' and Girls' Athletic championships at the National Stadium Kingston Jamaica.(PHOTO:JaSports)

It wasn’t of the braggadocio variety celebration that has become synonymous with 'Fortis' and the 19 year old declared that it was a “mixture of blowing off some ‘pressure steam’ as well “going out with a bang” with it being his last trod at the prestigious event.

Given the intense rivalry between them any victory over Calabar for KC is proudly cherished especially when hotly contested as it was in April at Jamaica’s shrine of local competitive track & field.

No wonder he values the 1.5 points victory more than any other accomplishment in his young career. Not only because he played a pivotal role with his leadership and performances, but mostly because, in his own words, he “helped deliver the symbol of junior track & field supremacy (‘Mortimer Geddes Trophy’) back to North Street" as he predicted in his typical confident tone in various pre - champs interviews with the media.

One for the future?

So what has made Stewart so good at what was initially rocket science to him?

Coach Lennox Graham was named the 2009 Outdoor Women's Track and Field Coach of the Year by the the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Under his tutelage the Lady Golden Bulls finished third overall at the 2009 CIAA Outdoor Championships.

“He has natural speed and range but his biggest asset is that his attention to detail is very high, he is a technician that learns the art of hurdling very quickly because he naturally has a technical mind,” said Graham who was speaking from overseas. 

Which probably explains his affinity for numbers as he studied sociology and economics at KC and will major in the latter at Texas.

Most top flight athletes idolize former or current greats in their respective sports but Stewart doesn’t pay attention to anyone and doesnt have a gold standard athlete as a blueprint. Perhaps that’s because there is not much to reflect on due to Jamaica’s mundane hurdling history.

In order to do that Stewart will have to buck current trends.

Despite KC’s recent dominance at’ Champs’ few of their athletes have manifested on the Jamaican senior team.

Not to mention that there are only the likes of compatriots Wignall and McFarlene that have made any serious strides in hurdles in recent times.

Uncertain is which of these honorable servant’s trail it will be as Stewart continues to adhere to the early advice of coach Graham,  the man he credits as his most influential in his track career apart from his mother, of competing in both the 110m and 400m hurdles because of his range and versatility.

Graham, who totally concurs with Keiron’s decision to go overseas, said with proper care Stewart could develop into a formidable force on the senior level.

“He always had the state of mind that he could compete with the best in the world so as long as he maintains that mindset and he lands in good hands, wherever he goes he should be showing up pretty soon on the senior circuit.”

Personal Bests: 13.49 (110m), 50.29 (400m), 21.38 (200m)