"FROM JAMAICA, WITH SPEED...AND STRENGTH"

Kingston natives survive Citadel's rigors, shine at SoCon championship meet

Published on 03/14/07BY JEFF HARTSELLThe Post and Courier

A week after she first heard the words "The Citadel," Jodi Whittle was on a plane from Kingston, Jamaica, to Charleston.
All she knew was that a track and field scholarship awaited her in the U.S., at a school she had some vague idea was connected to the military.
Whittle, a standout sprinter at the Convent of Mercy Academy in Kingston, awoke at 5 o'clock that morning in 2005 to take a bus to the airport, saying goodbye to her family. She missed her first flight out of Jamaica, and so missed her connecting flight. She arrived in Charleston at midnight, tired, hungry, with no money and no clue.
But waiting there at the airport was Citadel assistant track coach Kris Kut.
"He saw I was hungry and took me to the Burger King," Whittle recalled. "I always get the No. 1 meal at Burger King. So that was good."
Thus began the Citadel journey of Whittle, a junior, and her countrywoman, sophomore weight-thrower Monique Edwards. The pair of Kingston natives, who arrived at The Citadel sight unseen and a year apart, have survived the shock of their freshman years and are thriving on the track and in the classroom, and may open up a new Jamaican pipeline of talent for Bulldogs coach Jody Huddleston.
"When I go home, I get asked about The Citadel a lot," Whittle said. "And I tell everybody it's an experience. At first, it was shocking and hard. But I tell them in the end, you won't regret it."
Whittle and Edwards first came to Huddleston's attention through former Citadel runner Layne Anderson, an assistant track coach at Iowa. Anderson was recruiting in Jamaica for Iowa, but felt Whittle and Edwards were talented enough to compete in the Southern Conference and referred them to Huddleston and The Citadel.
A week after she got her first call from The Citadel, Whittle was on a plane. Edwards, who went to Walmers High School for Girls in Jamaica, needed to complete more school work before becoming eligible and had to wait a year.
"Jodi came in sight unseen, never having seen The Citadel before," Huddleston said. "Kris did a good job in recruiting of explaining to them that it was a military school, not a normal school. But you don't really understand what you are getting into until you get here, so it was a real eye-opener."
That's an understatement, Whittle said.
"I came straight into Hell Week," she said. "I wasn't used to anything: the weather, the food, people yelling at you. I didn't even know about the uniforms. I brought all my clothes, I had my hair styled and had to cut it off. It was a big shock, but by then it was too late."
Despite the culture shock and homesickness for Kingston's cool breezes and her mom's food, Whittle knew her opportunity for a free education in the U.S. was something she could not turn her back on.
"I'm the first in my family to go to school in America," she said, "the first to get a scholarship. My sister went to college, but she had to get a student loan and that is hard. So I'm glad and lucky that I have a scholarship."
While Whittle was struggling through knob year on her own, Edwards was back home in Jamaica, taking classes in order to become academically eligible. When she followed Whittle to The Citadel last year, she was also following in her friend's footsteps.
"I told Monique some things to expect, but I couldn't tell her everything," Whittle said. "I tried to help her in her knob year. I was there for her every single day, and I hoped I made it easier for her."
Said Edwards, "The driving factor for me was that I had a full scholarship, and that really helped me stay here. Freshman year is meant to be difficult, but my motivation was that I had a scholarship to a really good school. And when I saw Jody had made it, I said, 'OK, I can do it too.' "
Edwards and Whittle, both majoring in business administration, recently finished the indoor track season — both made the SoCon finals at the league's championship meet, Edwards in the 20-pound weight throw and Whittle on the 4x400 relay team — and are now competing in the outdoor season.
"It's a neat story for both of them," Huddleston said. "As tough a situation as it was when they came here, as lonely and homesick as they both were, they knew they were in a good situation for their future. The kids on the team were very supportive and took them under their wing, and they made it through."