US college-bound Blackwood breaks new ground for Sydney Pagon
ISSA Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) medallist Annataseca Blackwood created history for Sydney Pagon High when she left the island for New Mexico Junior College in the United States.
She is the first student from the St Elizabeth-based school to earn a track and field scholarship to a US college.
Blackwood’s travel — her second-ever time on an airplane — was an exhausting trip across to the south-western region of the United States to Hobbs, New Mexico, mirroring the last three years of defying the odds and forging a new path for herself.
Blackwood had not competed in track and field before the 2024 season. However, after she had placed third in a cross-country race she presented herself to Coach Kirk Beckford, asking to be included on the Sydney Pagon’s track and field team.
Even after Beckford relented and she started training, she was told by a doctor that maybe track and field was not for her after she passed out at training and was rushed to a medical facility where she was diagnosed as diabetic.
“This young lady will go far,” Beckford told the Jamaica Observer.“To think she has only been running for three years and [has] not had any injuries, she has a bright future.”
Blackwood, who was raised by an elder sister after her mother passed away and only met her father recently, was beaming when she spoke to the Jamaica Observer about the new chapter in her life.
“It’s a good feeling to be the first student from Sydney Pagon High to get a scholarship in sports,” said the Champs Class 1 Girls’ 1,500m silver medal winner, who hopes to study biology in college.
In April she was part of the first girls’ team from Sydney Pagon to compete at the Penn Relays, qualifying for the final.
She said the trip to Philadelphia opened her eyes, showing her there was more to track and field and that she could use it to further her ambitions.
“I am very excited to start this new chapter. Going to the Penn Relays gave me a real boost and also taught me to be patient and work hard,” she said.
Her start in the sport did not go smoothly as she had a setback in her first year when she was running the 3,000m.
“I really did not have the speed to make it as a sprinter and so the coach put me in the distance races,” she said.
She said she was not too serious about the sport in her first season when she suffered the medical setback, and found out about the diabetes.
“I had to go back to the drawing board,” she recounted.
In the second year, she made tangible progress at Champs after only two months of training.
“I got a point for my school, as I made the 3,000m final.”
Blackwood, like just about everybody in western Jamaica, suffered severely from the passage of Hurricane Melissa in October 2025.
“I lost almost everything but I was more motivated to work hard as I knew this was my last year, my last chance.”
Coach Beckford also switched her to the 800m/1,500m combination, dropping the 3,000m.
Blackwood responded by setting a meet record 4:56.50 minutes in the 1,500m at the County of Cornwall Athletics Association (COCAA) Western Champs and was also second in the 800m.
A month later she was second in the 1,500m at Champs and fifth in the 800m, catching the eyes of several US college coaches.
That was the window of opportunity that she sought and she stepped right through.
“I think as a distance runner I would do better in the US as we focus a lot on the sprints in Jamaica and I will get the attention that I need,” said Blackwood.