LUCEA, Hanover – While former Rusea’s High’s Aliesha Shaw is thrilled to have received a scholarship offer from her “dream school” Kent State University in Ohio, she is saddened that she will be away from her twin sister Keliesha, who will stay in Jamaica, at least for another year.

Shaw, who dominated the throwing events at the County of Cornwall Athletics Association (COCAA) Western Championships over the last few years, is due to leave the island today for the US.

She told the Jamaica Observer West that getting the chance to continue her track and field career and study public health at Kent State “is a blessing and I am grateful, I’ve been waiting on this opportunity for a year.”

Shaw, who has had offers from several other schools, both in the US and Jamaica, said she had made up her mind a year ago that Kent State was where she wanted to go when she completed high school.

But, while she said she was excited and ready to start the next chapter of her life, she said she will miss her twin sister.

“Sadly, knowing I won’t be attending my dream college with my twin sister does bring forth a feeling of devastation, especially because we haven’t been apart for such a long period, so this will be new to us both,” she told the Observer West.

This year proved anything but smooth for Shaw who passed seven CXC subjects and even after the cancellation of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Boys’ and Girls’ Championships and the rest of the season, there were more hold-ups.

“The process of qualifying for the scholarship started late and there were several hiccups,” said Shaw, stressing that her faith was tested.

“I did become frustrated and nervous, wondering if things would work out, but I remained faithful and my coach advised me throughout,” said Shaw.

She stressed that while she got several opportunities, Kent State was always where she wanted to attend, adding that she wants to duplicate Jamaica’s national shot put record holder Danniel Thomas-Dodd, the Commonwealth Games and Pan American Games champion, who attended that university.

At Kent State, Shaw said, she plans to “push to my full potential and achieve good grades and make exceptional marks on the field ”.

She told the Observer West that she has been involved in track and field since attending primary school.

In her first year at Rusea’s High, she turned out for the track team, then took a break, before returning in ninth grade after the intervention of Tiwani Myles, sister of her Head Coach Roderick.

“Tiwani saw me and said ‘I should try out for throws’ and I did. I started out with the discus and I did good for my first year, and made the final at Champs, but during the summer my coach took me and taught me how to throw the shot, and I gained a lot of love for it,” she said.

If she was to make a choice, she said the shot put would be her favourite of the two.

“I enjoy throwing the shot as it wasn’t as technical as the discus and I had spent a lot more time playing with the shot,” she said, adding that “the adrenaline rush and aggression needed to punch the shot to get maximum distance, improving even by the smallest margins at times, it feels like another milestone you’ve overcome just by doing that.”

Shaw,who has personal best marks of 14.53m in the shot put and 48.00m in the discus throw, said 2020 was supposed to be her biggest year.

“I had accomplished a lot in the early part of the season, and I had a lot of support behind me, and I was doing a lot of work,” said the thrower, who had won the Class 2 silver medal at the ISSA Champs the first time she threw the shot put at there.

Shaw wore the national colours in 2017 when she was selected for the Youth Commonwealth Games that was held in The Bahamas, noting that “it was a great experience and I threw my personal best that year.”

Looking back on her high school career, Shaw said the highlights were Rusea’s High placing fifth at the ISSA Champs in 2019; breaking the COCAA Western Champs Class 1 shot put record in February 2020 with what she described as “my massive 14.53m”, and being part of her school’s winning medley relays team at the Gibson/McCook Relays in February 2020.

“Those three stood out for me,” she stressed.

Her disappointments were a big let down at Champs 2019 when she finished fifth in the Class 1 shot put final when expectations were that she would have won a medal.

“Most people would say I should be grateful, but I let my emotions get the best of me that day,” she reasoned.

She would not get the chance to make up for that let down as Champs 2020 was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This, she said, prevented “a top five finish for my school, breaking the Champs shot put record and finishing with my twin on the podium”.

She told the Observer West that she does not have to look far for influences in her career, citing the success of former teammate Akeen Colley, who is at the University of Oklahoma, was the main one.

“I’ve seen him do a lot since leaving Rusea’s and the accomplishments he had achieved makes me want to accomplish as much as well,” said Shaw.

Shaw told the Observer West that she is a track and field fan, who watches the sport keenly, pointing out that she looks up to top Jamaican throwers Thomas-Dodd and discus record holder Fedrick Dacres as well as New Zealand’s shot putter Valrie Adams and Croatian discus thrower Sandra Perkovic.