Chinela Davis - North Rockland 2001
The long jump appears to be a simple thing.
Basic physics: Run as fast as you can in a straight line, jump in the air, and wait until Isaac Newton pulls you down.
In reality, it’s one of track & field’s most maddening events. Acceleration must be meted
out carefully on the runway. The next-to-last step – the critical penultimate stride – needs to be a smidge longer than the previous ones. The final, launching stride a bit shorter and on the board, not so much as the tip of a toenail over that slim piece of wood. Hit the perfect angle at take off. Do all sorts of gyrations in the air to frustrate Ike’s gravity’s determination to dump your tail in the sand as soon as it’s able.
You are long jump royalty when you accomplish all of this consistently – indoors, outdoors; in the cold, heat, rain, wind; at dual meets, league meets, county meets, invitationals, sectionals, state championships, and nationals; and in high school and college. That’s why Chinela Davis of North Rockland High School and the University of Miami is a Princess of the Long Jump and now a member of the Rockland County Track & Field Hall of
Fame.
Chinela’s top marks in the long jump are No. 3 outdoors all-time in Rockland
County at 19-8.25 and No. 2 indoors at 19-4.5. Those big jumps are always nice, but coaches are especially grateful, and maintain their sanity longer (See above: toenails and slim piece of wood) when athletes nail the board and produce reliable leaps and points in
big meet after big meet.
From 1999 to 2001, Chinela was a sure bet to span mid-17 feet to low-19 feet indoors, resulting in three League IB and Rockland County titles; wins in Bishop Stanner, Suffern, Pearl River Holiday Festival and West Point invitationals; plus New York State runner-up and championship finishes, and the monster 19-4.5 leap to win the Eastern States her senior year.
Nothing changed outdoors, except better competition and consistently longer jumps, with Chinela adding two more Rockland County gold medals; two Loucks Games trophies; a Red Raider Relays meet record; East Coast and Crusader relays wins; New York State Class A and Federation runner-up marks in 2000, championships in both those meets in 2001; and a third place in 2001 at the National Scholastic Championships with a best of 19-6.25, finishing her senior campaign just two inches off her career best of 19-8.25 at the Section 1
qualifier two weeks earlier.
While control on the runway is essential to jumping, allowing the feet to fly gets it done on the track. Chinela put her unmatched speed to good use on the straight, curve and full lap. She is ranked No. 1 in Rockland County history at 100 yards (11.0), 100 meters (11.84) and 200 meters (23.9). Indoor bests include 25.16 in the 200 (No. 2 all-time), 37.3 at 300 yards (No. 8) and 40.56 at 300 meters (No. 10). And she won a lot at those distances, highlighted by Rockland County indoor titles at 300 in 1999 and 2001, plus a third place in the 300 at the always-very-competitive New York State meet where, naturally, she produced the list-making 40.56 when it counted most.
She was dominant locally at the 55-meter distance, too, reaching the top of the
podium at the Rockland County meet twice (1999 and 2001) and picking up League, Conference and Section 1 Class A titles along the way.
Chinela’s bursts of speed in the spring garnered Rockland County century titles in 1999 and 2001 along with a Crusader Relays gold medal in 2001 and runner-up finishes that year at the Red Raider Relays, Section 1 Class A meet and qualifier, and the New York State Federation Championships. The strength from those indoor 300s paid off when she took on the 200 with a Red Raider Relays win in 2000; useful efforts at the Loucks Games with a third in 2000 and fourth in 2001; and a runner-up at the Federation half lap.
Sure she tried the 400 meters! Usain Bolt are you listening? A 59.4 in 2000 earned Chinela a Rockland County outdoor title and her 2001 leg on the 4 X 400 qualified North Rockland for the Millrose Games where the quartet came home from Madison Square Garden with a bronze medal.
If the wet and cold of Rockland County is challenging, sprinting and jumping in Florida must be delightful. Meets in Tampa, Gainesville, Arkansas and Texas have to be pleasant,
too!
Highly recruited Chinela found a home at the University of Miami with impressive career bests in the long jump (20-7) and triple jump (39-1.75) and placings at the Big East Indoor
Championships as well as individual sprinting duties.
Perhaps most notably, Chinela’s furious strides helped the Hurricanes live up to their name in the 4 X 100, smoking the lead leg on a 2004 squad that took third at the Penn Relays with a school record 43.64 and Big East and NCAA East Regional honors. Collegiate All-America status came Chinela’s way at that year’s NCAA Championships when the ‘Canes sped home in third place.
While at Miami, Chinela majored in sociology with a psychology minor.
Born and raised in the Bronx, Chinela attended school there until fifth grade with third- and sixth-grade stints in South Carolina and seventh grade on Long Island. Her family moved to Haverstraw when she was in eighth grade and just in time for her to shred the Red Raider record books. She enjoyed summers in rural South Carolina until her early teens.
A technical support coordinator for Verizon Wireless, Chinela lives in Ladson, S.C., a small Charleston suburb, with her adorable puppy, Que. Her family includes parents Carolyn Davis-Cochran and Michael Cochran; biological father Johnny Duggan; brothers Michael and Roy; niece Gianna; and nephew Quamaine.
A big fan of LeBron James and the Miami Heat, and chef Gordon Ramsay, Chinela enjoys movies, reading, traveling and watching sports. Sleep is also precious for someone who spent a long career running and jumping across the country.
Basic physics: Run as fast as you can in a straight line, jump in the air, and wait until Isaac Newton pulls you down.
In reality, it’s one of track & field’s most maddening events. Acceleration must be meted
out carefully on the runway. The next-to-last step – the critical penultimate stride – needs to be a smidge longer than the previous ones. The final, launching stride a bit shorter and on the board, not so much as the tip of a toenail over that slim piece of wood. Hit the perfect angle at take off. Do all sorts of gyrations in the air to frustrate Ike’s gravity’s determination to dump your tail in the sand as soon as it’s able.
You are long jump royalty when you accomplish all of this consistently – indoors, outdoors; in the cold, heat, rain, wind; at dual meets, league meets, county meets, invitationals, sectionals, state championships, and nationals; and in high school and college. That’s why Chinela Davis of North Rockland High School and the University of Miami is a Princess of the Long Jump and now a member of the Rockland County Track & Field Hall of
Fame.
Chinela’s top marks in the long jump are No. 3 outdoors all-time in Rockland
County at 19-8.25 and No. 2 indoors at 19-4.5. Those big jumps are always nice, but coaches are especially grateful, and maintain their sanity longer (See above: toenails and slim piece of wood) when athletes nail the board and produce reliable leaps and points in
big meet after big meet.
From 1999 to 2001, Chinela was a sure bet to span mid-17 feet to low-19 feet indoors, resulting in three League IB and Rockland County titles; wins in Bishop Stanner, Suffern, Pearl River Holiday Festival and West Point invitationals; plus New York State runner-up and championship finishes, and the monster 19-4.5 leap to win the Eastern States her senior year.
Nothing changed outdoors, except better competition and consistently longer jumps, with Chinela adding two more Rockland County gold medals; two Loucks Games trophies; a Red Raider Relays meet record; East Coast and Crusader relays wins; New York State Class A and Federation runner-up marks in 2000, championships in both those meets in 2001; and a third place in 2001 at the National Scholastic Championships with a best of 19-6.25, finishing her senior campaign just two inches off her career best of 19-8.25 at the Section 1
qualifier two weeks earlier.
While control on the runway is essential to jumping, allowing the feet to fly gets it done on the track. Chinela put her unmatched speed to good use on the straight, curve and full lap. She is ranked No. 1 in Rockland County history at 100 yards (11.0), 100 meters (11.84) and 200 meters (23.9). Indoor bests include 25.16 in the 200 (No. 2 all-time), 37.3 at 300 yards (No. 8) and 40.56 at 300 meters (No. 10). And she won a lot at those distances, highlighted by Rockland County indoor titles at 300 in 1999 and 2001, plus a third place in the 300 at the always-very-competitive New York State meet where, naturally, she produced the list-making 40.56 when it counted most.
She was dominant locally at the 55-meter distance, too, reaching the top of the
podium at the Rockland County meet twice (1999 and 2001) and picking up League, Conference and Section 1 Class A titles along the way.
Chinela’s bursts of speed in the spring garnered Rockland County century titles in 1999 and 2001 along with a Crusader Relays gold medal in 2001 and runner-up finishes that year at the Red Raider Relays, Section 1 Class A meet and qualifier, and the New York State Federation Championships. The strength from those indoor 300s paid off when she took on the 200 with a Red Raider Relays win in 2000; useful efforts at the Loucks Games with a third in 2000 and fourth in 2001; and a runner-up at the Federation half lap.
Sure she tried the 400 meters! Usain Bolt are you listening? A 59.4 in 2000 earned Chinela a Rockland County outdoor title and her 2001 leg on the 4 X 400 qualified North Rockland for the Millrose Games where the quartet came home from Madison Square Garden with a bronze medal.
If the wet and cold of Rockland County is challenging, sprinting and jumping in Florida must be delightful. Meets in Tampa, Gainesville, Arkansas and Texas have to be pleasant,
too!
Highly recruited Chinela found a home at the University of Miami with impressive career bests in the long jump (20-7) and triple jump (39-1.75) and placings at the Big East Indoor
Championships as well as individual sprinting duties.
Perhaps most notably, Chinela’s furious strides helped the Hurricanes live up to their name in the 4 X 100, smoking the lead leg on a 2004 squad that took third at the Penn Relays with a school record 43.64 and Big East and NCAA East Regional honors. Collegiate All-America status came Chinela’s way at that year’s NCAA Championships when the ‘Canes sped home in third place.
While at Miami, Chinela majored in sociology with a psychology minor.
Born and raised in the Bronx, Chinela attended school there until fifth grade with third- and sixth-grade stints in South Carolina and seventh grade on Long Island. Her family moved to Haverstraw when she was in eighth grade and just in time for her to shred the Red Raider record books. She enjoyed summers in rural South Carolina until her early teens.
A technical support coordinator for Verizon Wireless, Chinela lives in Ladson, S.C., a small Charleston suburb, with her adorable puppy, Que. Her family includes parents Carolyn Davis-Cochran and Michael Cochran; biological father Johnny Duggan; brothers Michael and Roy; niece Gianna; and nephew Quamaine.
A big fan of LeBron James and the Miami Heat, and chef Gordon Ramsay, Chinela enjoys movies, reading, traveling and watching sports. Sleep is also precious for someone who spent a long career running and jumping across the country.