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Evans brothers thriving in new surroundings

By Greg Bates
Correspondent


Growing up in Jamaica, Jermaine and Tejay Evans didn’t compete in organized sports.

The brothers played a little cricket and kicked around the soccer ball.

Their involvement in athletics changed when they moved to the United States in 2011.

“I wanted them to be involved in everything,” said their adopted mom Cindy Peterson. “They played baseball and football – everything but soccer – to see what they liked.”

Tejay recently wrapped up his sophomore year at West De Pere.

“When I saw people [playing sports], I got interested in playing sports, too.”

Jermaine and Tejay both had raw athletic talent. Running came naturally, so track and field became the No. 1 sport for the boys.

“I just like competing,” said Jermaine, who graduated from West De Pere earlier this month. “I like the competition, that’s why I got into track or any other sport.”

Tejay Evans, left, and Jermaine Evans in their younger days. Submitted Photo

During their time at West De Pere, the Evans’ name has certainly become synonymous with speed.

The last two years, both have each advanced to the WIAA state track and field meet in La Crosse, but this year was a little more special.

Along with qualifying for state in individual events, the brothers got to run on the same relay team.

They helped the Phantoms’ 4×400-meter relay squad place 14th (3:25.84) in Division 1.

“It’s pretty awesome,” said Tejay about competing with his brother at state.

Tejay is the quicker of the two and ran leadoff for the relay. Jermaine is fast in his own right and ran the anchor portion.

“We didn’t really practice together,” Jermaine said. “Besides the handoffs we did in practice, that’s probably the only time we practiced together in track.”

Their mom really enjoyed watching her boys compete together at the state meet, where Jermaine had the final runs of his high school career.

Tejay, who finished 20th in the 200 at state as a freshman, got back to state his sophomore year and finished third (21.97).

“I was kind of nervous going into it, but I just did my race and hoped I got better than I did as a freshman,” said the soft-spoken Tejay.

He also helped the 4×100 relay take home ninth at state this season.

Along with running in the 4×400 relay, Jermaine finished 25th (2:03.22) in the 800.

Getting to state the final two years of high school proved to Jermaine all his hard work on the track paid off.

“It’s been what I’ve been working for this whole time,” said Jermaine, who also competed in the state cross-country meet as a junior. “We got there and it was all good.”

Jermaine’s running career isn’t coming to an end quite yet. This fall, he’ll be off to UW-Parkside on a running scholarship. He plans on majoring in business.

Tejay, who competed on the West De Pere junior varsity football team last season, still has two years left of high school and will be pushing to make a third appearance at state as a junior.

“I just need to get better,” Tejay said. “Try and get my legs bigger to be more explosive out of the box.”

Rough road leads boys to Wisconsin

Childhood was rough for Jermaine and Tejay.

The first few years of their lives, the brothers were in Vaughansfield, Jamaica. They then moved northwest in Jamaica to Anchovy.

When Peterson and her husband at the time adopted the two boys, they had been living in an orphanage for about two years.

According to Peterson, their lives were really bad.

“Everything bad that could happen, happened to them, truly,” Peterson said. “I’m not exaggerating at all. For them to really excel at something and to feel accomplishment, it’s really cool to see.”

When Jermaine and Tejay were adopted and came to the United States on Aug. 7, 2011, life changed drastically.

“I don’t quite remember it that much,” said Tejay, who was 9 at the time.

Jermaine, who was 11, has a clearer recollection. That’s especially true when it came to the sporadic Wisconsin weather.

“The first time we saw snow was kind of crazy,” said Jermaine, who is now 19.

The boys were severally behind in a lot of aspects of their lives when they moved to the U.S.

Their mom made every effort to help them catch up.

“Neither one of them could read a word, and Tejay actually didn’t even know his colors,” Peterson said. “They had a long way to go to get to where they are right now and be integrated into regular classrooms. It’s absolutely amazing to see how far they’ve come.”

The transition in coming to America and diving right into the education system was a culture shock.

“It was kind of hard,” said Tejay, now 17. “I didn’t know anything, but somebody teaches you and it gets easy.”

For all the major bumps and roadblocks that life has thrown at the boys, nothing has knocked them down for long – they constantly see the good in everything.

“They’re super happy,” Peterson said. “Every day, I look at them and say, ‘You’re kidding.’ They’re funny, they’re happy and have good souls. I don’t understand why they’re not crabby and not angry – they’re amazing kids.”

Having lived in the United States now for almost eight years, the boys have grown comfortable in their surroundings. There’s nowhere else they’d rather be.

“Life is good,” Jermaine said. “I like life a lot better here than in Jamaica.”

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