On May 15th, Jackson-Reed’s Track and Field program made history at the DCIAA Championships, with both the men’s and women’s varsity teams taking home first place titles for the first time since 2015. Achieving record-breaking performances and personal bests made this year’s performance one of the strongest in recent JR memory.
Track and Field offers a wide variety of events that the team has competed in, but JR’s relay teams are what set us apart. The men’s 4by800m relay team of Conrad Day, Justin Briggs, Arjun Bhat, and Mark Suardi found themselves taking home first place in a time of 8:11.94, setting a new meet record after School Without Walls’ relay team got disqualified for unfair running tactics. Later in the day, the women’s 4by400m relay team of Olivia Purce, Zaharah Brown, Tinsley Barmeyer, and Ariele Westray took first and set the meet record in 4:05.63. Just after them, the men’s 4by400m relay squad consisting of Nathan Bovelle, Mason Fedele, Salim Cmara, and Briggs also shattered the meet record, running a personal best of 3:20.12 to secure first place.
For distance, in the men’s 3200m, Bhat claimed first place while setting a meet record of 9:47.49. Closely followed by Suardi, who placed second in 10:20.29, and freshman Simon Mitchell, who took fourth with a personal best of 10:33.29. Suardi also ran the 800m in another meet-record performance of 2:00.24 with Conrad Day just behind him to take third place in 2:03.26. However, women’s distance ran into some issues with top runner Marta Flabbi-Fruttero, who was unable to run due to a concussion.
In field, Princeton commit Eva Okoobo won the long jump with a personal best of 5.27m and won triple jump with a meet record mark of 10.79m. Following behind her, Barmeyer contributed points with a fourth-place finish in triple jump at 10.12m. Kiara Tucker secured first place in the shot put with a throw of 9.49m, while Savannah Heyward won the discus with a personal-best throw of 31.49m.
In the hurdles, Zaharah Brown placed third in the 100m hurdles, just ahead of Olivia Purce in fourth. Brown and Purce also finished third and fourth in the 300m hurdles. On the boys’ side, Salim Camara delivered personal best performances in both hurdle events, including a 16.95 in the 110m hurdles finals and a 41.09 to place second in the 300m hurdles.
Altogether, the women’s side placed first with a total of 132 points, and the men’s side placed first with a total of 149 points. The team’s performance this past championship was credited to many hours spent practicing on the track, and they hope to keep this momentum going into nationals and seasons to come. •