Jazmine Fray ’15 recently broke the 800m Collegiate Record
When current Kellenberg junior Nora Bennett was winning the CHSAA Intersectional Championship 1000-meter race at Ocean Breeze Stadium in Staten Island on Saturday, February 11, perhaps she was somehow channeling the performances of some successful Kellenberg Memorial alums.
In four short hours on the East Coast, track and field history of sorts was being made. Down at Clemson University in South Carolina, Jazmine Fray ’15, currently of Texas A&M University, was busy setting an all-time NCAA record in the indoor 800-meters, running 2:00.69 for the half mile distance.
Over a few states in West Virginia, at Marshall University, Deirdre Lewin ’16 put her William & Mary team in the lead to win the Distance Medley Relay at the Chipotle Marshall Invitational, securing the overall team victory.
Up on Long Island, Kylie Pearse ’11, a former Bucknell University standout, was busy winning the St. Joseph’s College Invitational 3000-meters against other collegiate and post-collegiate runners. Pearse came up to compete at the behest of former teammate Ashlin Conroy ’12, now running for LIU Post, who finished right behind Kylie in the mile.
After Jazmine’s world ranking race, she called the current Kellenberg Memorial team members to wish them luck before she went off and ran a leg on her team’s winning 4×400 relay. The young Firebirds more than appreciated her genuine wishes, as the team of Bennett, Maya Richardson, Julia Bryant, and Maureen Lewin pulled an impressive upset over favored Notre Dame Academy, winning the 3200-meter relay. All in the span of a “fiery Firebird four hours”.
