Delran’s Jamir Brown really came into his own at states as the top sophomore hurdler in the state.
Brown ran PRs of 14.66 and 54.90 in the state Group 2 meet at Franklin, placing 2nd in both races. He placed 2nd to BCSL rival and Willingboro senior Anaias Hughes in the 110 highs and 2nd to Roselle senior Daniel Jakubowski-Lewis in the 400 intermediates.
How far has Brown come in a short period of time?
According to his MileSplit profile, Brown didn’t even run track last year.
He didn’t break 15 seconds in the highs until sectionals, and he didn’t break 57 in the intermediates until divisionals.
But now he’s going into the Meet of Champions as the top sophomore in the high hurdles and the No. 2 soph in the intermediates.
Let’s take a look how he’s gotten there.
Brown’s big breakthrough in the highs came at Group 2 sectionals, where he PR’d at 14.94 in the trials and then ran 14.87 in the final, taking 2nd to Hughes. He ran another big PR of 14.67 in the trials at states before his 14.66 in the final.
In the intermediates, Brown ran a two-second PR of 55.60 at the BCSL meet. After placing 2nd at sectionals to Deptford junior Lathan Brown with a 55.60, he ran that 54.90 at states.
His 14.66 is fastest by a Delran hurdler since Harran Williams ran 14.27 at the 1999 state Group 2 meet, and his 54.90 is fastest by a Delran runner since Tim Dluik ran 54.53 at the 2006 state Group 2 meet at Egg Harbor Township. Williams set a Burlington County record of 52.62 that still stands at the 1999 state Group 2 meet.
Brown is the No. 8 seed at Saturday’s Meet of Champions in the high hurdles and No. 9 in the intermediates. He’s the only sophomore who’s a top-30 seed in the highs and one of only two top-20 seeds who’s a sophomore in the intermediates. Morristown’s Jason Meza ran 54.40 to win the state Group 4 race and is the No. 5 seed.
Brown is also entered in Franklin Field Nationals in both hurdles races in the Rising Stars division. The intermediates are Friday and the highs Saturday, so we’ll see where he winds up racing.
Either way, Brown has had a terrific sophomore season, and we didn’t even get into his long jumping.
Brown won the County Open at 22-0 ½ and even though he didn’t have his best day at states he did qualify for MoC and he is the No. 2 sophomore in New Jersey, behind Moorestown’s Rece Englehart.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 