As the Columbia High School year winds down to its final days, there are still athletes competing: the stars of the Cougars’ boys and girls track teams.
About 20 top Cougar athletes will travel to Greensboro, N.C., next week (June 19-21) to compete in the New Balance Nationals Outdoor, the premier high school track and field national championships.
Among those competing will be Emile Cowan, fresh off her New Jersey state title in the 400-meter dash, the fifth straight year Columbia has taken the title in the event. This week, the University of Massachusetts-bound senior was named by NJ.com as its girls’ track athlete of the year.
Also competing will be girls New Jersey Group 4 triple jump champion Jordan Fields, and the boys 4×400-meter relay team of Jimmy Martinez, Donte Rolley, Jared Loadholt and Brett Reckling, who earlier this season broke a 32-year-old Essex County Championships record with a time of 3:18.87 (Watch it here). That team finished fifth in the state in the 4×400 and fourth in the state in the 4×800.
To help cover the costs of transportation and lodging for the athletes, the track team is holding a car wash and bake sale Sunday, June 14, at Columbia High School from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
“This is a great way to support our Cougar All-Americans,” Columbia coach Lisa Morgan said this week during the team’s track and field awards banquet. “These athletes have worked hard all season long to put Columbia where it belongs, on a national stage.”
Parent organizers of the car wash noted that the school pays expenses only for in-state meets, and that the team itself must pay for national meets like the New Balance Nationals in Greensboro.
“These are good kids doing good things,” said parent Jane Martinez. “They need the community’s support.”
Click on any photo below to see some images from the CHS Track & Field Team’s 2014-15 season.
