Columbia Girls Track Claims National Title

With this past weekend's national championship under its belt, the Cougar girls track team has made a convincing argument for being not only the best girls track team to come out of Columbia High School, but quite possibly in the state's history.

On Saturday, the Cougars won the 4x100 relay and the 800-meter sprint medley relay en route to a 10-point win at the New Balance National Championships in North Carolina. It was the team's second-ever national title, and they became only the seventh team in state history to win a national championship, scoring 38 points during the three-day event.

In the 800 SMR, freshman Amber Ballew led off in the 100, followed by seniors Jasmine Carter (100), Kelsey Jackson (200) and Kayann Richards at the anchor. They came in at 1:41.98, nearly a full second ahead of Walnut Hills, in what Coach Morgan said had to be one of the fastest times in state history.

After claiming the medley relay, Carter, Jackson and Richards switched the leadoff runner to Whitney Jackson in the 4x100 and not only won, but came within .49 of breaking Montclair's state record set in 1998.

"Both of those were very exciting," said Columbia head coach Lisa Morgan of the relay wins. "It took a lot of pressure off."

Despite winning the championship comfortably, the Cougars did not have their best performance, which shows just how good this team is. The relay championships were book-ended by disappointments.

The girls entered the 1,600-meter SMR with the fastest time in the nation (3:53.70) and were on pace to set a new national record, according to Morgan. After the first three legs were run, Brittney Jackson was handed the baton with a 75-meter lead.

But Jackson went out a few seconds too fast and completed her initial 400 two to three seconds faster than she was supposed to. As a result, she ran out of gas in the second 400 and was caught from behind by Ajee Wilson of Shore AC and Claudia DiSomma of Sparta, leaving the Cougars in third place. Jackson raced in the individual 800-meter event and placed fifth overall.

"Brittney just got a little anxious and went out too hard," Morgan said. "She just got excited, I believe, but just didn't maintain and stay poised."

It's hard to call the girls' 4x400 a disappointment, being that they set a new state record coming in at 3:40.97 and were just .32 seconds behind winners Benjamin Cardozo. But Morgan has said all season that her team could run a 3:38 in the event, and despite the second-place finish, she thought they could've run a little better.

Since losing the indoor state Group 4 relay championship in the winter, the Cougars have won everything possible. They dominated the conference and county championships this season. They set a new sectional championship record for points scored and put up 98 in a dominant Group 4 championship run in a group that's supposed to represent the best schools in the state. At the Meet of Champions, had there been team scoring, the Cougars would've won going away; in addition, they crowned two relay championship teams, had an individual champion, two fourth-place finishes, a second place and two fifth places.

"That was one of my goals that I set as a coach. I knew the depth of my team, I knew the clientele," Morgan said. "I wanted to go down as the high school team of the century. As one of the best teams to ever come out of New Jersey."

With one meet left in the season, the Nike Team Nationals in Oregon, the legacy of this girls' team may already be set certainly as the greatest in school history, but also as one of the best in the state's history. While Morgan said they aren't going to Oregon with any thoughts of trying to cement a legacy, another big performance on a national stage would only add to the legend and mythology of the 2010 Cougar girls track team.

"What we've achieved this week, that says it all as far as what we've accomplished as a team," Morgan said. "If we win this meet, it probably just adds to how good of a team we are."