Milton Magazine - Milton Academy

Jasmine knows that mental preparation is asimportant as physical preparation.See, practices can be fun. Pictured from left to right: Shavonne Hart ’08, Kelsey Creegan ’09, BeverlyLeon ’10, Liz Bloom ’08, Jasmine, Sam Barkowski ’09.the all-time Milton record at 47.22 secondsFAT, Jasmine was also named the300-meter intermediate hurdle NEPSTAchampion.Apart from these record-breaking accomplishmentsin the postseason, Jasmine alsostood out on a weekly basis in meets andpractices leading up to the New Englands.Why? Simply put, “Because she wins,”jokes head coach André Heard. “It’s easyto stand out when you’re in front.”Jasmine consistently took first place in herindividual heats and, when a formidableopponent could not be found, she wouldrace against herself—beating her ownrecords in the 300-meter intermediatehurdles and the 100-meter high hurdles.She was also a part of Milton’s successful400-meter relay team with SamanthaBarkowski ’09, Shavonne Hart ’08 andElizabeth Bloom ’08—a team that brokethe third all-time record with a time of50.50 seconds FAT.“Jasmine developed as a result of theprogram at Milton,” says Coach Heard.“Coach Buckner saw her talent early onand has been working with her over theyears. Jasmine understands how her raceshould be run and she trains for it. Sheknows that the 300-meter hurdles is nota 300-meter race. It’s longer than that, soshe trains like a quarter-miler.“The track season is so short that everytime a runner steps on the track should bean opportunity to prepare for the ISL’s anda chance to work out issues to better theirtime. With Jasmine, that plays out. Everytime she steps on the track, she addressessomething, whether to work on her raceor help out the team. There aren’t manyyoung runners who understand that theyneed to maximize the time they have onthe track. Jasmine gets it.”When asked about how she prepares for arace, Jasmine admits using visualization—a technique used by many athletes that isdescribed by About.com as “creating a mentalimage or intention of what you want tohappen.”“I use visualization mainly to overcomepre-race jitters,” says Jasmine. “Thinkingabout how I’m going to run the race overand over again calms me down and helpsme prepare.”Jasmine also prepares herself by expectingthe pain that comes from a good race.“In order to win, you have to fight for it.There’s not a race in track when you won’tfeel pain, and a great runner will knowhow to fight through the pain.”Next year looks even brighter for Jasmineand the entire talented pool of runners onthe girls’ track team. “The girls’ team hasbeen teetering on the edge of a championshipfor a number of years,” says CoachHeard. “Next year, we have a lot of younggirls coming of age that will be contributorson the team, and we will have strongleadership from the senior runners,including Jasmine.”Greg WhiteMilton Magazine 59