Harrington helps rebuild Tartans
By: Justin Feil
Rebuilding hasn’t taken quite as long as expected for the Stuart Country Day School track and field team thanks to the impressive efforts of some of its youngest athletes.
The Tartans lost two of their most veteran athletes when Angela Harrington and Maya Thompson graduated after last spring’s season. As important as their loss of leadership was, the Tartans also figured to miss their points particularly in the big meets. There will be no greater test of its replacements than when Stuart competes for the Prep B state championship today.
"We’ve taken on that motto, like Illinois vs. UNC (in college men’s basketball) of talent vs. team," said Stuart head coach Tom Harrington. "We’ve had that talent. We’ve been more so that team this year. Emily (Driscoll) has been our star. She’s gone 2:29 in the half (mile) already. She’s done 2:30 open. She did 5:30 in the mile and done well in the two-mile and she really hasn’t been pushed.
"I told our girls that Emily is almost assured of winning a state title in one of those events. Beyond that, we’re focused on having the team work together. We used to know that Angela was guaranteed to win the long jump and May was guaranteed to win something and then the supplementary would fill in. Now the supplementary has to step up."
Harrington has been thrilled by the contributions of second-year Tartans Elizabeth Cancelosi, Sarah Goodwin, Brittany Kidd and Hannah Wilson. And he’s been impressed with how quickly freshmen Jenae Harrington, Nicole Huber and Carys Johnson have contributed. They’ll have to do the same again for Stuart to claim a fourth straight state title.
"The freshmen and sophomores have to step up," Tom Harrington said. "They’ve scored three-quarters of our points. On the sophomore part, last year there was a lot of teaching done by the older ones and me and my assistant coach. They can take what they learned last year and apply it. They’re working with the younger ones. We teach this year, and next year get the fruits of the labors."
Putting such emphasis on how the young athletes on Stuart will do today is a concern of Harrington’s. That’s why he’s tried to keep them focused only on their individual tasks.
"If they approach it as a regular meet and not the pressure of a big meet, I think they will win it," he said. "If they approach it as this big magnitude meet, I’m afraid of them being so young they may not be able to deal with the pressure. My job and my assistant’s job is to focus on one event and let the coaches focus on the big picture."
For the sophomores, while they are being counted on more, they at least have a year’s experience. For the freshman, it’s new. Except to Jenae Harrington. Tom Harrington’s daughter has been to plenty of state meets.
"I went to the state meet last year and year’s before that. It’s insane," said Jenae, a sprinter and long jumper. "Our goal for every meet is go up and do our best. Our goal is to win. It probably won’t be much harder than most of our other meets. A lot of ones in my grade haven’t been to this big gigantic meet. My sister’s been through it and I can look to her for advice. I’ve been there before."
She’s not quite sure just how many state meets she’s been to, but she’s been a faithful follower in the eight years that her dad has been coaching at Stuart. Now she’s competing for his Tartans, while training under the guidance of sprints coach Robert Abdullah.
"In my opinion, it’s gone pretty well," Jenae said. "I’ve been learning different things and seeing the big competition. I’ve been running against people a lot older than me."
Jenae has combined with Stuart’s quickest sprinter, classmate Carys Johnson, to give the Tartans a potent 1-2 punch. The two have both run 13 seconds for the 100 or better. For Harrington, that’s quite a jump from the 14.7-second time with which she opened the season.
"Our team is really young," she said. "A big percentage of us are sophomores and freshmen. We and I have gotten so much better since the beginning of the year. Everyone has gotten better in their own way. Even the older ones have time to improve."
The freshmen’s growth and development has mirrored that of the team. It’s why Tom Harrington has any confidence going into today’s meet.
"When we started the season, we looked hurt," he laughed. "They started to come together though. And the best time to come together is the end."
Jenae has continued to progress through the season and is looking to produce her best times at the state meet, which is just the sort of timing that the Tartans will need to win again. While Stuart needs everyone’s best, she doesn’t want to put such high pressure on herself.
"Basically, my expectations for myself is do very best I can," said Harrington, who also plays basketball and field hockey at Stuart. "If I can get some points, that’s great. My main goal is to beat my best times. I’m not expecting a lot from myself first year."
Regardless of today’s results, she’s been happy with her improvement this season. It’s a good starting point, just as the freshmen and sophomores have given the Tartans quite a starting point for championship aspirations.
"I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen in first year," Jenae Harrington said. "I was hoping I’d get better. And I did. Now I’m looking forward to getting better in the next three years. I’m working on getting better technique. I’m practicing that and trying to stay healthy so the next three years are the best I can do."