Girls' Track

Blair Academy as an institution strives to educate the whole person. We seek to provide a balance between challenging academics and rich extracurricular experiences. The vast majority of our coaches are also teachers, and our students work hard to be successful in the classroom, on the athletic field and within the community.

Blair's track teams operate within this context with a spring schedule of 10 or more meets ranging from dual meets to large relay meets. We compete in all typical high school running and field events, including pole vault and javelin.

Blair offers cross country in the fall and track in the winter and spring, making it possible for a student to run competitively all year long. Few students choose to do this, of course, but the truly dedicated athlete has this option. Dr. Martin Miller coaches the boys’ cross country team in the fall and the distance runners in the spring, while R. Latta Browse coaches girls’ cross country in the fall and is head winter track coach. There is, therefore, continuity in the coaching staff from one season to the next.

Our interscholastic Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) is a very competitive one that includes Lawrenceville, Peddie, Hill, Mercersburg and Hun. These schools, along with numerous other New Jersey private schools, provide the bulk of our competition. We have taken a mile relay team to the Penn Relays every year for nearly a decade and have also competed in the Hill Relays, the Randolph Relays and the East Coast Relays, among others.

The boys' and girls' teams have produced their share of successes, including a qualifier for nationals in the girls’ 1,500 in 2004 and a boys’ distance medley relay team which qualified for the Penn Relays in 2003. The boys’ team won the state prep championship in 2002 and the girls’ team has made steady improvement in their competitive position over the years. Most recently, we've sent athletes to the national championships in the boys' 4 x 400, girls' 100, boys' 100, 200 and 400, and the long jump. In 2016, Blair was home to the number-one long jumper in the country.

Track is a wonderful way to develop speed, strength and self discipline; we invite students to become part of the Blair track family. We look forward to meeting prospective runners and encourage those interested in the team to call or email the coaching staff or contact us when you visit Blair.

Meet Coach Wilson

Assistant head coach for sprints and jumps Roy Wilson joined Blair's faculty in 2009 as a physics teacher. He completed his undergraduate work at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, in 2007, and then spent two years teaching math and coaching girls' cross country at Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. He lives in the Gateway house near the School's entrance and serves as the head coach of boys’ and girls track and field.

Meet Coach Saylor

Assistant coach for throwing Jim Saylor has worked with middle- and high-school athletes on football fields across the United States for more than 25 years, including at Fullerton High School in California, at Pleasant Valley High School and Middle School in Pennsylvania, and at Blair, where he has also coached track and field since 2008.

His coaching philosophy centers on relationship building and care for individual players, aligning with Blair’s overarching mission: to provide students with exceptional learning opportunities made more meaningful by close relationships with faculty members and classmates. Character development, safety, personal growth, friendship and opportunities for the future are each important building blocks of Blair’s football program under Coach Saylor’s leadership, and he believes deeply in helping players grow academically and athletically, and in helping each team member become his best self on and off the football field.

Coach Saylor traces his Blair roots to the 1940s when his grandfather, Howard '42, and grand-uncle, Horace ’41, attended the School. His children, Tyler '14 and Devyn '16, have continued that tradition, something of which he is very proud.

Meet Coach Thomas

A teacher of fine art at Philadelphia-area independent schools since 2009, Evan Thomas joined Blair’s faculty in 2015 as a teacher of drawing, painting and portfolio. He holds a BS in art education from Kutztown University (2009) and an MA in art education from Boston University (2013). Currently the director of the Pennsylvania Art Education Association’s non-public division, Evan is interested in STEAM education (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics), the subject of his graduate research, and passionate about engaging local communities in art. Outside the classroom, he operates a successful portrait and wedding photography business and coaches recreational squash and spring track at Blair. Evan serves dorm duty on Flight Deck and lives in Ringe House.

View directions to athletic events. To read recaps about past events, go to the "Team News" tab above.

View more photos from the 2018 season or past years on Blair's Flickr.