Track

Blair’s winter track program is designed to accommodate both experienced and novice runners at distances from 200 to 3,200 meters. Athletes also participate in track-and-field events, including horizontal jumps and indoor shot put. The season places significant emphasis on preparation for the spring athletic season for both track and non-track and field events.

We train on campus in our seasonal winter sports complex. In the “bubble,” all of our equipment, including jump mats, hurdles, weights, pulleys, sleds, medicine balls and bands, is readily available, and there is plenty of room to practice jumps, throws and running events. Weather permitting, we also train on local roads and on our all-weather track, all in preparation for open meets at various universities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In addition to our open schedule, we also compete in the state prep and Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) championship meets held in the Lavino Fieldhouse at The Lawrenceville School. Interested runners should contact Coach Browse or Coach Wilson.   

Meet Coach Wilson

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

Meet Coach Browse

Head coach for distance runners R. Latta Browse, appointed in 1982, graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1978 from Middlebury College with a BA in mathematics. In 1989, he earned an MALS in Islamic studies at Columbia University and, in 1991, received his CAS in mathematics from Wesleyan University. Latta taught high school mathematics as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malaysia from 1978 to 1981. For two years, he taught at Antwerp International School as an international baccalaureate math teacher. Over the years, Latta has served in a variety of capacities, including housemaster of Davies, West and Mason Halls, dorm resident in Locke, and sophomore class monitor. He has also served as head or assistant coach for a myriad of sports, including JV soccer, JV baseball, varsity soccer, varsity baseball, winter track and boys' cross country. Latta is currently head coach of the girls' cross country team. He is married to Carolyn Conforti-Browse '79, a veteran English teacher at Blair. They have two children: Tyler '08 and Annelies '13.

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.

About Coach Friend

Keenan Friend joined the Blair mathematics faculty in fall of 2018, as a teacher of Geometry and Algebra 2 Honors AB. He received dual degrees (B.A., M.A.) in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania, where he distinguished himself in the department as a teaching assistant for three years, as instructor of a calculus course, and as the recipient of the departmental teaching award. Keenan taught in Penn’s Pre-Freshman Program, mentoring incoming freshmen in courses designed to assist them in transitioning to college life. He is an avid runner and cyclist, and will be coaching cross country and track at Blair. In his free time, he also enjoys guitar and cooking.

About Coach Newbury

Sarah Newbury holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard University (2015) and a master’s degree in applied mathematics from Columbia University (2016); she joined Blair’s math faculty in 2017 as a teacher of algebra 2 and precalculus. Ms. Newbury gained teaching experience during her master’s program working as a Barnard College physics lab teaching assistant, and she has also worked as a math and science tutor. As an undergraduate, she interned several summers at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and participated in the Teaching Opportunities in Physical Sciences program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she taught physics to middle- and high-school students for a summer. She also served as co-president and pianist for a Harvard musical group that performed at local nursing homes and hospitals. An assistant coach for Blair’s winter and spring track teams, Ms. Newbury lives in Ringe House and serves dorm duty on Flight Deck.

 

 

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

 

View more photos from the 2017-2018 season or past years on Blair's Flickr.

The "bubble"-enclosed winter sports complex is a seasonal landmark on Blair's campus during the coldest months of the year. Created by enclosing a portion of the tennis center under an air dome, the facility features two tennis courts and a turf field, giving teams plenty of room to practice. 

The winter track team has found the extra space and ability to set up hurdles at further distances a huge advantage as athletes train for competitions.