Briana Jackucewicz going to Harvard

How well has she run in high school? I haven't heard anything about her in years.

Pretty good in high school, she ran 18:20 at Holmdel as a freshman (18th all time), lots of injuries but she bounces back. She is good enough today to be a very strong Ivy recruit, though she is not out setting national records lately.

Good summary of her career in the Star Ledger.

Good for her, Bri has been through a lot and never gave up; a few years ago, girls like Bri would have left the sport.

Quote from a Dyestat post about why our female distance runners are getting better.

"What has happened is a lot of our best female runners started young, had a lot of success in age group, middle school or road racing, hit a bump in the road in their mid teens, but never gave up or lost confidence and came back strong a year or two later."

TrackCoach wrote:

Good for her, Bri has been through a lot and never gave up; a few years ago, girls like Bri would have left the sport.

Quote from a Dyestat post about why our female distance runners are getting better.

"What has happened is a lot of our best female runners started young, had a lot of success in age group, middle school or road racing, hit a bump in the road in their mid teens, but never gave up or lost confidence and came back strong a year or two later."

It is great to see she stuck with it, even though she is much slower than she was as a pre-teen. This girl was pushed relentlessly by her wacky father. I hope she does well at Harvard as an athlete and a student, gets a good education, and comes out of there with good options other than running.

I actually ran against her father in high school in Connecticut. He was one of the top two or three distance runners in the state, but he never made it through the end of the season. The last time I saw him was with two heavily taped hamstrings...beating me. But I think that may have been his last race.

TrackCoach wrote:

Good for her, Bri has been through a lot and never gave up; a few years ago, girls like Bri would have left the sport.

Quote from a Dyestat post about why our female distance runners are getting better.

"What has happened is a lot of our best female runners started young, had a lot of success in age group, middle school or road racing, hit a bump in the road in their mid teens, but never gave up or lost confidence and came back strong a year or two later."

And within a year or two, Bri J probably WILL leave the sport. In fact, there's really no reason for her to be competing at this point.

She's had numerous injuries, and probably run less than 10 races in the last 2 years of her high school career. She's running 5k times that are 2 minutes slower than her previous form. She's unlikely to finish in the top 10 at the one-race Jersey state meet in two weeks.

As for being a strong Ivy recruit for running that's hogwash. She's a strong Ivy recruit because she's got a brain in her head and studied hard. Her running is completely secondary at this point because any coach knows that she's not going to be a scorer for the team at the college level.

FXG wrote:

As for being a strong Ivy recruit for running that's hogwash. She's a strong Ivy recruit because she's got a brain in her head and studied hard. Her running is completely secondary at this point because any coach knows that she's not going to be a scorer for the team at the college level.

Wow, total and complete drivel. Bri will score for Harvard as a freshman if she is healthy. She got a likely letter from Harvard, those are relatively few and far between for track/xc athletes, so Saretsky at least thinks there is some promise there. And forget the Saretsky bashing, his young team is doing just fine. Soph Richardson from Harvard was the one who broke up Princeton's perfect score, the whole team is sophs and frosh right now. If Emily Reese comes back strong next year with Bri and others Harvard will be damn good, probably 2 behind Princeton.

Ivy Follower wrote:

Wow, total and complete drivel. Bri will score for Harvard as a freshman if she is healthy. She got a likely letter from Harvard, those are relatively few and far between for track/xc athletes, so Saretsky at least thinks there is some promise there.

IF she's healthy - which she won't be.

She may score for them in XC, but that's not going to be saying much about the team if she is. She's an 10:45 2 miler/18:00 5k girl these days - if that's scoring on the track at Ivy's I'd be shocked.

And, she gets slower every year -

Middle School: 17:45

2005 (FR): 18:19 - Footlocker qualifier

2006 (SO): 18:30

2007 (JR): 18:35

2008 (SR): 19:18 (so far)

Like I said above, she's a smart girl and it's great that she's going to Harvard. But this is a girl who ran 16:43 5k indoors as a 7th grader. She doesn't show any signs of returning to anywhere near that form.

I grew up running in NJ)...saw her run many a times back when she was fierce....love to see her get back there, hell of a nice kid as well. Tough to stay at such a high level from very young age when pushed the way she was from her father...

hopefully this is something father\'s of phenomenal pre-teen girls see and take for what it is. There are a lot of crazy parents out there...

I would love read an interview on her father...so curious to see if he comprehends how he is responsible for her getting slower and slower...

Hips and boobs

She soon will grow

And then she will

Be really slow.

Happens to most of 'em.

Still running well and going to Harvard - Sweetness.

Playing Devil's advocate, you could also say he's responsible for her having a still standing indoor national 5K record (as I recall it's still standing).

some coach somewhere wrote:

I would love read an interview on her father...so curious to see if he comprehends how he is responsible for her getting slower and slower...

A likey letter to Harvard for running, tough pill to swallow for the doom and gloomers. Always nice to see she still creates a little anxiety for a few people with her success.

exactly

I remember at Freihofer's a few yrs. back she was in there mixing it up w/ some of the big guns, kind of second pack. She finished right behind Joan Samuelson, who proceeded to rip her father a new one for pushing his kid, who was like 12 at the time.

JimG wrote:

I remember at Freihofer's a few yrs. back she was in there mixing it up w/ some of the big guns, kind of second pack. She finished right behind Joan Samuelson, who proceeded to rip her father a new one for pushing his kid, who was like 12 at the time.

Jim,

where did her dad go to school? someone said he went to High School in CT. I don't remember him.

You're up too early!

He went to Pulaski High School in New Britain, Connecticut

I remember when she ran 19 something at the age of 9... wtf