Hartford sprinter burns UM track’s 400 record

ORONO – As 17-year-old Jerome Young sprints into the future, he finds himself running from his past.

With power and grace that belies his age, Young is quickly pulling away from the pack of distant memories and gaining on his dreams – one of which has him racing in the Olympics.

Young, who hails from Hartford, Conn., and runs for the Lord’s Striders Track Club, was one of 1,053 athletes at the Univesity of Maine over the last three days, competing in the United States Track and Field Association’s Region I Junior Olympics.

His performance in Sunday’s young men’s 400-meter final was one of the greatest on-track efforts this state has ever witnessed.

Young’s winning time of 47.67 seconds was more than one second slower than his personal best, yet it was good enough for a track record, besting all college times previously recorded on the surface.

“He’s Olympic-caliber, there’s no doubt about it,” said Lord’s Striders coach and founder Stanley Lord. “That race today was mostly just a stride-through. It wasn’t anything serious. We don’t want him at his peak for another three weeks. We just wanted to win.”

Winning comes natural to Young who began his track and field career in the eighth grade – one year after moving to Hartford from Jamaica.

“I didn’t even know what track was,” Young said. “I just ran it.”

Since then, Young has learned to love the sport that has helped him escape the rough streets of Hartford and put him on track toward a Division I scholarship and a brighter future.

“(Hartford) is a tough place to grow up,” admitted Young, who will be a senior at the city’s Prince Tech High School in the fall. “It was rough. I was hanging out, coming home late. My Dad knew I was living with him, but he didn’t know what else I was up to. Since track came along, everything has changed in my life. Track is more than just a sport to me. I love it.”

Lord, an ordained Baptist minister, started the Lord’s Striders for that reason – to save the inner-city kids who find it all too easy to slip through the cracks.

“He was a from a very poor area of Jamaica, and when he first came to the United States, he couldn’t read or write,” said Lord. “Track is his bread and butter. It’s going to get him into college and get him to that next level.”

Last Monday, at the national scholastic championships in Raleigh, N.C., Young took the next step toward that next level, winning the 400 in 46.31. It also capped a triple crown of sorts. Young won the Connecticut state championship, the New England title, and the national championship.

“That 46.31 was more of a surprise to him than to anybody else I think,” Lord said. “Every year, though, he has moved to the next level.”

It seems Young has had the ability since he first set foot on a track. He doesn’t hit the 300-meter wall that other 400 runners hit. He bursts through it. Once Young conquered the mental aspect of the event, Lord said, little could stop him.

“He’s learned from these competitions,” Lord said. “Now, he knows he can do it. It’s a piece of cake now.”

Young takes his future just like he looks at a 400-meter race – stride-by-stride.

“I just have to work hard, practice, and eat right. You never know what will happen. I’ll just try my best and do what I can,” said the young man sprinting into the future.