Jessica Merena Qualifies for 2015 Hershey National Championships

This Saturday March 14, Jessica Merena, 13, of Doylestown, PA, one of the budding young track and field athletes in Central Bucks, certainly has her work cut out for her. On a snowy afternoon in February (2/21-22) she qualified for her second consecutive trip to the prestigious 2015 USATF (USA Track & Field) Indoor Youth Championships, generally the finale for club winter track competition in the United States. But, she’s jumping about 2 inches below her personal best 1.21 meters (almost 4 feet). And, Nationals, unlike regular-season meets, sets an opening height requirement, 1.25 meters (4’ 1.25”). Normally, athletes’ get to choose their starting height.

Indoor nationals are sponsored by Hershey. The top six athletes in each event by gender and age group qualified from one of six zone (regional) championships held throughout the United States. This weekend’s March 13-15 national championships are being held in Landover, Maryland at the Prince George’s Sports & Learning Complex situated adjacent to the Washington Redskins football stadium, FedExField.

In the February qualifier at Houghton College, NY, Jessica eeked out a sixth place finish in the girl’s 13-14 high jump with a mark of 1.15 meters (3’ 9.25”). She captured the final qualifying spot with a gutsy third and last attempt (making 1.15 meters). She also ran the 55 and 200 meter dash in 9.19 seconds (25th) and 33.39 seconds (47th), respectively. And, she set a personal best (PR) in the long jump by 0.13 meters (5 inches) with a mark of 3.61 meters (11’ 10”).

A few days earlier on February 16, Jessica competed indoors at the New Balance Armory in New York City. There she high-jumped 1.17 meters (3’ 10”) and ran 9.09 seconds in the 55 meter dash. In local championships on March 1, Jessica made 1.15 again, improved her personal best in the long jump to 3.62 meters (11’ 10.5”/11th), and sprinted the 60 meter dash in 9.97 seconds (18th).

This Saturday’s GIRLS' 13-14 high jump competition kicks off promptly at 10:30 am. The top six receive medals. The meet is being televised live (and for FREE) on usatf.tv.

Note: Jessica's Dad, Peter, is her coach and is a former Lederle employee and a North Rockland HS and LIU Brooklyn alum