Winter track is here and high schools in New Jersey have a new schedule for in-person work outs and competition. Selah has been working out at home and at a recently opened county part that has a track.
There aren’t any club meets in the North East all the way down to Virginia that are contesting high Jump. In fact if she leaves the state for competition she will have to quarantine for 14 days at home upon return. Her school currently has in-person attendance so is it worth it to miss valuable class time during her Junior year? So what do you do to keep up your abilities? Build your own field of dreams…
Recently we have been able to resume indoor workouts and now she will start competing too, for the first time in over a year! Here’s what she’s been up to lately.
Hi everyone, here is a picture of my Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals from the last few seasons. Including 5 national titles: New Balance Freshman High Jump, Colgate Women’s Games, two AAU 14U Nationals, and the Hershey Youth Nationals all in high jump.
I set three school records at Newark Academy; I’m a 3-season letter winner; a USATF-NY Athlete of the year, and I was also an All-American twice! I have the unique distinction of also being the #1 High jumper in two USATF Regions (1&2) in the same year as my club team switched regions.
I want to thank my family, friends, and coaches for all the support as I look to continue my track career in college.
In college I plan on pursuing one of my passions academically, either in psychology, neuroscience, criminal psychology, zoology, or veterinarian medicine/medicine. Athletically I’ll to continue with track & field in High Jump, Multis, and sprinting. I also like many other sports so I’ll probably try others as well.
The Big Stage
I’m used to competing in front of big crowds indoors, outdoors, and at national meets for the Jr Olympics (AAU & USATF), New Balance, and the Penn Relays.
I travel all over the country for competitions. AAU, 14U Nationals, Eastern Michigan University, Ysplanti, MIOcean Breeze, Staten Island, NYI’m typically the smallest but in the 2018 season I jumped against 106 girls at 2 JO’s and beat all but 2 of them. NC A&T, Greensboro, NC,The infamous “Bubble” in Toms River, NJAs a top competitor I’m often the center of attention. Icahn Stadium, Randall’s Island, NY City.I’ve been interviewed several times after competition, so I’m comfortable in the spotlight.
During the 2020 indoor season Selah was able to capture one more title before the pandemic shut down all the competitions in the northeast. This one was for the Super Essex Conference that Newark Academy also competes within. Gold in High Jump to claim the title. However this comes with a bittersweet experience. Selah’s paternal grandmother, Patricia Dungey, passed away from cancer 4 days before this meet.
This one was for you Grammy! 4 days after you passed and before the funeral. I know you’re here and watching over us.
She was the greatest supporter you could ever have. She helped us organize, pack, arrange transportation, PAY for transportation, and generally be there for all of us when ever or where ever there was a track meet.
We love you Grammy, for all that you have done for all of us.You would always come to Detroit with us to support and cheer us on but you couldn’t make it this year, you were with us in spirit though. She was there as Selah’s star began to rise.She was there from the beginning!At every meet, no matter how far away.You were there for the fun times after a grueling meet in the heat.…and at the end of the long journeys.
Selah and her sister have bee staying active this summer and actually managed to compete a few times. The NSAF and USATF hosted a few virtual events to provide a little competition for the diehard athletes.
Alone on the trackUSATF Youth and HS Virtual Summer ChallengeNSAF x Athletic.net Track and Field Nationals…with Peaches.NSAF Virtual Summer Jumps Festival…with Magi.
While we all are dealing with the global pandemic, Selah and her sister are maintaining their in-season work out schedule. While there are a few virtual meets to participate in, there isn’t anywhere they can high jump. All high schools here in New Jersey are closed and the few public parks that have a track and HJ pits, have put them away for the year.
So Selah and Sydney are working on jumping exercises and core stregthening routines. They both will be playing soccer in the fall (their secret to their speed and jumping stamina).
We’ll need to buy a pit and standards soon if this doesn’t change soon… UPDATE!!We are blessed to have been gifted a HJ pit by her HJ Coach (Brad thank you so much!). Now we need to build standards.
Selah was honored with membership to the NJ.com First Team and the MileSplit.com All-State team for high jump as a freshman. She has won her Division and Group championships where she tied the meet record. She was second at states, only beaten by a senior. She also garnered 2nd Team honors for Essex county (which includes some state powerhouse schools) and also only beaten by a senior.
During her first indoor season she astounded the officials as they had never seen her before. In middle school she attended a small school that didn’t have a track team so she only competed on the club level. That gave her the competion she needed but the local state track officials subsequently never saw her jump until her first indoor meet which was a group championship…and she won by 5 inches!
Selah broke her third school record, this one for outdoor high jump with a jump of 5’3”. The old record stood for 17 years. She also has the indoor HJ record, and the 200m record as well. Interestingly she practiced throwing the javelin and if it was in a NJSIAA-sanctioned meet she would have broken NA’s record for that too! Next year 😉.
Selah has now competed in two indoor and one outdoor season and has won her group all three times in high jump. This one in december 2019 was her last school meet where she high jumped before the covid-19 pandemic shutdown the indoor season.
Selah won her third national title in high jump. This time it was a national meet for women in the famed New York Armory. It was a tight competion in that she came in to the finals at the #3 contented after 5 preliminary meets in the series. In each prior meet you are awarded points based on where you finished, 13 points for 1st, 11pts for second and so forth. The only way she could garner enough points win it all was to win the finals meet. Anything less than first place would leave her in 3rd place over all. So she tell mom “i guess ill have to come in first.” And with ice water in her veins, that’s exactly what she did!
Selah has won the AAU Indoor 14U Nationals twice now. Even once with flu-like symptoms. Her first time was when she was on the local recreation department track team, where she owns most of the town records for multiple events (thats for another post), but her second was as a 14yo competing for the last time in Michigan before she aged out.
Selah had been climbing the ranks for a year or two now. Fourth place finishes, a third and a second, but now…Now she finally made it to the top! Hershey Outdoor Nationals High Jump Gold Medalist. And she was the shortest one out there.
Thats right! Selah is the the 2019 freshman NBN high jump champ! She rounded out her freshman year with a stellar performance in Greensboro, NC. She qualified for the Emerging Elite category with a jump of 5’5” but your only a freshman one time!
Every year in middle school I competed in the AAU Club Championships at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports. What a beautiful place and an even greater honor to make it on the podium every year.
