Harlow is Raising the Bar
East Bridgewater High Jumper Looks to New Heights This Winter

By Joe Reardon
December 2003

It’s probably safe to say East Bridgewater’s Jen Harlow won’t be gunning for a personal best in the high jump during a Patriot League dual meet this winter. “I’ll probably be stopping at 5-4 or 5-6 because I have the 300 (meters) right after,” said Harlow of her dual meets. “Last year, when I came back, I was jumping well. But I didn’t think I’d be jumping this high.” Still, after clearing 5-4 twice before Christmas, you can bet the defending Class D champion will not only be looking to defend the title she earned last year as a junior, but focusing on bettering her 5-7 best.

Harlow is competing in the 55-meter hurdles and 300-meter dash along with her specialty this winter. The Vikings are off to a decent 1-2 start through Dec. 27 and Harlow is a big reason why. She is easily the class of the high jump in the league and only has herself to compete against on the dual-meet schedule. That will all change when, barring injury or sickness, she goes head to head with Dennis-Yarmouth’s Kate Sherman at the All-State meet on Feb. 22 then the New EnglanDT, six days later. The matchup between the two should be one of the highlights at both meets. After finishing a solid third in the All-States last year, Harlow waged a fierce battle with Sherman, one of the best all-around female tracksters in the state, at the New England Championships.

Competing at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center, it was Harlow who nearly put all the pressure on Sherman’s back when the bar was raised to 5-8. She just missed on her first attempt when her heel clipped the bar enough to knock it off. Sherman ultimately made the height, and with it, claimed the New England title. Harlow, though, fears neither the height nor Sherman and is itching to take her on again this winter. “I almost made it before Kate did but I hit it with my heel,” said Harlow. “I was pleased with second but I really wanted to win. It just came down to the two of us.” After spending the fall working on her conditioning, Harlow feels stronger than ever and fully intenDT to better her own school record.

She’s improved every season since clearing 4-8 as a freshman and she wants that streak to continue. With one winter of jumping indoors under her belt, Harlow opened plenty of eyes as a sophomore by better her rookie mark a full eight inches at 5-4. The 5-7 last year put her among the truly elite in Massachusetts and New England. As good as Harlow’s indoor season was, it was only a preview of what turned out to be ahuge spring. To absolutely no one’s surprise, Harlow took the Class D title and established the new record at 5-7. She then exacted some revenge against Sherman by taking both the All-State and New England championships with winning leaps of 5-6. “After she beat me indoors, one of my goals was to beat her outdoors,” Harlow said. “I like indoors because you have the same conditions all the time but jumping on a nice day in the spring is good too.”

Harlow wants to garner the three big wins during the winter then chalk up another three-peat in the spring. While the victories are more important to her than personal marks, Harlow is still thinking of what she ultimately wants to clear before graduation. “I want to clear 5-8 by the end of this season and get over 5-10 by the end of spring track,” she said. Harlow will be bringing her track talents to the Wheaton College campus in September and intenDT to compete on both the indoor and outdoor teams. She admits she doesn’t know what to expect from the change from school girl to collegiate high jumping, but Harlow is confident she’ll still be improving.“I just want to jump as high as I can,” she said. History has shown only good things happen to Jen Harlow when the bar is raised.