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(This is the third of three stories on Riverbender.com/Edglentoday.com Athletes of the Year: Edwardsville’s A.J. Epenesa, Alton’s LaJarvia Brown and Calhoun’s Grace Baalman).
ALTON - LaJarvia Brown is an athlete that will not be forgotten in the annals of Alton High School sports history.
Now attending Texas A & M on a full track and field scholarship, she is already performing well indoors for the Aggies, her high school coach Terry Mitchell said. In her first indoor meet she won the 60 high hurdles in 8.4 seconds and long jumped 18-1 for second place, the coach said.
This past year, she captured two first places at the IHSA State Meet in the 100-meter high hurdles (13.89) and triple jump (42-1.75 inches). She was second place in long jump (19-2.5) and third place in the 300-meter low hurdles (43.47).
Brown was a top point guard on the Alton High School girls basketball team last season and was one of the team’s leading scorers. Brown was a first-team all-Southwestern Conference basketball selection.
Mitchell said LaJarvia Brown is one of the greatest athletes he has ever seen.
“Her accomplishments and her general way that she approached it make her one of Alton High’s greatest athletes,” Coach Mitchell said. “She is quite an athlete. She is not big, she is 5-3, but she is strong and powerful. She was a two-time state champ in the triple jump and wanted to make sure she went out as a three-time state champion and did in good company.
“She also won the high hurdles and this is the first year she has run them. She was only two-tenths of a second behind Dawn Harper’s 13.5 time, and Dawn was an Olympic champion.”
Mitchell said he believes Brown will become one of the top hurdlers in the nation at Texas A & M to go with her long jump and triple jump abilities. He said she would be perfect in the heptathlon with her high jump, javelin, 800 and 100 and 200 talents.
“I hated to lose her,” Mitchell said of Brown. “She epitomized Alton’s track program and had a great influence on the younger athletes. What she accomplished last year as a senior helped me reach one of my lifelong goals which was to bring a team trophy home from the state track and field meet. We were second place last year with 37 points.”
Mitchell firmly believes the sky is the limit for LaJarvia Brown and he said he would not be surprised that one day, she is on a podium with an Olympic medal wrapped around her neck.
