“I would have recruited her if she came from Mars!”

That’s how Middlebury College Track and Field Coach Martin Beatty responded when asked if there was any local favoritism in his recruiting of Middlebury Union High School track star Jazmyn Hurley, who will be attending the college in her hometown and starting classes in just a few weeks.

“Not at all!” he said. “She was at the top of my list, regardless of where she came from. She’s really fast, one of the top sprinters ever to come out of the state. She’s a blazer!

“It’s always fun to have Vermonters in the program,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what her interest really was. I sat with her and her mom and realized she had no qualms about going to school in her hometown. There wasn’t that ‘I need to get away’ feeling.”

How fast is she? Her accomplishments in track at MUHS have been spectacular.

Her coach at MUHS, Chris Anderson, cited her “dedication and hard work both on and off season” and pointed out “she graduated having won a combined 10 Division II indoor and outdoor state championships and now holds three D-II state records and three MUHS records.

In the Essex Invitational/New England Qualifier meet on June 1 this past spring, Jazmyn’s time in the 100-meter race of 12.22 was second to Colchester’s Brinlee Gilfillan’s 12:14. Jazmyn, however, turned the tables, and won the 200 meters with a time of 25.14 to Brinlee’s 25.33.

“She’s my biggest competition,” Jazmyn said of Brinlee. “We go back and forth. She wins the 100 and I win the 200. We’re friends!”

MUHS SPRINTER JAZMYN HURLEY holds up the blue ribbons she earned for winning the 100, 200 and 400 meter races at the D-II State meet at Burlington High School in the spring 2024. She also displays the plaque she was given as “Outstanding Track Athlete.”
Photo by Cera Hurley

Jazmyn came to Vermont (Rochester) from Columbia, Missouri, in 3rd grade, and then to Middlebury in grade 7. The transition from Missouri to Vermont was not easy. “I had a rough time,” Jazmyn said. “Everyone already had their social groups. There were only three people of color at MUHS. It was very different.”

In the winter of her 10th grade year, she was playing on the JV girls’ basketball team and there was “trouble,” as she put it, at a game in Enosburg Falls. She was subjected to racial taunts: “I came off the floor crying. It was a bad experience. But my teammates supported me, and we don’t play them anymore. Coach Altimose was very supportive.”

Jazmyn speaks about her mother, Cera, with warmth and gratitude.

“It was just me and my mom here in Vermont. I got to 18 because of her. She motivates me. She pushes me and keeps me on task. She’s very happy I will be at Middlebury College.”

Jazmyn’s interest in athletics is not limited to track.

“I love basketball, played it all my life, soccer, too.”

She played soccer through grade 12 (“I like soccer — Coach Livesay is a great coach”) but decided to forego basketball to focus on track in the winter months. For two years, she trained two or three days a week with the 802 Track and Field Club in Burlington where UVM senior Vaughan Larkin was her coach.

Larkin is effusive about Jazmyn’s “competitive drive: her talent and work ethic alone often outpaced my technical knowledge and I had to dive deeper into biomechanics and seek out other coaches to make sure I could meet her where she was.

“Jazmyn has many remarkable qualities but her relentless competitiveness is what truly sets her apart. She didn’t just elevate herself, she elevated those around her, including me.”

In running track at Middlebury College, Jazmyn will be working with an extraordinary coach in Martin Beatty. He is 1984 graduate of Middlebury and has been head of track and field for both men and women at Middlebury since 1988, the days of the outdoor cinder track and no indoor facility or program at all.

MIDDLEBURY UNION HIGH School track star Jazmyn Hurley, who will become a first-year at Middlebury College in a few weeks, meets at the college track with Martin Beatty, head track and field coach there since 1988.

In that time, Martin’s teams have won eight NESCAC Championships (five women and three men), placed in the top 10 at six National Championships, and he has coached seven individual national champions. Last spring, the Middlebury men won the NESCAC Championship; the women won the NESCACs in ’22, ’23, and ’24.

Martin is universally respected. He has won numerous Coach of the Year awards both region-wide and within the conference. Last year, he was honored with the Virtue Family Exceptional Service Award at Middlebury, which recognizes “individuals who go above and beyond their normal professional responsibilities to connect with students and build a more engaged and inclusive college community.”

He is looking forward to coaching Jazmyn. “She is very talented through a broad range of events. She might be a short sprinter (100 and 200 meters) or a long sprinter (200m and 400m). She also could be a very talented hurdler.

“My job is to have conversations with Jazmyn to decide what direction to go in. In college, we have the luxury to decide together what events athletes will thrive in — and love to work on. It’s an adult-to-adult relationship. We’ve got to keep it fun!”

In her college search, Jazmyn was at first interested in HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), Howard University and North Carolina A&T in particular, but her connection with Coach Beatty was immediate. “I talked to him for an hour,” she said, “and he talked about the program as a ‘family.’ The community part is important; track can be stressful.”

At this point, Jazmyn has an interest in environmental journalism, so will no doubt explore classes in Environmental Studies, a well-known strength at Middlebury. She also is interested in Black Studies courses and is thinking about studying abroad in Africa (Middlebury has a program in Cameroon).

Megan Hendee, a teacher and advisor to Jazmyn at MUHS, called her a leader “with a confidence and grace beyond her 18 years. When challenges arise, or issues need to be addressed, she is the first one to stand up for what is right, or what needs to be called out.

“We are so lucky to have her close by at Middlebury College.”

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Karl Lindholm Ph.D. is the Emeritus Dean of Advising and Assistant Professor of American Studies (retired) at Middlebury College. He can be reached at [email protected].