Courtsey of Brian Beard

Women’s track and field jumper Kennedy Kirkland ’27 had quite the weekend at the New England Small College Invitational meet. Not only did she place top five in the 200m and top ten in the 400m dash, but she also won the long jump, breaking the school record by 12 cm with a distance of 5.68 meters—about 18.8 feet.

“The meet was so electric,” Kirkland said. “There were so many amazing teams that we had there.… It was really cool, because a lot of us were there not only to compete, but some of us that were injured were also able to be there to cheer and encourage, which is always really important.”

Prior to every meet, the team completes mindfulness rituals that Kirkland believes were helpful in preparing her for her races.

“We have ‘Wisdom Wednesdays,’ which has now turned into ‘Mindfulness Fridays,’ where before our pre-meet exercises, we journal and then talk about three process goals that we want to go in with for the meet,” Kirkland said.

Kirkland’s goals were to drink more water, visualize her jumps and be in bed an hour before her actual bedtime to optimize her sleep. She was able to do all three.

Kirkland has been running track since she was in seventh grade but only started doing long jump when she was a sophomore in high school. Kirkland quickly became a top competitor and even attended state finals in California for the long jump during her high school career.

During the week leading up to the Invitational, Kirkland tested positive for Covid-19 and did not expect to perform as well as she did. Kirkland went on to secure a personal best for indoor track in both the long jump and the 400m race.

“I had the 400m before my 200m, and for the 400m, I’m still getting to know how to be able to, not pace it, but really get to feel how it is supposed to be for each of the stages,” Kirkland said. “But I thought it went well.”

For the 200m dash, Kirkland was in a heat with only one other person.

“It was mostly just me and the clock,” Kirkland said. “But I thought it went really well.… I was [in the] top five, and I don’t know how many heats there were but at least 16.”

Although Kirkland continues to see success on the track, she still says her favorite event is the long jump.

“I think it’s just a lot of great intensity within a short amount of time, and it’s just all power,” Kirkland said. “And then within the actual event, you get to start over, you can think about what you did before and you can change things. Plus, I love my long jump coach.”

Kirkland credits much of her success to her long jump coach, Marcques Houston. At last weekend’s meet, Kirkland said Houston encouraged her to take the jump slow, since he knew she had two events after it.

“Usually for long jump, I’m supposed to take three jumps, and then if I make it to finals I get three more,” Kirkland said. “But Coach Houston was like, ‘Okay, I know you’re going to be doing two more events. Let’s take it slow, and you can skip your last one before finals.’ I did, luckily, and I think I was able to keep up my energy.”

Kirkland also mentioned her gratitude for her team and their consistently uplifting energy.

“I really owe all my success to my team,” Kirkland said. “It’s just such a great environment, and I think all of us are really supportive of each other.… I think that really encourages us to be more of a family. And you really need your family supporting you out there, especially when you’re nervous in front of a lot of people jumping.”

Kirkland and the team are now looking ahead to the Maine State Indoor Championship, hosted at home in Farley Field House tomorrow.

“I’m super excited because usually this is a big event for us, because we’ve won two years in a row,” Kirkland said. “Hopefully we can make it three.”