For a runner, what’s better than qualifying for an indoor track meet at the national level?

Qualifying for two.

Wilbraham & Monson Academy’s T.J. Jaravaza ’25 has qualified for a pair of national track and field championship meets this indoor season, electing to race at The Track at New Balance in Boston March 13-16 in the 200-meter and 400-meter races.

“Given this is my first ever indoor track season, I started off not really knowing what to expect,” stated T.J., a post-graduate from Zimbabwe. “I was not sure if I was going to be as fast as I wanted or if I was going to be at the level that I had imagined so when the first meet came across and I did not achieve what I wanted I was a bit saddened by my results, which motivated me to work harder.

“Once the coaches saw this, they started to push me a bit harder and started trying to help me to get to the level that I wanted to be. Between them and my coach in Georgia, it has been amazing to finally start seeing the results that I was aiming for, and it has been great to have the coaching staff supporting me and making sure that I get to where I want to be. Now that I am starting to see the results of the work that we as a team have been putting in, I could not be happier. I owe my current success to my coaching team for being adaptable and for supporting me.”

And T.J. has certainly posted some impressive results. His time of 47.72 in the 400 ranks him seventh in the country. Additionally, his 21.59 in the 200 and 6.55 in the 55 are college-level performances.

“My personal goals for this season are to get my 400 time to a low 47 or high 46, and to get my 200 time down to a high 20,” said T.J., who began competing in track at the age of 12. “Whereas my goal as a captain of the team is just to be able to help my teammates get faster and to spread the joy of running track that I have. I fell in love with the lifestyle and want to be able to spread that joy and love for running to as many people as possible. Even if track is just a bridging program to get someone to their spring sport, they should be having fun and hopefully go to their spring sport a little faster than the previous season.” 

Goals are good, and T.J. has his long-term goals in place.

“My current goals for running are to go to a good college program, where hopefully I will develop over the next three years,” explained T.J., who has dual citizenship in Australia and Zimbabwe. “If that goes according to plan, hopefully I’ll get to represent Australia at the 2028 Olympics, which is the ultimate goal. (I) just have to stay focused and committed to goal. (The) qualifying time for the 400 is likely to be something (around) 45 seconds, so (I have) two years to get my time down by 2-3 seconds at the top end.”