H-S Athlete of the week: Diondra Brown, Laurel Highlands
Submitted photo
Name: Diondra Brown
Year: Junior
School: Laurel Highlands
Sport: Track & field
Brown’s week: The Filles’ speedster opened her week last Tuesday with victories in the 100 and 200-meter dashes in Laurel Highlands’ victory over Belle Vernon that clinched the section straight Section 2-3A championship.
Brown won the 100 in 13.09 and the 200 in 26.91. She was joined by ZiAshyah McLee, Shayla Dues and Righteous Richardson in winning the 400 relay in 52.02. Brown and Richardson teamed with Taylor Schwertfeger and Isabella Baker to earn a victory in the 1,600 relay in 4:33.99.
Brown had a strong follow-up performance last Saturday in the Fayette County Coaches Association Track & Field Championships at Mustang Field in winning the Track and Overall MVP awards on a rainy and windy day that hindered many opportunities to achieve a PR (personal record).
Brown was pleased to win her section straight FCCA MVP and help the Fillies to another county meet team title.
Brown won the 100 in 23.06, the 200 in 27.20 and the 400 in 1:02.18. She was on the winning 1,600 meter relay team of Schwertfeger, Baker and Bethany Byrne that crossed the finish line in 4:34.02.
“I think that’s really good that we have been able to keep a team to be the best in the county,” Brown said. “I am very excited that our team qualified for the team playoffs. It will be a good meet with solid competition.”
Brown qualified for the state meet last season in the 400, but hadn’t ran the event until the county meet. With the team portion of the season winding down, Brown is looking to step up her training in preparation for the WPIAL Class 3A Individual Track & Field Championships on May 14 at Slippery Rock University.
“I think I did OK in the meet against Belle Vernon and at the county meet,” Brown said. “I want to get some more conditioning in to get ready to do the 400. I got to my regular practice at school, and then I have practice with my dad for the 400. I need to work on my endurance.”
In her genes: When your sister is a multiple-time state champion and holds school records, your brother is a school record-holder and your dad is a personal track & field coach, it is a pretty good guess you will take up the sport, which is what happened for Brown.
Her sister, Breehana Jacobs, is a WPIAL Hall of Famer after winning eight WPIAL gold medals and six PIAA championships in sprints during her high school career that began at Uniontown her freshman season before competing her sophomore, junior and seniors seasons at Laurel Highlands.
Her brother, Dontay Jacobs, is the boys record holder at Laurel Highlands in the 400. He also qualified for the state meet in the event. Breehana Jacobs won three state titles in the 100, 200 and 400 her senior season.
“Track & field is definitely a family thing for me,” Brown said. “I felt pretty good at track from the state. One of my goals is to break some of my sister’s records at Laurel Highlands.”
The fun sport: Brown competes for the school in volleyball, but doesn’t take it as seriously as track & field, however, she enjoys the play.
“I don’t do any other team sports, but I enjoy volleyball,” Brown said. “I have a pretty good vertical, which got me thinking about doing the high jump in track & field, but I never had the chance.”
Getting stronger: Brown does quite a bit of weight training when she is not working on her starts and interval training, as a successful sprinter, especially at the next level, needs the power to get out of the blocks quickly.
“I want to compete in track & field at the next level, so I know I have to get stronger because having that strength is very important in sprinting,” Brown said. “It’s great to have the speed, but you get that little extra boost when you are stronger, and that can really make a difference in the bigger meets. I ran at states last year, and it was crazy. It was such a big meet and a lot of competition. I had done some UTSA events, but states was so big. I am glad to have that experience because I know what to expect this year.”