From The Tennis Court To The Track, Bartlett Has Made Rapid Progress In Two Years At The Lawrenceville School

By Mary Albl of DyeStat

John Nepolitan photos

Before the cheers echoed through Franklin Field and before she crossed the finish line in a record-breaking time, Blair Bartlett was already a standout to those who knew her best.

"Here at The Lawrenceville School, here on the track team, we know how special she is,” said head track and field coach, Derrhyl Duncan. “But it was amazing for the world to also see it. Penn Relays is a really special place.”

On that track — one of the most storied in the sport of track and field — the sophomore from Princeton, New Jersey stepped into the national spotlight, winning the Penn Relays girls 3,000 meters and breaking the 40-year-old meet record with a US#1 time of 9 minutes, 13.60 seconds. It was also a New Jersey all-time best. 

“I wasn’t really sure what was possible going in but it was just amazing to see,” Bartlett said of her performance. “I didn’t know if I would be going that fast this early, but I'm so happy with the outcome.”

Bartlett’s rise to the elite class of prep distance runners has been a steady rise over a year and a half.

Duncan first knew of Bartlett from her success on the tennis courts at Lawrenceville. 

“The funny thing is, she just kind of popped up on us one day,” Duncan said. “We have tryouts every season and it was in the fall. We made everyone do every last event for tryouts, so when we finally get to the day with the mile, and she did the 300-meter dash, the 40, long jump, all those things, and the mile came, and she ran like 5:45. And I was like, ‘Wow, that's pretty good for a freshman.’ So she made the team.”

Bartlett, who plays tennis during the fall, didn’t have a base from cross country or times in the longer distances to gauge where she was at. She ran growing up, but never on a  formal team until she got to high school at Lawrenceville, one of the top independent schools in the country, in the fall of 2023.

Duncan said her first indoor season was a bit of a puzzle finding where she would fit best. Early on the coaching staff had her run in the 1,000 at the Jim Mitchell Invitational at The Armory. She clocked an eye-opening 3:08.54. 

“I was like, ‘Wait a minute, that’s big,’” Duncan said. “So, we changed her training a little bit, who she was training with and challenged her to see where we could take this.”

By the end of the indoor season she dropped nearly 30 seconds from her mile time, finishing runner-up in the New Balance Nationals Indoor freshman mile in 5:02.81. She also placed 22nd in the 2-mile championship race (10:40.93), one of her first true 2-mile experiences in a talented field. 

“From there, it's just been a constant upward trajectory,” Duncan said. 

Last spring, Bartlett ran personal bests in the mile (4:54.59) and 2-mile (10:32.51). She also, among the 90 members of the track team at Lawrenceville, found a place for herself on the relay teams, which includes standout sprinter Sofia Swindell, who is committed to the University of Pennsylvania. 

Bartlett said having a coach like Duncan, who is big on motivation, open communication, and instilling a belief system of what a team is capable of on and off the track, has been beneficial to her growth. Duncan is also a recent author of the book “Coach's Playbook: A Guide for Inspiring Great Athletes and Greater People.” 

“My coach and my team, it’s so high-energy (and) everyone brings something different,” Bartlett said. “It's amazing to be a part of.”

Heading into summer training last year, Bartlett said knew she was capable of much more. 

“At the end of her freshman year, everyone (the media) is interviewing her, and at the end, she walks over to me and says, “I need you to make some harder workouts,” Duncan said. 

Coming off a tennis season where she helped her team claim the Mid-Atlantic Prep League Tournament title, she came into the track season with more mileage under her legs, stronger and more experienced. Duncan said they also got more creative with the workouts. 

“Some days we aren’t on the track as much. Other days we have a course we can run on, which is on grass with hills, mixing it up so the workouts are challenging but fun, and specific areas we can apply to races,” he said.

With a goal of attending more high level showcase meets as a team, Bartlett received more race exposure. In January, she placed third in the 1,000 (2:48.81) at the Dr. Sander Scorcher in New York, captured sixth place in the Millrose Games high school girls mile running 4:48.36, and went 10:18.54 for the 2-mile at The Circuit, all personal bests. She capped off the indoor season with an All-American finish in the Sprint Medley Relay at New Balance Nationals Indoor as the team placed third (4:03.67). 

“The indoor season I really started to see the work in practice paying off in the races,” Bartlett said. “I just wanted to keep seeing what I could do and keep working hard in practice to see how that could translate into races.”

Duncan said the team was exhausted after a long indoor season, so the focus shifted toward recovery and training. Penn Relays was target as a big season-opener. 

In a stacked 3,000 field that featured All-American and defending champion Addison Ritzenhein, Bartlett said the game plan for Penn Relays was simple: just race. 

“We didn’t have a whole lot of split plans because the field was so competitive and amazing and it was going to be fast no matter what,” she said. “I just wanted to put my best foot forward and just race instead of worrying about splits.”

Duncan said he noticed right away that her patience in the pack was different than indoors. Rather than trying to win from the gun, she gradually moved up, waited, moved up some more. Pretty soon, the race thinned out to Ritzenhein and Bartlett. 

“I just wanted to see what I could do and how long I could stay with her and when we got to the last lap I was just thinking maybe I can do this,” Bartlett said. “What are the possibilities? And I just tried to go.”

With what seemed like a boundless amount of energy left, Bartlett turned on the jets with about 200 meters to go, passed Ritzenhein, and sprinted down the track toward the finish line to capture first place. Her winning time of 9:13.60 shattered the meet record of 9:15.30, which was established in 1985 by All-American and Olympian Cathy Schiro-O’Brien of Dover, New Hampshire. 

“I think special is the only word I can use to describe it,” Duncan said of watching Bartlett. “I immediately go onto the infield. If I could have jumped over the fence and not hurt myself I would have. Just being down there hearing her interviews, seeing her get to go to the Wall of Fame, meeting the former record holder (Schiro-O’Brien) just that whole experience, it was like a dream.”

Bartlett, who Duncan describes as “funny and bubbly,” is the kind of athlete who transforms the moment she steps onto the track.

“She’s an awesome competitor,” Duncan said. “Outside of training, she’s extremely studious — I would argue she's just  as stern as she is as a competitor as as a student.”

After her record-setting run in Philadelphia, more people are starting to take notice. Just a week later, on Friday, May 2, Bartlett continued her momentum with a personal-best 4:46.86 to win the 1,600 at the NJISAA Prep A Championships.

With nationals on the horizon in June, Duncan says the plan is to keep building — carefully and confidently.

“I think I’m only just trying to keep improving and setting PRs,” Bartlett said. “Just keep up the work and see what I can do.”

Whatever comes next, one thing is clear: Bartlett is no longer flying under the radar.