village
Sports
Jump Around Carla Forbes aims high, runs hard, and goes far. By Robin Regensburg
Newton North High School junior Carla Forbes said the fierce competition she faced this summer at her first international event has made her only hungrier to compete. Her triple jump of 42 feet, 1 1/2 inches at the U.S. World Youth Qualifiers in Myrtle Beach broke a New England high school record and earned her a place on the U.S. team that traveled to the World Youth Championships in July in Lille, France, where she placed thirteenth. Forbes, the second-youngest member of the U.S. team, first started competing as a seventh grader at Day Middle School, where her reputation attracted the attention of Joe Tranchita, who coaches track and field for Newton North and the Waltham Track Club. Since then, Forbes has been national championship gold-medal winner five times. The youngest of three children, Forbes comes from a family of athletes. Her older brothers graduated from Newton North, where they played football and competed in track and field. As a youth, her mother competed on track and field teams in Brookline and in Dorchester. And her father coached Hyde Park Youth Soccer. After graduating in 2013, Forbes says she plans to compete at the collegiate level and, hopefully, to qualify for the Olympics. But high school comes first. “Track and getting a good education are my top priorities,” said Forbes who lists math and science as her favorite subjects. One might also say she seems to be a whiz in physics—at least when it comes to defying gravity.
taking off newton north’s carla forbes leaps from the page.
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Newton Living oct/nov 2011
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photograph by
Jared Charney
9/2/11 10:48:45 AM