photo: Bobby Reyes / MileSplit Colorado
Fabiola Belibi, 18, a recent graduated of Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, completed her Colorado high school career with an exclamation mark last month as she won Colorado 5A state titles in the 100m hurdles and 300m hurdles and finished second in the Long Jump. In the 300m hurdles she ran a personal best of 43.27. She departs the Colorado high school ranks with the #16 Long Jump (19-7.5) and #17 100m Hurdles (14.02) performances in state history. She plans to conclude her high school career at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Eugene, Oregon (June 16-19) where she will compete in the Heptatlon. At last year's USATF National Junior Olympics she finished fourth in the same event and called her experience at the meet a pivotal moment with respect the direction of her track & field career. Her performance at the National Junior Olympics, where she represented the Steadfast Track Club, also led to her being named the 2021 USATF Colorodo Athlete of the Year (Youth Track & Field, 17-18). She will matriculate to Harvard University in the fall where she plans to study biology with a focus on pre-med. In our interview below with Belibi we learn more about her college decision, who she would most like to have dinner with, her favorite food, her favorite athlete, her go-to social media platform, her goals for the remainder of her senior year, and much more..
I’ve always played sports and when I was in my basketball phase, my coach kept telling me to try track because I would run too fast for the ball. I was really hesitant to start a new sport so late (summer going into 9th grade) because I didn’t want to suck, but one day I was like why not and went to a Parker Panthers track practice. I’ve been doing it ever since!
Definitely my first would be competing in Florida last summer at the USATF Junior Olympic nationals and earning that All American Status. I would also say becoming long jump state champion last year was one of the most beautiful moments along with competing at Penn Relays this past weekend!
It was one of the best meets I’ve been to in terms of the connections I made and my overall performance. I wasn’t able to have a coach come with me but I relied on my experience with all the events and just remembered to stay competitive! It also was my third time ever competing in the heptathlon so that meet was definitely a turning point in my love and passion for the event itself and made me work even harder for this summer’s Outdoor Nationals!
Going on my official collge visits and hanging out with my steadfast family during travel meets!
It’s a tie between Biology or English.
I grew up speaking french!
Anything with hurdles because it seems to hurt less. I would put a 300 hurdle workout at the top!
I love training at Arapahoe High School, the long jump pit there is top tier.
Rice all day.
Any day of the week, I’m rocking with J. Cole or Summer Walker. But I love R&B in general.
Haha anything that’s Top Ten on Netflix, I’m one of those people.
Instagram!
Sydney McLaughlin!
Probably, definitely, Michelle Obama.
My older sister.
Anna Hall, I’m kind of obsessed with her. Only a little though.
To soak everything in and perform to my potential! The awards, marks and times will come with consistency and confidence as the season goes.
A super long list of things like location, campus, team vibe, coaches, the academics of the school etc. But what sold me was the feeling of being at home on my official. No matter what the other schools had to offer, that feeling only comes once for one school and it’s important to listen to it!
My heart was with Harvard’s program pretty fast but I also seriously considered Cal Berkley, Vanderbilt and Stanford.
I want to major in biology with a focus in pre med!
I can’t imagine being 23 but hopefully I’ll have survived the MCAT and I’m headed to med school, we’ll see how life goes though.
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