Benjamin Jerome Mack Cartwright Jr. (affectionately known as BJ) is 8 years old, and while he is still too young to compete in the Paris Summer Olympics, the Canarsie boy recently won three medals at the Junior Olympics in Texas last week.
BJ attends Canarsie Ascend Lower School, at 9719 Flatlands Avenue. An honor roll student, BJ will be entering the 3rd grade in the fall.
The Canarsie athlete loves soccer but started running track when his soccer coach left. His grandfather always wanted him to run track, and a friend introduced him to Tabatha Gibbs, a coach with the Dashing Dons and Divas.
BJ’s family always knew that he was a runner; his mother said that he took two steps after learning to walk and then took off running! He was a little resistant at first because he loves soccer, and he didn’t want to run track. He also didn’t like going to practice, but all that changed once he started going to track meets.
The Jr. Olympian started training in September 2023 and had his first meet in December 2023 at the Speed Capital New York Invitational at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, where he came in 1st place in the 60 meter dash with a time of 9.84 seconds. He came in 2nd in the 200 meter dash, at 35.61 seconds.
Since his victory at Ocean Breeze, BJ set a stadium record, at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island, for boys, age 8 and under, for the 100 meter dash with a time of 13.89 seconds.
BJ set two new Personal Records (PR) for the 100 meter dash on the same day at the USATF Junior Olympic Championships in Texas! During the semifinals, he clocked in at 13.84 seconds and in the finals he had a time of 13.71 seconds and came in second, winning a silver medal.
In the 200 meter dash, he matched his previous PR of 29.01 seconds and came in first, winning a gold medal!
He also won the silver medal for the long jump with a jump of 4.06 meters.
BJ was also featured on the Icahn Stadium website as well as the USATF and USATF New York Instagram pages.
On Monday, the Jr. Olympian paid a visit to Councilwoman Mercedes Narcisse’s Office, where he was presented with a City Council Citation for his accomplishments.
Congratulations, Jr. Olympian Benjamin Jerome Mack Cartwright Jr.!
