Rai Benjamin, who is competing in the first round of the 400m hurdles at the Paris Olympics Monday, August 5, 2024, began his career as a freshman in Mount Vernon High School’s elite track program during the spring of 2012. Originally a football player, Benjamin quickly found a drive to be the best hurdler during his first year in track as a freshman.
The MVHS track and field program, led by Head Coach Marcus Green and assistant coaches Adrian Rosario and Chris Malcolm, had repeated success prior to Benjamin joining the team. There were so many talented sprinters on the MVHS team during his freshman year, so they tried him out on the hurdles because of his speed and height. He took off from there and became a superstar.
“He was extremely willing to listen, he was a very coachable kid,” said Green.
Benjamin was unable to practice hurdles during stretches of time at MVHS due to a nagging injury to his back. His coaches were cognizant of that, and he only did sprint training most practices. They would go off to the side and do hurdle drills very rarely. Management of his workload was different because his coaches wanted to set him up for success in the future and not impact his career.
“Our goal was and remained to get these kids to college and get these kids beyond,” said Green. “What we did in high school was all geared towards them going to the next level. We had extreme success, and I don’t discount our success, but that really wasn't what it was about. Our goal was strictly to get them to the next level and into school.”
Some of the prior success stories included Steven Gayle, a runner on the Jamaican National Team, and Michael Blake, who was also a superstar runner and ran collegiately. Over the -course of five years in Coach Green’s tenure, Mount Vernon had a state champion each year and winners of events at nationals during at least three out of five years.
The training regimen was structured to push students towards success athletically, academically and socially. The mock-contract they signed required the students to uphold a 2.5 GPA, which was higher than the 2.0 eligibility requirements. They also agreed to conduct themselves in certain ways and attend class regularly.
Track and field students had mandatory study halls before practice every day, and they lifted weights before school three days a week. The athletes also practiced public speaking, so they would be ready if they needed to talk to reporters.
Rai won indoor nationals in 2015 and took it upon himself to represent the track team and advocate for them to go to the Arcadia Invitational in California and compete against the best athletes and in front of the best colleges. He spoke at a Board of Education meeting and convinced them to allow the team to travel to the meet. He met UCLA coaches and other coaches on the trip, and he and several other students ended up going to college in California. Very early in his career, his ability to speak publicly paid off for him.
The entire team benefited from the tight knight nature of the team. Not all students had the success athletically that he had, but they all had success.
“To this day they are all very tight,” said Green. “They are tighter than me and them. I don’t think there’s one student that ran for us that is not doing well in something. One is running a bank, one is a lawyer, one creates video games, one bought bitcoin before it became major, and they’re all from Mount Vernon and went through the Mount Vernon City School District!”
Rai received a silver medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. He also won gold in the 4x400 relay.
“He is self-driven, his self-determination is amazing,” said Green “They’re going to have a hard time with him in the next couple of days.”