Arafat Jama ’27 only started running one year ago when a cross country coach in his hometown of Sanaag, Somalia spotted him during a soccer game and urged him to join the cross country team. Now, he is running for Deerfield’s Boys Varsity Cross Country team. At the team’s home opener on September 16, Jama broke the school record for the boys’ 3K race, running it in 9 minutes and 35 seconds.
Jama broke the previous record by 1 minute and 3 seconds; the previous record of 10 minutes and 38 seconds was set by Aiden Van Epps ’25 last year.
According to Oliver Peruzzi ’26, Jama established a margin within the first 30 seconds. Peruzzi said, “Right from the gun, he just took off.”
Before enrolling at Deerfield, Jama was invited to the National Running Championship in
Somalia, where he ranked third in the 1500m race and fifth in the 500m race. Jama said that training conditions at Deerfield are much more favorable than at home.
“The altitude was much higher in Somalia, we did not have tracks or courses to run on, and the conditions were much hotter than at Deerfield,” he said. “The coaches have helped me a lot, and we have much better facilities here than back home.”
Averaging an estimated time of 5 minutes and 21 seconds per mile during the 3k race, Jama is already one of Deerfield’s fastest students, even as a 9th grader. English Teacher and Boys Varsity Cross Country Coach Sam Morris said, “It’s also notable that Oliver Peruzzi ’26 also broke the record [with a time of 10:33], but Arafat got there first,” highlighting the accomplishments of his other students.
Mr. Morris hopes that Jama’s competitive success comes along with a worthwhile experience on campus. “He’s really, really talented, and my hope is that he just enjoys himself on the team, gets to know the school, so he can feel comfortable at Deerfield,” he said.
Jama has an impressive family connection to running: his cousin placed in the top three at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Mr. Morris said that Jama has lots of potential in his future: “He’s got a lot of genetic ability, so it will be interesting to see how he moves through the program throughout the four years.”
Peruzzi also said, “I think his impact is going to go further than Deerfield,” when reflecting on what he sees in the future for Jama.
Jama’s competitive success is driven by his mentality during races. “I stayed focused and told myself ‘just sprint’ from the beginning,” he said.
Jama further explained that he tries his best not to think about the people around him so that he can focus on his own time. “You are not competing with anyone; you are just competing with yourself,” he said.
Jama said that hopes to later run at the collegiate level. With four more seasons left in his high school career, Jama looks towards improvement each practice under the guidance of his coaches.