Jared Connaughton

He was the first Prince Edward Island native to win two gold medals at one set of Canada Games and the first gold medalist since 1969.

Jared Connaughton (born July 20, 1985) is a Canadian former track athlete who specialized in the 100m and 200m.

He is now a physical education cross country, and track and field coach at Fort Worth Country Day in Fort Worth, Texas.

Connaughton was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

He is the son of Susan and Neal Connaughton.

The previous championship record was 20.40 seconds run by Atlee Mahorn in 1986.

Jared is a four time medalist at the Canadian Legion Championships (1 Gold, 3 Silver), he also won two silver medals at the 2002 Canadian Junior championships in Kitchener, Ontario.

Jared participated in youth soccer for the Elliot River club and hockey for the North River Hockey Association.

Connaughton attended The University of Texas at Arlington, which at the time was part of the Southland Conference.

He attended Bluefield High School and graduated in the spring of 2003.

Later in the 200 m final, Connaughton set a new championship meet record with a time of 21.57 seconds at the 200 meter flat track at the University of Houston, breaking the previous record set by JD Henry of Northwestern State in 2005 with a time of 21.64 seconds.

Connaughton later went on to compete in the 60 m dash at the NCAA indoor championship meet at the University of Arkansas and finished with a time of 6.78 seconds.

Connaughton was victorious in both the 100 m and 200 m events at the 2005 Canada Summer Games in August 2005.

The Canada Games were hosted by Regina, Saskatchewan.

He was named the 2006 Southland Conference Track and Field athlete of the year both indoors and outdoors.

In the 60 m semifinal at the Southland Conference indoor championships, he set a new meet and conference record of 6.68 seconds.

In the final, he stumbled badly and was defeated by Ravyn Hayward of Northwestern State University 6.80 seconds to 6.85 seconds.

In the 2006 outdoor season, Connaughton ran a time of 20.59 (2.1w) seconds at the Arlington Invitational.

He then ran a season and personal best of 10.28 (1.7w) seconds at the Texas Christian University Invitational in early May.

He finished 3rd in the 200 m at the Drake Relays with a time of 21.10 into a headwind of 1.1 m/s behind World and Olympic Champion Jeremy Wariner and Jamaican Ricardo Williams.

Connaughton won both the 100 m and 200 m at the Southland Conference championships with times of 10.33 seconds and 20.90 seconds, and was named outstanding athlete of the year in the Southland Conference.

Later at the NCAA Mid-West Regional Championships, Connaughton ran to a new personal best in the 200 m with a time of 20.70 seconds (1.9w).

In the final, he finished 3rd with a wind aided time of 20.67 seconds behind Churandy Martina of UTEP and Carey Lacour of the University of Houston.

He competed at the NCAA Championships in Sacramento, California, and ran a time of 21.27 seconds (−1.7w).

Connaughton competed for the Team Canada at the 2006 NACAC U-23 championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Jared was his team's high point scorer (20) at the 2007 Southland Conference Championship, leading his team to a team title, the school's first outdoor championships since the 1997 season.

Jared received a B.A from the University of Texas-Arlington in 2008.

He is married to fellow University of Texas-Arlington athlete, Tamesha (nee Graves).

Connaughton is the 2008 Canadian National Champion in the 200 m sprint with a championship record and personal best time of 20.34 (+0.4 m/s) seconds.

He achieved this on July 6, 2008, in Windsor, Ontario.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Connaughton competed in the 200 m and 4 × 100 m relay for Canada.

At the 2009 Canadian Championships in Toronto, Ontario Jared won a bronze medal in the 100m and a silver in the 200m.

Later that season he went on to represent Canada at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin, Germany competing in the 200m and as a member of the 4x100m relay team.

He finished 8th in the 100 m and in the bronze medal spot in the 200 m. After suffering a lower abdominal strain, he went on to finish 2nd at the Canadian Championship meet hosted by Ottawa.

He ran to a time of 21.07 in the semifinal and 21.16 seconds in the final behind Bryan Barnett of Edmonton, who ran to a personal best of 20.70 seconds.

They were wed in December 2011.

The couple have two children, Morgan 5 and Louis 3.

Junior Career:

In 2013, Jared was named as one of the 50 greatest Southland Conference track and field athletes.

His team placed 6th in the relay finals, and Connaughton placed 14th in the 200 m semifinal competition.