When Lauren arrived at Drew from her home in Atlanta, Georgia, she had already been swimming competitively for 11 years. At age 13, she took a break from year-round swimming, but continued to compete with her high-school swim teams, first in Atlanta and then, in her last two years, at The Westtown School in Westtown, Pennsylvania. She chose Drew not only for its small liberal arts community and its proximity to New York City, but also for its brand-new swim program: she wanted to be a part of the program Coach Pat Mead was building.
Lauren fulfilled her desire to be part of Drew's swim team for four years, and the new program gained a stellar swimmer. At the time of her induction, she held the Drew record in 10 events: 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, and 1650-yard freestyle, 100 and 200-yard butterfly, and 200 and 400-yard individual medley. She qualified for the NCAA National Championships all four years in 10 different events and was named an NCAA All-American five times.
At the conference level, Jarrell was a 13-time Middle Atlantic Conference champion in nine different events, covering all distances of the butterfly, freestyle and individual medley races. Twice she received the David B. Eavenson Award as the MAC’s most outstanding female swimmer.
Jarrell’s success was in her diversity, qualifying to swim at the NCAA championships in a myriad of events throughout her four years: 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1650-yard freestyle, 100 and 200-yard butterfly, 200 and 400-yard individual medley.
