While he was in middle school, Nasir Camille trained with the Boston Lions Track Club. Then last fall, he ventured out of the den, entered the world of high school track, and the former Lion quickly became the king of the jungle in his class. 

On Sun., Jan. 5, the 14-year-old freshman from Jamaica Plain competed with Snowden International at the 2025 Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association Freshman-Sophomore Championship-Small Schools held at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center. 

He made quite the first impression when he won the Boy’s 300m and set a meet record with a personal record 36.18, a performance that made him the fastest freshman in Massachusetts and the third fastest in the nation in the 300m event.

The meet “kind of shows you people in your class and potentially who you’ll be running within the next two to three years,” said Camille’s high school coach, Nasir Rivera. “It’s an important meet.

“For him to be a freshman, he knows the sports so well. He has very, very high expectations for himself, which I love so much. He holds himself accountable. He called me the night before the meet and told me he was going to beat the meet record.”

Camille’s mother, Liz McLean, knows that part of her son’s success is thanks to Rivera and Boston Lions coach Tomorrow Peeples-Taylor.

“I have to give credit where credit is due,” said McLean. “When Nasir started running, he met Coach Tomorrow at a community event. She saw him and was like, ‘Who is this kid?’” 

Soon after, Camille became a Lion and started training with Peeples-Taylor. Thanks to her, said McLean, when it was time for him to compete at the high school level this year, Camille was more than ready. 

With more meets to come this season, and plenty more in the next three years, many expect Camille to pile up the accolades.

“He has been running in these meets with seniors and juniors and has been placing top six,” said McLean. “He’s just going to keep growing and by the time he’s a senior he’s going to be number one all around.”

Rivera added, “I don’t like to put limits on athletes. I believe you can run as fast as you possibly can if you want to, and you just put in the work.” He believes that by the end of high school Camille will be a state champion and an All-American. After that, college track and maybe one day the Olympics.
While Rivera is just learning about how special Camille is, Peeples-Taylor says she has known that all along.

“It’s so overwhelming and exciting. The crazy thing is although he probably couldn’t see what I saw for him, I knew this was a possibility for him and this is why I trained and pushed so hard because this is exactly what I wanted for him,” said Peeples-Taylor.

“I knew within the four years of high school that he would be able to accomplish some goals but to break records in ninth grade, the first year, that speaks volumes of what hard work, dedication, and commitment do.”