Last Autumn, when Mercer County and the state of New Jersey was discovering the phenomenal Grace Dwyer at Nottingham High School, another Northstar runner was flying just below the radar.
But not anymore.
Dwyer, of course, won the county and Central Jersey Group III meets, and finished eighth in the Meet of Champions as a freshman.
Zach Helm barely made a ripple beyond Nottingham in any major meets as a senior.
But this September, Helm became a member of the perennially successful Rowan University cross country team after quietly bringing down his time with massive amounts of training over the summer. Because he had improved during spring track last year, Helm decided to commit himself to running. Although he was not recruited by the Profs, assistant coach Eric DuBois coaxed Helm to come out for the team.
“We didn’t really have tryouts, but we did have a time trial,” Helm said. “We weren’t given a set time, but (head coach Bill Fritz) wanted us to break 17 minutes.”
The time trial was a 5K run, the same distance as a high school cross country course. Helm’s fastest time in high school was 17:55. During the Rowan time trial, he ran 16:02 and finished sixth overall on the team.
“I became pretty amazed with how I did,” Helm said. “But in college we run an 8K (around five miles) so we’ll see how that goes. Plus, not all the guys were there.”
Nonetheless, Helm’s improvement over the past year has been impressive. His progress over the last four years is downright eye-popping.
“Zach Helm is what high school sports is supposed to be about…using a sport to develop positive character traits that can be applied throughout the rest of one’s life,” said Nottingham vice-principal Mike Walsh, who was Helm’s cross country coach during his first three years.
Walsh said Helm joined the Nottingham cross-country team as a freshman and could barely finish a mile.
“He fought through aches and pains the entire season and never asked off of a run, no matter how painful it looked, while he was running,” Walsh said. “He went from not being able to finish a mile to running 25:51 at Thompson Park in the Group Three Central sectional.”
Walsh noted that Helm cut five minutes off that time when he came back as a sophomore, running a 20:45 at Veterans Park. But Zach wanted to break 20 minutes and was disappointed with the season. As a junior, he came back to break 19 minutes five times at Veterans Park, and continued to improve last year when Melissa Foley took over as coach. He was team captain, the boys’ Most Valuable Runner and got into the high 17’s several times as a senior.
“He was extremely hardworking and dedicated,” Foley said. “Throughout the season Zack developed into a strong, competitive runner. He finished every race strong and wanting more.
“During this time, I believe Zach started to realize how much potential he had. After cross country season, he committed to working out over the winter. He went on to have a tremendous spring track season. This summer, I saw Zach numerous times running through Hamilton.”
If you lived in Hamilton and went outside, even for an hour, it was hard not to see Helm running, as his training was arduous. He put in 50 to 60 miles of road work and lifted five to six times a week, rode his bike 10 miles a day and did two to three speed workouts each week.
“I would run around the streets, go from (Mercer County) park to (Veterans) park,” the Mercerville resident said. “I would also run into West Windsor and Lawrence and basically just run in whatever direction I felt like. It was definitely the highest intensity of training I’ve done.
“I mostly followed what my high school coaches told me, but I just put in more work, did more distance and stuff.”
He also felt the weight training helped significantly.
“Most of the added speed I’ve gotten is from weight training,” he said. “I went through books and stuff on the internet. Your back and core muscles add a lot of speed to running so I focused on them.”
It is impressive how far Helm has come, considering he started running just to get away from things like PlayStation 2.
“I virtually got involved in cross country to try get in shape,” he said. “I basically did nothing in middle school but play video games.”
Once he got in shape, the goals became bigger.
“I thought about college sometimes,” Helm said. “But not really a lot. I didn’t want to do it until the end of my senior year. I decided then that I became fast enough to run. When I saw (DuBois) at orientation I talked to him, and he talked me into going out for the team.
“This is a pretty big deal for me, running in college.”
As well it should be. Helm joins a Profs team that’s loaded with talent, including Yardville resident and Notre Dame High grad Jon Sewnig, who won last year’s Collegiate Track Conference Championships, finished second in the New Jersey Athletic Conference meet and took 13th in the NCAA Division III Atlantic Regionals.
As a team last year, the Profs won the CTC championship, took second place at the NJAC meet and third in the Atlantic Regional.
Several veterans return, while Helm is one of five newcomers, and one of only two singled out by Fritz, who noted on the Profs website that “Zach looked fantastic in the time trial and (transfer) Joe (Capolino) is a very good runner. We will see if the newcomers have an impact. “
Helm is being challenged at practice by a bevy of talented runners, but is keeping his goals simple for his first season.
“These guys are pushing me harder than I usually push myself, which helps me in the long run,” Helm said. “My goal right now is to break 27 and a half minutes for the 8K course, and basically I want to sort of get used to the distance and figure out where my strengths are and everything like that.”
If hard work counts for anything, that should happen.
“As a coach, it is so rewarding to witness an athlete develop and compete at the next level,” Foley said. “I am so proud of Zach and wish him the best in his running career at Rowan.”
“Zach is a testament to the phrase ‘Success is not common; thus, it won’t be enjoyed by the common man,’” Walsh said. “There is nothing common about Zach Helm, he is one of the hardest workers I have ever coached.”
And that hard work has paid off in ways Helm never thought possible when he was playing video games.
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