For someone who is so fluid and powerful in the water, and who can do so many other things that take great balance, Maggie Herbert sure has issues just standing on two feet.
The Ramapo College junior and 2014 Steinert High graduate was the New Jersey Athletic Conference Co-Swimmer of the Year last season. She is closing in on the school record in the 50-meter freestyle and has won nearly all her dual meet races so far this season.
She also knows how to ski and ride a surfboard or horse with the same aplomb. If that isn’t enough, she had all her Christmas shopping done by the first week in December.
But get her walking up a flight of stairs or slicing an avocado, and you’ve got trouble.
“I’m a little accident prone,” Herbert said with a laugh.
Last year, near the start of her sophomore season, Herbert and her friends visited an adult playground in Hoboken. As she began to climb some steps, she was unaware of a low-hanging bar and clonked her head.
“I knocked myself out!” she said. “I was like, ‘Whoa, what just happened?’”
What happened was she had a mild concussion and was forced to miss over a week of training. She overcame that, however, and returned to qualify for the NCAA Division III Nationals in the 50.
Herbert discovered a new sensation in pain on Dec. 2. Cutting into an avocado with a serrated knife, she managed to carve part of her finger along with it.
“I passed out, had to go to the hospital, all that fun stuff,” Herbert said. “I had to get five stitches.”
That forced her to miss another week of training, but it never frustrated her or diminished Herbert’s desire to get back in the pool.
“Oh yeah, it’s like being on the farm,” she said. “It’s something I can’t stop doing. It’s something that I will never stop doing.”
Yes, Herbert has been on farms as well, but more on that later.
The bottom line is, she has overcome numerous physical maladies to make herself one of the top sprinters in the NJAC. Herbert’s most serious issue came her sophomore year at Steinert when she underwent knee surgery due the pounding her legs took while playing soccer. She returned to become a top performer on some outstanding Spartan teams before deciding on Ramapo. Some knee pain still bothers her, but it has hardly affected her effort.
As a freshman at Ramapo, Herbert made first-team all-conference on the 200 freestyle relay and 200 and 400 medley relay teams. She was second-team all-conference in the 400 free relay, the 50 free and the 100 free. All five relay teams that she swam for set school records that season, and she swam her fastest 50 time to date, going 22.82 in a relay.
“Maggie is physically gifted with a pure sprinter’s mentality,” Roadrunners coach Gary Orr said. “She trusted and believed in what I do and had a senior, Lauren Keller, who was an NCAA qualifier in Maggie’s freshman year. That enabled her to not have the pressure of being a top swimmer.”
Herbert agreed that Keller’s presence, coupled with an emerging fury in the water, made a difference her first year.
“She gave me motivation to go faster but also to aspire to be someone like her,” Herbert said. “She was a big inspiration. She blew all the records out of the water her senior year.”
Perhaps Herbert inspired Keller?
“Actually, she told me that several times,” Herbert said. “We would bounce things off each other, which is always great.”
She emerged from Keller’s shadow last year. Swimming the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle events along with the 200 free and 200 medley relays, Herbert was a seven-time NJAC Swimmer of the Week and took third in the 50 free at the conference meet and seventh in the 100 free. She shared the Swimmer of the Year award with William Paterson University junior Vera Blazevska, despite the fact Herbert was the lone NJAC women’s swimmer to reach the NCAA nationals.
“Maggie was focused and had a goal of reaching NCAAs after being so close as a freshman,” Orr said. “As far as being co-swimmer last year, that was the vote from the coaches. I can’t control others. But reaching the NCAAs is the highest honor you can reach.”
Herbert didn’t mind being a co-winner, especially after missing time due to her concussion.
“That was awesome,” she said. “It really showed that all my work paid off. Last year was a bit of a rough year training-wise but it all paid off.”
Herbert was on the fringe of the alternates list for NCAAs and had to sweat it out before being chosen.
“I couldn’t believe it at first,” she said. “I was like ‘There’s no way they pick me.’”
Her performance at nationals was somewhat disappointing time-wise, but Herbert felt the trip to the Greensboro Aquatic Center in North Carolina was still a tremendous experience. She had actually swum there before with her club team, although this trip was a little different.
“I didn’t perform to my best when I got there,” Herbert said. “I think I was very overwhelmed and nervous. But training up until that point was great. I was hitting my best times in practice. That almost meant more to me than how I performed when I got there.”
Herbert felt the biggest problem is that she was alone, without teammates to support her.
She leaned on assistant coach David Nehls, who made the trip.
“He’s a really great coach, and I bonded a lot with him,” Herbert said. “He got me to sprint harder and got the most out of me.”
Her time at nationals was 23.66, while her personal best is 23.62 (which is 3/100ths of a second away from her goal of breaking Keller’s school record).
“In a 50, everything can go wrong quick,” she said. “That’s what happened to me. On my start, I didn’t keep my hands together as tight as I would have hoped. They kind of slipped apart before I broke the surface and then I didn’t hit my wall like I should have. I was just like ‘I’ll keep hauling it,’ but when one thing goes wrong; more keeps going wrong it just destroys the race. But it was still a good overall experience.”
Herbert is at the top of her game this year. At mid-December she ranked No. 1 in the NJAC in times in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyles. Her biggest concern is always times, and if that leads to high finishes in races, all the better. Although she did admit to being bummed out about finishing second in one dual meet race this year.
“She just needs to keep working hard,” Orr said. “She looks strong and is headed to another great season. I believe she will once again qualify for the NCAAs (in Shenandoah, Texas) this year.”
Outside the pool, Herbert is majoring in environmental studies and wants to work with animals in “any way, shape or form.” She will be interning at a rescue farm in Mahwah next semester.
During the summer, Herbert works on the aforementioned farm, spending time between her grandmother’s Hopewell Heritage Horse Farms and nearby Duncraven Stables. The Hopewell Township stables provide boarding for show horses, and Herbert is there to take care of them.
“The love of that has never died,” she said. “Horseback riding is great, it helps with my legs, and it’s therapeutic. It’s like more rehab for my knee. It’s something I’ll never stop doing.”
Much like swimming, and Herbert will never let a few injuries get in the way of a passion.
Steinert alumna Maggie Herbert overcame injury last year to represent Ramapo College at the NCAA Division III swimming championships.,
