Marissa Flim captured gold medals in both the Mercer County and Group III Indoor Championships. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
Marissa Flim did not start running track until her freshman year at Hamilton West, but her competitive juices were flowing long before that.
“When I was little, I always wanted to race everyone in my neighborhood,” Flim said. “I did everything fast, from walking to talking to running.”
By the time she got to high school, Flim found a way to channel that energy in a positive way: she decided to become a sprinter for the Hornets. There was no indoor track and field for Hamilton Township schools during her first two years and she spent two outdoor seasons learning just how much work needed to be done under the tutelage of then-sprints coach Danielle Grady (who will take over as head girls’ outdoor coach this spring).
“I told her how I loved to run, and she’s the reason why I got this far today and the reason why I got interested in running high school track,” said Flim, who enjoyed an outstanding winter season. “She told me how much fun it would be and that I would never regret it.”
Since then, Flim has made her mark. This year, as a senior, she advanced to the indoor Meet of Champions in the 55-meter dash, an event that was to be held after press time.
Those first two years were not all fun however, as Flim immediately began to see that racing was much more than just running.
“I did not know anything, or that it would be this hard,” she said. “My coach was hard on me and had me in the weight room every day. I did not know what to expect, the only thing I was hoping was it would pay off. She told me she wanted me to be a captain and the anchor for my relay team and then I knew I had to do what I had to do, just so things can pay off. I learned a lot of things, including my starts, form and how to pump and get out, which made me so much better now.”
How much better is she? Let the stats do the talking.
As a junior, Flim placed in both the indoor meet in the 55 meters and the outdoor meet in the 100 meters in the Central Jersey Group III meet. This winter in the 55, she won gold medals in the Mercer County Indoor Championships and the NJSIAA Group III Championships. She finished third in the CJ III meet, mostly due to a mental roadblock from lack of blocks.
“Marissa had the fastest time for girls in Group III coming into sectionals,” Hornets’ winter coach Justin Kloc said. “The only difference was that we did not know we weren’t allowed to use blocks for the start. That mentally kind of messed with Marissa. She was able to move on, but slipped out of the start and took third. I was actually very surprised she did not win sectionals.”
Flim expressed the same concern about the blocks.
“At CJ Three, I was overthinking how I was going to run the race since I’m not used to not using blocks,” she said. “I let my conscience get to me, and it made me nervous. My first step, I did not get out like I normally do, which cost me the race.”
And in the 55, a bad first step can be a killer since there is literally no margin for error in such a short race.
Still, despite not running to her full potential, Flim was undaunted heading into the Groups.
“My feelings were to come back stronger, since I already knew we could not use blocks,” she said. “I was mentally and physically determined to win. I was more confident that I could stay on top, as long as I got out for my first step, which I did, and I kept it until the end of the race.”
Kloc felt Flim would win.
“With NJ Milesplit (a track & field website) you know every girl’s time, and I knew Marissa was the fastest girl,” he said. “Once again, she was not able to use blocks but she was prepared this time and had a much better start.”
Flim finished with a time of 7.30 to edge Neptune’s Phyllis Gordon—who won CJ III—by a scant four-hundredths of a second.
In the preliminaries, she won her heat in 7.37, which was the fastest time of the three prelim heats. Both athlete and coach felt that carried over into the final.
“It proved to her that she could run without blocks,” Kloc said. “And it only helped her confidence going into the finals.”
Flim said the solid prelim race made the finals much easier.
“I knew that if I ran hard in prelims, finals would be a breeze for me,” she said. “I’m always trying to drop my time every single time I run. When I get on the line, I just want to be better than who’s ever next to me.”
Flim’s time in the CJ III finals was one-hundredth of a second faster than her winning time in the Mercer County meet, in which she defeated Trenton speedster Breasia Sollomon. Despite the fact that of the eight finalists in the county meet, two were from private schools and the other five were from Group IV schools, Flim put a little more importance on the Group III victory because it meant she advanced to her first Meet of Champions.
“It’s the same feeling to me to be the best in Mercer County and the best in my group, but if I had to choose between the two, I would say Groups means more to me,” she said. “Every time I succeed in something (in states) it’s another chance for me to do better. I feel as Groups means more to me only because it makes me stand out more, since it’s another step closer to something I didn’t achieve yet.”
The Meet of Champions was held on Feb. 21 and Kloc was confident Flim would be able to place. Regardless of how things turned out, the coach can’t say enough good things about how she has advanced as a sprinter.
“She is very serious about track,” the coach said. “She has been with the program since freshman year and has been instrumental in turning the girls’ program around. Marissa will run track in college and we are currently trying to find the best fit for her.”
Prior to that, however, there is one more track season to enjoy.
“I’m more than fired up for the spring season,” Flim said. “Not only because it’s my last year but because I won Mercer County and Group Three in the 55, so I have set high standards for the 100 and 200 come time for the (outdoor) counties. I also have had a lot of colleges email me and talk to me about track and scholarships. I’m just trying to get to the bottom of it and decide where I want to sign and what’s the best fit for me.”
As long as it’s a place she can run, it will be a good fit. It’s been like that since she was a kid.
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