Grace Dwyer has won a gazillion individual gold medals and set a trillion records over her spectacular high school career, or so it seems. But the Nottingham senior distance runner finally got something just as special this year that she was able to share with her entire team.
With an 8-1 dual meet record, the Northstars girls’ track and field team won the third Colonial Valley Conference Valley Division championship in program history—the first since 2010, when Dwyer was still in middle school. In doing so, the girls set the Northstars’ record for victories in a girls’ track season.
“Setting the school record is right up there with my individual accomplishments,” Dwyer said. “It is awesome to see the team work together to get the wins. Everyone is so motivated this year. It is an amazing feeling to have such a great group of girls. I am so proud of every girl on my team. I have so much fun with them at the meets.”
It is the first division crown won under Melissa Persichetti, who was an assistant for the 2010 team. That crew was hit hard by graduation, and the coach built the program back up to respectability while the boys’ team consistenly rolled through undefeated seasons.
“It’s hard every year, being a competitive person,” said Persichetti, who is expecting her first child in June. “It’s hard to go to a meet and the guys are like ‘We win again,’ and then I’m like ‘We lose again,’ It gets to you, eventually.”
Junior thrower Ky’Ara McCray agreed, adding that going to meets is “fun now”—and it’s put a damper on the boys’ trash talk.
“Now that our scores are even, [the boys] really can’t say anything,” she said. “They were supportive, but it’s always a good thing when we’re on an even playing field.”
Between Dwyer (800, 1600, 3200), McCray (shot, discus) and senior Beatrice Robinson (400), this year’s Northstars hold a combined six school records. They also have quality athletes in distance runner Justina Eckhardt, hurdler Sasha Louis, thrower Shaunice Palms and jumpers Madison Diaz, Brianna Radke and Bailey Kiernan.
“Coming into the season, I knew we had a lot of depth in regards to throws and distance,” Persichetti said. “But I was very surprised with the underclassmen. We have a really good freshman class. So they gave us some depth in the hurdles and jumps. Basically, we have the depth we need to be good this year.”
It was a far cry from when Dwyer was a freshman and pretty much the star of the show, along with maybe one or two other strong athletes.
“[In 2010] we lost a lot of seniors, and it’s just like any other program; sometimes you’re starting from scratch and you have to grow and develop them,” said Persichetti, who took over as head coach in 2011. “Right now, we have a lot of seniors stepping up. We have a little bit of everything, and the upperclassmen are really leading that.”
Due to her quiet personality, Dwyer wasn’t gung-ho on recruiting girls out of the hallways. But once someone joined the team, Dwyer was the first to support her, and is still doing so now.
“She’s very important,” said Robinson, who did not come out until her junior year. “She kind of just gave us a motivation. We all had this thing, ‘If Grace can do it, we can do it.’ We had this thought like ‘What would Grace do?’ It helps us push ourselves too.”
McCray agreed.
“She’s always been the positive one in the group,” she said. “She’s always there when we need a pep talk before a race. She’s always held us together.”
Dwyer done that from the start, but didn’t have as much talent around her to make a difference.
The Northstars first thought this could be a special year, ironically enough, in their only loss this season. That came on opening day when a standout Lawrence team won a meet that came down to the 4×400 relay.
“They were hungry to win, and they started to believe, ‘Hey, we’re just as strong as a team [as] Lawrence,’ who’s getting stronger every year,” Persichetti said. “We were very pumped up when we got to that 4×400. It was very discouraging and emotional when they lost, but at the same time they saw how good we can be because Lawrence is a really tough team.”
They never lost again, and followed their record-setting season with a fourth-place finish in the Mercer County meet. The Stars were seven points behind third-place Hamilton West, with West Windsor-Plainsboro South and Lawrence taking 1-2.
Dwyer, who won the MCT 3200 and placed second in the 1600, said she had a feeling her goal of finishing the season with a team banner hanging in the gym would be accomplished within the first few meets. Robinson had a similar inkling.
“Starting out from the beginning of preseason we were so into it trying to prove ourselves,” Robinson said. “I kind of knew we would have a strong team.”
And Robinson’s emergence has been one of the huge difference-makers. She finished second in the 400 hurdles at the MCT after breaking the school record at 58.3 earlier this season.
“I was really excited,” Robinson said. “They all kind of knew I was going to do it since last year but I wasn’t really sure of myself. But Persichetti encouraged me and just coached me so well.”
Robinson started high school on the softball team but, because of her speed, was encouraged by the coaches to go out for track. It turned out to be the right move, and she now wishes she started a bit earlier. Persechetti called Robinson’s presence “phenomenal,” noting that she contributes 20 points to the team’s total most meets. She often places first in the 100, 200 and 400, and she also runs the 4×400.
Another difference maker has been Eckhardt, who improved vastly in the fall when Dwyer missed the cross country season due to injury. The senior was the team’s MVP and has carried her confidence into the track season.
“Justina has stepped up tremendously,” Persichetti said. “She ran a 5:41 in the mile and I believe last year her personal best was a low six. She’s been just shedding time. This year she did winter track. When we’re out here doing workouts she’s tagging behind Grace, really pushing herself and it definitely paid off in the meets.”
In mid-May, Persichetti did not feel Nottingham will threaten for a team title in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III meet May 27-28, but she hoped for plenty of individual success. Some of those expectations are for McCray, who broke both her school records in the shot (115-2) and discus (39-1) this season. She won the discus and took third in the shot at MCTs.
Like Dwyer, McCray was an individual standout who is now thrilled to be part of an outstanding group.
“I feel like this year we really came together as a team,” she said. “That’s the key reason why we really won. We’re always there cheering each other on and we’re always there for support, even if it was a bad race or bad throw. Even in winter track we always talked about it, how this was our year. How we had a really strong person in every event. We thought it was either all or nothing this year.”
And so they settled for all.
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