Julie Alexander
HVC graduate Clare Buck will run distance for Columbia in the NCAA Championships.
Four years ago, two runners concluded their careers at Hopewell Valley with a laundry list of accomplishments.
County champions, Group II champions, state champions. You name it and Julie Alexander and Clare Buck helped put the Hopewell Valley stamp on it.
“They were basically the grand slam for us and everything they touched turned to gold,” Hopewell Valley head coach Aaron Oldfield said. “They were the epitome of what you look for in an athlete.”
And that Midas touch is exactly what drew the eye of Columbia University as they secured the commitments of both runners back in 2009.
With only the NCAA Championships to go though, Alexander, who runs sprints and hurdles, and Buck, who runs distance, will now also bid ado to Columbia as well. Although their college careers haven’t been as illustrious as their high school years, both runners have been steady and shown improvements, both on the track and in the classroom.
Buck put her name all over the Mercer County record book during her high school career. Since getting to college, she said she has increased her mileage from high school, adding longer runs and workouts to build strength. She posted her best race at Columbia during her junior year as she placed 9th at the Ivy League Championship in 3,000-meter run in 2011.
“(The race) was run at Princeton during a snowstorm right before Halloween in 2011,” Buck, who made second team all-Ivy League that year, recalled. “It was freezing and there was snow in my eyelashes so I had my eyes half shut the entire time. It ended up being my best Ivy League Championship finish though.”
Buck also ran the mile, 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters during her time at Columbia, while Alexander competed in the 400 and 500 runs as well as 60 and 400 hurdles.
As the conclusion of the pair’s careers looms on the horizon, Oldfield couldn’t help but gush over his two former athletes, who he says always put the Bulldogs goals ahead of their own.
“They were both team performers first,” Oldfield said. “They both competed in three or four events every meet instead of focusing on one event and running a (personal record). They did the maximum number of events to score the maximum amount of points for the team.”
And that selflessness was captured during their senior year back in 2009 as they helped guide Hopewell Valley to the Group II indoor state title – at the time, it was the school’s sixth indoor title, which tied a state record.
Alexander competed in three events that day, including a first-place finish in the 400 meter, setting a meet record with a time of 56.90. Buck also broke a meet record that day, winning the 1,600 with a time of 5:03.45.
“They were able to basically carry the team on their backs and the whole team fed off of their performances and it just contributed to a very strong lineup, up and down the board,” Oldfield said.
Buck countered the compliment though, saying that the past history of the school and the team is what propelled their team to train harder and run faster in 2009 to reach the glory of a state championship.
“(Julie and I) both came in as freshman onto a track team that was in the middle of achieving an extremely high level of success at the state level,” Buck said. “Since the expectations for a team title were so high, naturally that is what we looked to as something we wanted to contribute to and carry on for our four years in high school.”
Despite an initial oddity of watching Alexander and Buck run for Columbia, Oldfield couldn’t help but share pride in what his two former runners have done with their time in New York City.
“It’s always weird any time you have athletes that ran for you in high school in a different uniform, a different color,” Oldfield said. “There’s always the initial reaction of ‘Whao, they’re not wearing the Hopewell singlet,’ but then again you’re so proud of them; all the hard work they put in on the track and in the classroom.”
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