Three athletes from the Bromfield girls track team, senior Chloe Alfieri, sophomore Sam Schoenberg, and freshman Claire Stoddard, competed at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor meet June 15, 16, and 17 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Alfieri placed 13th in the 200-meter emerging elite preliminary with a time of 24.63 seconds. Schoenberg placed 16th in the high jump emerging elite final with a height of 5 feet 3 inches. She competed in the emerging elite event despite qualifying for the championship event. According to the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation website, the emerging elite events are intended for athletes who are developing the skills for the championship division. There are different qualifying standards for emerging elite and championship events. Freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior athletes who qualify are able to compete in emerging elite events. Stoddard placed 33rd in the long jump freshman final with a distance of 15 feet 7.5 inches.
Coach Jonathan Route said that this year was the first since he began coaching at Bromfield, first as an assistant coach and now as head coach, that girls have competed at the New Balance nationals. The last Bromfield track athlete to compete at nationals was Nick Steele in 2016. “The qualifying standards for nationals are very high and only the premier athletes achieve those standards,” Route said. “So to have two underclassmen make it was huge for our program … both Sam and Claire were injured for the majority of the season and battled a lot of pain through the end of the season, so for them to continue their season all the way to nationals was even more impressive.”
Stoddard and Schoenberg were both enthusiastic about their experiences at the meet. “The experience was incredible,” Stoddard said. “It was such a big event that I was grateful to even attend; there were so many amazing athletes at that meet, so I was honored just to qualify. We didn’t realize that I qualified until a few days before the competition, so it was a little hectic to figure everything out, but I’m happy I did.”
Similarly, Schoenberg said, “Nationals for me was a great experience. It’s always good to be exposed to higher level competition from girls from all over the country.”
Both girls said the meet was a tremendous learning experience. Schoenberg expanded on this and her decision to compete in emerging elite rather than as a championship competitor: “Going into the meet I had a lot more confidence, which is a big part of competing for me. Also, championship opened at a higher height than I’m used to, and my biggest fear would be to make the trip all the way there and no height. When making the decision of which to do, I kept in mind that I have two more years to go to this meet, and getting the initial exposure to the atmosphere of a national meet would be more enjoyable if I felt more competitive.”
Success factors
Stoddard and Schoenberg both had ongoing injuries throughout the season, and the girls have since healed or are continuing to work through them.
Many factors contributed to the team’s success this season, and also to individual successes. Schoenberg said these included a supportive and tight-knit team as well as lots of hard work. “However, the biggest factor playing into the success of this season was our amazing coaches,” she said. “I cannot stress enough how much dedication our coaches have to the sport and team. The time and energy they put into helping everyone individually reach our full potential is crazy. Personally, I can fully attribute all of my improvement this year in high jump to Coach [Greg] Bourque, who helped me throughout indoor track, too. He, along with the head coach, Mr. Route, drove the 12 hours through the night to get to nationals in North Carolina to support two other teammates and myself. Coach [Ellis] Toll also plays a crucial part in the success of the distance team as well as the middle school team, which will one day make up the high school team. I am looking forward to more years doing track at Bromfield, especially knowing that the coaches are putting in equal if not more effort than we are as athletes to make us better.”
Coach Route reflected on this very successful season, saying, “The goal for 2018 was to win a fourth straight Division 2 title, which we did. Shocking just about everyone at the Division 1 all-state meet was just a bonus. New Englands and nationals were well beyond our expectations.” And he has high hopes for next season: “We head into the 2019 season with a goal of our fifth Division 2 title, and anything beyond that will be a bonus. I firmly believe we will be making the trip to nationals again, though. These girls have tremendous drive and heart, and they set their goals high.”
Fiona Morrison is a Bromfield sophomore.
