Last year, Reagan Laprade didn’t think it was a possibility she would be competing in track and field after her high school career. She didn’t think she was good enough for the next level.
Now, she can look back and tell her past self how wrong she was. The Quabbin Regional High School senior is committed to Framingham State University and not only is joining the track and field team, but was heavily recruited by the Rams program.
At the beginning of the season, Laprade received an email from the Framingham track and field coach, Mark Johnson. Her initial thought was that it was spam email, just a way for the school to reach out to potential students.
“I saw an email from the Framingham coach, and I ignored it because I was like, ‘This isn’t real, he’s just messing with me, they’re just trying to get me to go there,'” Laprade said.
After several more emails and Johnson’s persistence, Laprade realized it wasn’t just a random email and that the team was interested in her.
Laprade, who stars as a multi-event athlete in the pole vault, 100- and 400-meter hurdles and triple jump (she also competes in pentathlon and heptathlon), began communication with Johnson and participated in an overnight visit with athletes from the team.
That confirmed for her the idea of competing collegiately and she committed to the school and program.
Good thing she finally answered one of those emails.
An intimidating niche
Laprade’s events are what Quabbin track and field coach Jesse Twarog described as “the intimidating events.”
Pole vault, hurdles and triple jump are some of the events that others often shy away from. For Laprade, though, the challenge only fuels her fire even more.
“The thing that stands out for me most is how versatile she is,” Twarog said. “She sort of found this niche to really learn these events and excel at them. You can really see her growth.”
The senior competes in a wide variety of events outside of her own. Twarog threw Laprade into the 100-meter race to find out she was second only to the team’s fastest 100-meter athlete: another versatile Panther and one of Laprade’s training buddies, junior Abi Falconi.
“I love to see improvement and I love to work with other people and run with other people,” Laprade said.
Reaching the next level
Laprade has put in the work to earn her way to the next level, despite her prior thoughts.
Her focus on technical training within her events helped her see major improvements in times this season on hurdles. Working on stepping patterns helped in her smoothness through the event, where in the past she didn’t always strategize the run.
Running alongside the fastest competitors and teammates like Falconi is a big factor in motivation for Laprade. In the past, she found herself wanting to be in the slower heats because she thought she could win them. That mindset did a 180 when she realized if she was alongside faster people, the chances are she will go faster, too.
“This year I’ve focused on getting with people who are faster because even if I come dead last, I know I’m going faster,” Laprade said.
The efforts did indeed help her improve her speed. The future Ram has PR-ed in the 400-meter hurdles every meet this season and has seen her 100-meter hurdles time shave down throughout the year as well.
“She leads by example with her training,” Twarog said of Laprade’s drive. “She sets high goals for herself… she’s the last one at practice most days.”
Laprade is eager to finish out this season strong as she goes on to states for the pole vault and 100-meter hurdles, which she finally qualified for this Wednesday at the Mid-Wach C league meet at Lunenburg.
That hurdles qualification was one she had been seeking out all season, and reaching that goal was a major accomplishment for the senior. Whatever happens from here on out is icing on the cake for Laprade’s successful high school career as she carries into her collegiate career that she once never imagined was possible.
This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Quabbin’s Reagan Laprade to continue track career at Framingham State
