Karen Pearce was a member of the 1986 state championship team both indoors and outdoors. As a freshman she did OK but nothing really spectacular. While Melody Johnson was scoring 168 points for a freshman record and Kelly Magnan was scoring 78, Karen was chipping in with 23. She had a best of 14’6 in the long jump and was an adequate sprinter. By sophomore year she increased the total to 64 but still not among the leaders. But Karen was always a hard worker and came to practice with a smile everyday.
Suddenly junior year something happened. Since her speed would still always keep her at least a little bit behind Melody, I had her start to learn the hurdles. After a few weeks of practice it appeared she would do all right but nothing earth shattering. And then it happened.
One day at practice she learned how to attack the hurdles. This became the event where she could let her intensity come out. By the end of the indoor season she was the best in the Hockomock and became a state level competitor. Outdoors she kicked it into high gear scoring over three times as many points as the year before (198).
Senior year was storybook. Besides a school and Hockomock League record she captured the state hurdle championship with a state record time and also won the Class C high jump title. Outdoors she set school records in the long jump, 100MH and 4X100M. Those last two events she won at the state finals in state record time. She was a huge reason NA won the state championship both indoors and outdoors.
She finished her senior year with 281.25 points, which is still North Attleboro’s single season scoring record. A heel bruise from triple jumping may be the only thing that kept her from going over 300 points as it hampered her late season jumping.
But my favorite practice was indoors preparing for the state meet. She would be the last person working and we would spend an extra half hour working trying to get her lead leg down just one inch closer to the hurdle. That is how driven she was. One inch, if we could only get one more inch. I could have said “Karen, 50 more tries” and she wouldn’t blink an eye.
Her improvement from freshman year to senior year was the greatest of any athlete I’ve ever coached. She had all the right tools physically, but when combined with her intellect and intensity it produced performances that still haven’t been matched. And when she came in as a freshman we didn’t know.
She taught me never to make predictions based on freshman year. Never guess! Let the athlete prove himself or herself over four years and there will always be surprises.