When she’s not running or kicking a ball, Meghan Farell is doing … well, something!
By: Carolyn M. Hartko
While soccer may be Meghan Farrell’s primary sport, track seems like a better metaphor for her lifestyle. This senior scholar-athlete at Monroe Township High School is constantly on the go, from classes to clubs to sports meets and practices.
Farrell is secretary of Monroe’s Student Council, and active with Key Club, Model U.N., the National Honor Society, National Arts Honor Society and the Environmental Club. The latter group is about to begin a study of the stream in Thompson Park for the state of New Jersey.
"It sounds pretty interesting, but we haven’t started it yet," Farrell said. "We’re going to go back there in Thompson Park and monitor the water for the state. We’re going to get trained for that later on in the month."
Versatility seems to be Farrell’s middle name. Although she’s narrowed down her choices of colleges to Lafayette and Moravian in Pennsylvania and Ramapo in NJ, she hasn’t decided on a major yet. Her favorite high school subjects have been calculus and languages, two areas on the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to picking college courses.
As with any high school athlete, juggling school work, clubs and practices doesn’t leave much time for anything else, but Farrell tries to fit in time to listen to music, read a book, or see a movie. She saw Gangs of New York this past weekend, and liked it a lot. But she hasn’t let herself see episode two in The Lord of the Rings trilogy yet.
"I’m just reading that book (The Two Towers) now," Farrell said. "I have this thing: I won’t see a movie if it’s a book until I read the book first. So, I’m reading the book so I can go see the movie soon."
Farrell’s wide range of interests has extended to the track program. As a freshman, she started out as a distance runner. But now she’s one of the athletes her coach can count on for points in almost any event except throwing.
"Meghan’s a very interesting kid," head Falcon track coach Lew Stonaker said. "She could probably run every event from the 100 up to the 3200. But her strongest events (on the track) I would think are the 800 and 1600. She also high jumps and long jumps for me. She has very good speed."
After posting a 1:02 in the 400 this month, Farrell would add the 400-meter race to her list of top events as well. She runs a 5:39 1600, and recently got down to 2:30 in the 800. It’s her 800 time that makes her a key member of several relay teams. With her partners on those squads, Farrell currently holds school records in the 4×800, distance medley, sprint medley, and the 4×200.
"I probably like the 400 best," Farrell said. "I don’t get to run it enough, but I think that if I ever concentrated on it, I would really love that race."
Farrell actually took up winter track her first year in high school as a way of keeping in shape for soccer. She fully intended to switch to softball for spring.
"But once I started running and competing, I kind of fell in love with it, and haven’t stopped since," Farrell said. "I like competing in track because it’s really all individual. You have to work yourself, or you’re not going to improve. In other sports, there’s so many other factors like your teammates. You can’t control everything. But in track, if you work hard, you’re going to get better every single time you run. I like being able to control that, and to make myself better."
But even with a team sport, there are some things athletes can take into their own hands. At the age of nine, Farrell decided she’d had it with the local rec soccer program.
"When I first started playing soccer in Monroe, boys and girls played on the same team, and it seemed like I wasn’t actually playing soccer," Farrell said. "The guys always passed to the guys. So, I wanted to go to an all-girls’ league. My uncle was the president of the Old Bridge girls’ soccer league, so I went there and started playing rec there."
When Old Bridge formed a travel team for her age group, Farrell moved to the more competitive squad, and she’s been playing for Old Bridge ever since. Now 17 years old, Farrell plays soccer year- round, including indoor soccer in the winter. She will definitely be playing soccer in college, and may go out for track as well if she ends up at Moravian or Ramapo.
This year marks the end of the Farrell era in Falcon high school sports. Meghan will graduate with 12 varsity letters, four each in soccer, winter and spring track. Two brothers, both of whom played soccer and track, preceded Meghan through Monroe HS. Tim has already graduated from Rutgers, and Brian is currently a sophomore at Drexel University in Pennsylvania where he participates in ROTC and the track club.
Farrell was a captain on the soccer team this past fall, and she’s been a track captain for two years. Her leadership and organizational skills will be missed as much as her athletic ability.
"Meghan’s very dedicated," Stonaker said. "She really seems to enjoy track and field, and she studies it. And she’s really done a nice job of recruiting some good kids for our program, too. She’s a person who brings people along with her."
FOOTPRINTS: This coming Saturday, the Falcons will be at Jadwin Gym in Princeton for the NJSIAA Group III Relay Championships.

