Cougar junior confident after winter track success
By: Justin Feil
Amanda Herrmann enters the spring track and field season after a roller coaster of a year.
The Montgomery High School junior missed all of last spring due to a stress fracture in her kneecap, and when she didn’t return to form in the fall cross country season, it left plenty with one question: What happened to Amanda Herrmann?
Herrmann struggled with that question herself often in the fall as she tried to regain the speed that had placed her 33rd at the Meet of Champions qualifier two years earlier.
"It definitely did not feel like me running," Herrmann said. "I’d finish a race and I would tell my mom, it didn’t feel like me. I don’t know if it was lack of confidence. I’m not sure what it was."
Instead of running up front with newcomer Jillian Prentice, Herrmann slid farther and farther down the Cougar cross country lineup. She was the Cougars’ fourth finisher at the Central Jersey Group IV final. Whatever was happening to Herrmann was hard to watch.
"I felt bad," said MHS girls’ coach Jim Goodfriend. "I was devastated I felt so bad. Jillian had a fantastic year and is a fantastic talent. But Amanda was getting beat by a kid she shouldn’t be beat by. If you saw her running this winter, you wouldn’t believe it."
Herrmann had swum in the winters of her freshman and sophomore years, but she chose to pass up a third season in the pool for a first with winter track and field. She never expected it to work out so well.
"I was going into it with a really low-key attitude," Herrmann said. "I was taking it for a fun season. A lot of my friends were doing it, so I had great support in the season. To find that much success was a nice surprise."
Herrmann started to feel better and progressed quickly following the Skyland Conference Championships. She ended up qualifying for the Meet of Champions in the two-mile run, then competed at the Eastern Regionals where she qualified for the National Scholastic Indoor Championship at the New York Armory. Herrmann finished with a season-best 11 minutes, 22.59 seconds at the MOC.
"I didn’t want to place any expectations on myself," Herrmann said. "It was amazing to make it that far. I never imagined I’d get to states, go to the Meet of Champions and go to nationals. It was amazing to enjoy that moment. Each step, I enjoyed.
"That (nationals meet) was an amazing experience," she added. "All the people from across the country where there. It was cool experience. I took a week and a half off after that. Spring was already starting. That felt nice. It’s fun to come back to a season after being at such a high meet. It’s like motivation. Whatever happens, we’ll see."
Having been through a rough fall and missing all of last spring has helped Herrmann gain some perspective on what she was able to accomplish as a young runner. Now, as she comes back to level, she carries with her the experiences of the last year as she prepares for the first dual meet of the season, 10 a.m. Wednesday when the Cougars host Bridgewater-Raritan.
"It’s tough, but it’s definitely a learning experience," Herrmann said. "You learn there are other things in life. You’ll move on or you’ll come back if it’s meant to be. I got a chance to come back this winter. That was really great.
"It’s definitely something you learn. That comes with having a down time and experiencing that. Freshman year, I was always very intense. I didn’t cut myself a break ever. If I wasn’t performing to peak, it was hard to deal with. You learn to cope and deal with it. I’m definitely having a lot more fun."
Given her progress and success over the winter, Herrmann is coming into the spring a more confident runner. It’s something that Goodfriend has been waiting for from one of his top competitors.
"I can see it right now the way she’s walking around," he said of her confidence. "The way she’s running in practice, she’s distancing herself from Prentice some days."
Goodfriend knows the return of Herrmann means an even stronger distance core for the Cougars. He enjoyed seeing Herrmann build back up to the standout level, and is hoping she can remain there throughout the rest of her MHS career and beyond.
"It started to come back for her after the Skyland Conference individual meet," Goodfriend said. "Her times started to drop. She made it to states and it dropped again. She had a big turnover was when she went to states and got eighth in Group III. That was the big turnover. She ran Meet of Champions, and ran a good time again and went to Easterns. She went to nationals and her time dropped down again.
"Coming out of cross country, she was really unhappy and didn’t have a lot of confidence. She didn’t have a lot up until Christmas. All of a sudden, it came back. She came up and said, ‘I felt great the whole race.’ You could see it. She looked horrible before. She wasn’t striding like she usually does."
Part of it was learning to trust herself to pace like the Amanda Herrmann of old. She has found that and is running like herself again. It has her excited to contribute in the higher-profile spring track season, in which she will again concentrate on the two-mile run and could run the mile for the MHS distance medley relay.
"The fall was definitely a tough season," Herrmann said. "I had my ups and downs. It was hard to deal with. There were times when I felt maybe this isn’t for me. But I had amazing support from my coaches and teammates and I stuck with it. I’m glad I did.
"I’m not sure what happened (in the fall)," she added. "I never found the true answer. Everybody has their ups and downs. Last spring season, I was completely out because of a stress fracture in my kneecap. That was tough to have an entire season off, out of running. Coming back, I was a little lower in confidence. I was wondering if I’d be able to come back. It was good to have a winter season, a relaxing season, to get my confidence back."
Herrmann is happy to be back to running. She spent last spring rehabilitating on the elliptical machine. She kept times like a manager for the team, and tried to stay involved in the team. One year later, she has come full circle. She has come through a tough fall season and regained her top form in the winter. Now she’s ready to go in the spring, and ready to handle any ups and downs that life’s roller coaster might carry her way.
"That is the hardest thing to learn," she said. "There were many days I didn’t want to go on. I didn’t want to run. I didn’t want to give up either."

