Knights’ Thomas overcame hurdles as senior
By: Justin Feil
Holland Thomas can only speculate how good her senior year would have gone had she been fully healthy.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro North hurdler spent much of the spring season battling the effects of bronchitis.
"It was hard missing a lot of practices going to the doctor," Thomas said. "It was like I had temporary asthma. I was wheezing after everything I did."
But everything she did, she still managed to do remarkably well. It was all part of her responsibility as a senior co-captain along with the Knight girls’ only other senior, Julia Xu.
"Holland’s pretty much always been a leader," said Knights head coach Bill Mealy. "Her personality and work ethic goes with her. As a freshman, she was a little naive about how things are. Then as a sophomore, things began to click. Her junior and senior years, she ran with a lot of confidence.
"Obviously. It’s nice when you have a couple girls who are the leaders. We only have a couple seniors, but both were worthy of being captains. Their work ethic alone is invaluable. The other kids see how when you do a workout it’s supposed to be run."
Few could keep up with Thomas, who managed to close out her career with countless records and medals. In her final scholastic season, the Memphis University-bound Thomas stood out in her dual and invitational meets.
At the Mercer County Championships, she was second in the 100 hurdles and third in the 400 hurdles and despite feeling the effects of her bronchitis, anchored the Knights to fifth in the 4×400 relay. She accounted for more than half of the Knights’ points on that day. At the Central Jersey Group III meet, she placed second in the 100 hurdles and fifth in the 400 hurdles and anchored the fifth-place 4×400 relay. The next week, she competed on little sleep but still finished third in the 100 hurdles and fourth in the 400 hurdles. At the Meet of Champions, she earned a pair of fifth-place medals in the hurdles events.
It capped off a career that saw her set five individual and seven team records for the Knights. She owns both hurdles records (14.39 seconds and 62.84 seconds), the open 400 (59.65), the long jump (16-feet-9) and the most points scored in a season, 185. She is a part of the record-holding teams in the three-person shuttle hurdles, four-person shuttle, 3×400 intermediate hurdles, 4×400, sprint medley and long jump relay.
Holland Thomas is the Princeton Packet Girls’ Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
"She did have the potential to be able to do something like that," Mealy said. "It was also in her mind that she could do it. Not only did she think she could do it, she expected to do it. That’s a big thing. Some of the younger girls could have done better if they believed in themselves a little more. Holland wasn’t afraid to try anything. We threw her in an 800 once and she ran her hardest."
Though she was primarily a hurdler, she long jumped in every dual meet for the Knights, and won quite a few meets in that event. She also consistently anchored the meet-ending 4×400 relay in which she was the only member older than a sophomore.
Said Thomas: "I feel like as a senior, I have a lot more responsibility. When I came in, there were not many people to look up to. I feel completely different than when I was a freshman. I tried to help be a leader. Even last year, they looked up to me some. I started last year being more of a leader."
Thomas grew quickly into a top performer. She showed promise as a freshman, and each year thereafter she improved a little bit. It was enough to earn her a scholarship to Memphis.
"It’s always been something in the back of my mind," Thomas said. "Since I was a freshman, I wanted to get a full ride to a D-I school. Junior year it hit me that I could actually do it. When you feel that, you start to work harder.
"When I went on my official visit, they told me I’d probably do the 100 and 400 hurdles. I’ll be doing both of those. For winter season, they’ll make me run 500s so I can get my 400 time down."
Thomas has come a long way since she was a freshman, but she is always looking for more. Even after finishing highly in the state meets, she wasn’t satisfied.
"You find that true of any good athlete," Mealy said. "They can be pleased with what’s going on, but they always want a little more. I know she had her sights set on doing some big things in the state tournament. While she may not have gotten as high up in the hurdles as she wanted to, if you look back, in the entire state, she’s fifth. She had a lot of adversity. She had senior prom and that took a toll. She had to go Friday night, run the hurdles, go to prom, then get up and run the hurdles again. She did a super job."
Thomas figures to be in the record books for a while. She is a cornerstone of the first decade of the Knights program.
"I tried to set the bar high so maybe people can pick it up from where I left it," she said. "I’m happy how far I’ve come. I’m never satisfied how I’ve done. I set my standards really high. I still have four more years to do what I want to do."
In that time, the Knights will be figuring out how to replace their most accomplished athlete in their short history. It won’t be easy.
"Points are always a big thing as far as the team record is concerned," Mealy said. "Also, when you run a workout and have someone like Holland that all the girls look up, there were days she didn’t feel well, but she’s still out there leading everybody. Whatever the workout, whether she enjoyed it or not, she always ran it hard."

