Cross Country, Track & Field
Favorite athlete: Allyson Felix
Favorite team: Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning the 400m on Valentine’s Day and celebrating with my teammates.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Getting hit and flopping on the track mid-race running the 4x200m at Lehigh.
Music on your playlist: Soundtrack 2 My Life – Kid Cudi; Therapy – Mac Miller; Smile Back – Mac Miller;
Woo – Rihanna; Silver Springs – Fleetwood Mac; Supercut – Lorde; New Magic Wand – Tyler, the Creator; Brazil – Declan McKenna
Future plans: Attend American University and major in data sciences for political science and run track.
Words to live by: “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”
One goal before turning 30: Travel the world.
One thing people don’t know about me: I love Sudoku
By Craig Ostroff
Addie DiPaolo remembers the moment when she set a personal goal to win last season’s Freedom Division Championship in the 400-meter dash.
A goal she set at about the 200-meter mark of the race.
Having missed several weeks during the season to rest an injury and having limited chances to run the 400, DiPaolo was actually focused more on another event at league championships during her junior year.
“I went into the league meet thinking about the 200,” said DiPaolo, who had missed time in March and April to rest a tibial stress reaction (more commonly known as shin splints). “I hadn’t run many open 400s, and I raced 5 races over the weekend of leagues. I went into the 400 with no expectations, I was just excited because I hadn’t gotten many chances to race in the 400 that season.”
So DiPaolo was as surprised as anyone else that halfway through the race, she was out in front.
“I realized I was going to be the league champion halfway through the race,” she said. “I was at the 200 mark and I thought, ‘You know what, I have a lot left in the tank, I’m just going to go.’ I hit the straightaway, ‘I’m in the front, I’m going to keep the lead.’”
She did just that, finishing the 400 in 1:00.88, about a second-and-a-half in front of teammate Karolina Ciesla’s second-place time of 1:02.32.
“Walking off the line, it was really special because that’s where it hit me,” DiPaolo said. “It was a really happy moment.”
“When she was coming down the straightaway, that’s when I kind of lit up, ‘She’s going to win this thing,” said William Tennent girls’ track and field coach Eric Reynolds. “I knew she would do well, because of what I’d seen in the invitationals and some of the dual meets we’d had, but I think it was a little bit of a surprise because of the competition and the teams we have in our league.
“But I think she opened some eyes throughout the conference, ‘This girl is somebody serious.’ I’ve yet to see her back down from any competition or a race. She’ll go all-out all the time.”
As a result, DiPaolo entered her senior spring track season as the defending Freedom Division 400-meter Champion and the one to beat for every other middle distance runner.
But DiPaolo credits the confidence she gained from winning the league title for changing her approach to her races as well.
“I think winning leagues gave me a more dominant mindset this season,” she said. “I want to try to race every time like a league champion and like I know I can. In the past, I’ve been timid, especially in the 400, but the confidence I got from winning leagues has really pushed me to race super-hard this year.
“My earlier years, I struggled a lot. I’d get very anxious before my races, and after injuring myself last year, there was a little bit of fear of getting injured again in a race or practice, and I think I would hold myself back a little. That experience last season taught me how to find my love of the sport and love of competing again, and I take that with me, go into every race with that mindset.”
In her senior season on the track, DiPaolo also brings a now-or-never attitude.
“After everything that happened last season, I’m excited to have a full season where I’m healthy and to have these opportunities to race in these meets one more time,” she said. “I know there are no second chances this time. This is my last time running against these teams and it’ll be my last chance at leagues and hopefully at Districts and States. Things are going to be so different running in college, this is my last chance to enjoy high school racing, so I want to go into every race and make the most of it.”
And while DiPaolo’s determination to make this season the best it can be is apparent in the way she aggressively attacks her events on the track, it’s also showing up off the track as well. While she’s always been one to work with and help her teammates, being a senior and a leader, DiPaolo also understands that this is her last opportunity to mentor the younger athletes on the team and help prepare those who will eventually fill her shoes.
“Addie is a very good leader for the younger kids,” Reynolds said. “We don’t have captains, but when it’s time for stretching, warming up, getting things done, she does bring the younger ones along or lets them know what they need to do. A lot of the girls gravitate toward her and that’s just her personality where they believe in her and trust her, and that makes it easier for the coaching staff. We can let Addie know what we’re going to do today and if we get called away for whatever reason, she’s there to keep it going. She’s been a big part of our team over the past couple years.”
In her time at Tennent, DiPaolo has seen the girls’ track and field squad develop a team-first mentality. In a sport that can be exceptionally individualized, nurturing that focus on the team has been important to DiPaolo and her classmates.
“When I was a freshman, I looked up to the upperclassmen and saw what they did for the team,” she said. “Developing into someone like the people that I used to look up to, that was special for me, not only in helping the girls but in helping me to develop into a leader. My teammates know I’m always there for them.
“In the past couple years, the team has become very close-knit. I’ve been a part of other teams, but I’ve never found anything like track or cross country. In track, everyone is so accepting even though it’s a very individual sport, but that’s what pushes us together. You always have your teammates cheering you on and sending you this positive energy. And while I can’t relate to the throwers, for example, I know the stress of competition and they know the stress, and that lets us empathize and become closer. That really helps bring people together. We might not compete in the same events, but we know what we’re all going through to get to where we want to be.”
It’s taken DiPaolo many years to get to where she is now … and she continues to look toward what’s next. Having participated in dance and karate for many years as a youngster, she picked up track in seventh grade at Log College Middle School and immediately fell in love with the team spirit as well as the competitive nature and individual aspect of the sport.
Perhaps most of all, DiPaolo was drawn to the idea that track offered the opportunity to set goals, and no matter how easy or difficult, once one goal was accomplished, there was another to set and pursue.
“Track is something you can never be satisfied with,” she said. “Once I hit a goal, I want to set another one right away. There’s always that next step to take and that next milestone to reach, and it requires constant hard work and improvement.”
Having started off her high school career running some of the longer distances, DiPaolo moved to the sprints in recent years and has excelled. This year, she typically runs the 100, 200, and 400 as well as the 4x100 and 4x400 relays. She also joined the cross country team as a junior primarily to work on her stamina and stay in shape for track season, though she admits with a laugh, “I do not like to run 5K.”
DiPaolo thoroughly enjoys being able to participate in both individual races as well as relays.
“I like to race individually. I have my own start, I’m not squished in the middle,” DiPaolo said. “But relays are really great for that camaraderie and spirit. As a freshman, I was in a 4x400 with some upperclassmen and they introduced me to the sport, that was really great. But at the end of the day, in a relay, you share that race with other people. You have that connection, and that’s hard to beat.”
•••
DiPaolo doesn’t only excel on the track. She’s also a stellar student, carrying a courseload filled with AP classes and extracurriculars. DiPaolo is a member of Tennent’s History, English, Science, and National Honor Societies, and is a member of student government and the athletic council.
Next year, she will attend one of the most academically demanding colleges in the country, heading to American University, where she will also run track.
“I went to a Preview Day in my junior year,” DiPaolo said. “They split us into groups, and I wanted to see what they had for Political Science. I heard a professor speak and he was so engaging. American is also well known for the number of internships that their students get, the proximity to DC, and it was all something I didn’t think I could turn away.
“The education will be amazing, and I could run there. I met with the coaches and the team members, I like their philosophy of coaching and as a team. I knew I would be at home.”
The support that American University provides to its student-athletes will have DiPaolo primed for success both in the classroom and on the track.
“I don’t think there’s anything that she can’t do,” Reynolds said. “Even with something as simple as having shin problems, she fought back from that, learned how to take care of her body where her injury is not affecting her at all. Addie is somebody who really cares about the sport, cares about herself, and cares about being successful.
“Once she gets down there, she’s going to have the right training, nutrition, all the options to be successful as an athlete, and all the options to be successful as a student. She is an outstanding student going to an outstanding academic school. American is getting somebody who does not know what quit means.”
But before she heads to Washington, DC, in the fall, DiPaolo still has a few more things she wants to accomplish at William Tennent.
“Right now, I’m chasing that District qualification,” said DiPaolo, who was a few hundredths of a second off a District qualifying time as of last week. “Once I get that, I want to sharpen up a little bit more, get a better time at leagues to get a better spot. At Districts, I want to race as hard as I can. States would be amazing, that’s a dream, but I’m just going to work as hard as possible and keep trying to push myself to next level.”
“Addie’s represented herself and our league very well,” Reynolds said. “We’re in a very competitive league and we’ve been in some invitationals with some serious competition, and she ran well and took the challenge on. No matter who she’s gone up against, she runs with an attitude of, ‘I’m just as good as you are.’ I don’t think anyone has forgotten about what she did last season, but if they did, I think with our upcoming invitationals and leagues, that’s where people are really going to start to remember her again. I think her season thus far has been very successful, and I don’t think she’s peaked yet.”
