Field Hockey
Favorite athlete: Michael Phelps
Favorite team: Sixers
Favorite memory competing in sports: When my team won the National Futures Championship
Music on iPod: Everything from Rolling Stones to Beyonce
Future plans: I plan to attend Columbia University and play field hockey.
Words to live by: “Don’t worry, be happy.”
One goal before turning 30: Complete a New York Times crossword puzzle
One thing people don’t know about me: I have 61 cousins.
By Mary Jane Souder
Jennifer Harchut is the last in an impressive line of Harchut sisters to compete in sports at Upper Dublin High School. The senior standout recently capped her final field hockey season with her third consecutive first team all-league recognition She is the only one of five sisters to play hockey.
“I had a lot of connections with the entire Harchut family in some capacity, and I remember her mom talking about how Jen was really focusing on hockey and getting actively involved,” Upper Dublin field hockey coach Heather Boyer said. “She was a pretty good basketball player and a good swimmer, but she fell in love with field hockey.
“Knowing the Harchut family’s history and their strength in academics and athletics, I was pretty excited.”
With good reason.
Harchut stepped into the starting lineup as a freshman and never left.
“You could just see the first day she stepped on the field at preseason for the high school team she was above and beyond with her skill level, her fitness level and even just her physical strength and endurance,” Boyer said. “She appeared to be a much older player than her grade reflected.
“My assistant coach and I would joke because here you see this girl who looks and plays like a junior or senior, and every once in a while she would say something, and it was ‘Oh yeah, she’s only a freshman.’
“Jen definitely carries herself well beyond her years, which is a good thing because it means you’re a great leader.”
Harchut went on to earn third team all-league honors as a freshman, marking the beginning of a stellar career.
“This year she played center midfield,” Boyer said. “She has successfully played every single field position on the hockey field with the exception of goalie at some point in her career for me. She can do it all.”
Sports have been a family affair for the Harchuts.
“All of us grew up playing every sport,” Jen said. “We would go to camps every weekend for a different sport.
“When we all got to high school, we picked whatever sport we liked the most. Mine just happened to be field hockey. None of my older sisters played any field hockey.”
Each, however, had their niche.
Eldest sister Kristen swam at Upper Dublin and went on to play club water polo at Notre Dame. Lisa excelled in basketball at UD and went on to play at Harvard. Kelly played lacrosse and went on to compete at Princeton, and Nikki, a standout lacrosse player at Upper Dublin, participated in club swimming at Villanova.
“My sisters have had a huge influence on me,” Harchut said. “Growing up they took a lot of interest in me, and they all made me feel really special and loved.
“They made it fun for me to go to all their different sporting events and cheer them on. They made me want to be better in the sports that they played or the sports I was playing. I saw their success and wanted to be just like them. Even in school, they were all very good students.
“A big part of it is my parents (Helene and Bob Harchut) – I’m proud to call them my parents.”
What made Harchut choose field hockey?
“A lot of playing depended on the people I was around,” she said. “All of the coaches I had in field hockey were so great. I really enjoyed going to all my practices and games.
“All of my teammates were really awesome. It really was the people, and I really liked the game itself.”
Harchut wasn’t introduced to hockey until eighth grade, but it wasn’t long before she joined the club circuit, playing for the Mystx.
“That’s been really important,” she said. “Mrs. (Tina) Reinprecht has always been my coach, and she is just really amazing, and what her daughters have done is really inspiring. It just made me want to be a much better field hockey player.”
Harchut was a dangerous offensive weapon, but that is just a small part of her game.
“She’s a fantastic corner striker,” Boyer said. “She has a shot that’s just unbelievable, and that’s where the majority of her goals came from.
“Honestly, (her strengths) are her knowledge of the game and her intelligence. She isn’t the fastest player out there, but she can anticipate what the opposing player is going to do. She’s not necessarily going to sprint and beat you to the ball, but just some of the tactics she uses makes her a really smart and savvy player.”
The fact that the Flying Cardinals finished in the middle of the pack in the American Conference was secondary to the experience.
“Our team is really close,” Harchut said. “We all really enjoyed the season. We’re disappointed that we never made it further, but just the time we get to spend together in itself makes the season worth it for us.”
Next fall, Harchut will take her talents to Columbia.
“Last year I was pretty much looking at just the schools that had contacted me,” she said. “I was looking at La Salle and St. Joe’s. When Columbia contacted me, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go there.
“It’s in New York City, and all the coaches were really, really nice. The educational value of the school is just so high. It was an opportunity I didn’t think I’d be able to pass up, so I just stopped right after they contacted me and focused on going there.”
Harchut plans to major in economics with an interest in following her sisters into the business world, potentially working in the area of finance.
This year, Harchut was chosen to be part of Upper Dublin’s British Exchange. This fall a group of students from England visited the United States, and over spring break, Harchut will travel to England with students from UD.
“I’m super excited,” she said. “The group of kids from Upper Dublin and the group of kids from England are really wonderful people to be around.
“I feel so lucky that I was given the opportunity to make friends with students from a different country and show them a little sense of what it’s like to live in Upper Dublin.”
An excellent student, Harchut takes a course load of honors and AP classes. She is a member of the National Honor Society and the Spanish Club. This past summer, she volunteered at the YMCA helping out with the summer camp and working in the office. She also is a lector at her church.
The vice president of SGA, Upper Dublin’s student governing body, Harchut has assumed a leadership role in her school as well, and there’s no mistaking that the youngest of the Harchut siblings has maintained the legacy of excellence her sisters established.
“They all have their priorities in line,” Boyer said. “They have found a way to balance things, making sure they reach all their goals but still are very actively involved in the community at Upper Dublin.
“Jen’s a great kid, a great student.”
