School: Council Rock North
Cross Country, Track & Field
Favorite athlete: Carl Lewis
Favorite team: Philadelphia Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Spending one-on-one time with my dad.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: My 4x100 relay team dropped the baton in the finals of the district meet last year.
Music on iPod: Everything!
Future plans: Become a neurologist
Words to live by: ‘Unless you’re the lead dog, the scenery never changes.’
One goal before turning 30: Skydive
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m an Emergency Medical Technician
Josh Mindlin went out for track to stay in shape for soccer. He ended up rewriting the record books at Council Rock North.
The senior standout holds the school records in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 55-meter (indoor), and he also is part of the Rock North’s record-breaking 4x100, 4x400, 4x200 (indoor) and the outdoor sprint medley relays.
Ask Mindlin what he will remember most about his high school track experience, and his answer is not exactly what you might expect.
“The times that were the most memorable – winning was great, but what we learned most from was when we lost,” he said. “Certain things that happened to us – like last year in the district final in the 4x100, we dropped the baton. This year in the 4x400 we were disqualified for an interference call.
“While those aren’t necessarily positive memories, those are the best learning experiences, and I think those experiences actually brought us closer together as a team because yes, we were upset, but we had to learn to get over it, move on and make sure it doesn’t happen again and practice so that it doesn’t happen again.”
It’s that kind of approach that has made Mindlin a winner both on and off the track, and he is a natural fit for Rock North’s track program.
“Aside from just running fast and winning races, we preach a philosophy,” coach Dave Marrington said. “We like to think of our track team as a pretty tight-knit group even though there are 80 kids who compete in 18 different events.
“I have been on a lot of track teams that get really separated. Their throwers don’t know distance guys from Adam even though they’re on the same team. We have tried to avoid that by making the kids warm up together and do a lot of things together. Josh is instrumental in that. All of our captains are. They’re cheering for each other at meets. The sprinters will be over there cheering for jumpers at the end of a dual meet, letting them know they have guys watching them and supporting them.”
Marrington – who had coached Mindlin’s older brother Matt – knew he was inheriting a talented athlete when Josh came on board.
“We had a ninth grade team when he was a freshman, and he stood out right away as a freshman,” the Indians’ coach said. “It was a group of the fastest kids we have ever had.
“It was kind of nice – that group has been together for four years, and they put together a real good relay.”
The 200 is Mindlin’s best event, and he established a new school record in that event at this year’s SOL meet with a time of 21.89, but beyond his running ability, Mindlin – according to his coach – is like having an assistant coach within the sprint group.
“Josh is the kind of kid who – if he saw kids doing things that weren’t right – he would let them know,” Marrington said. “He’ll say something to them.
“I think he learned to respect the sport and the program. He wanted to make sure everyone was getting the same thing out of the sport that he was.”
Mindlin got his first real taste of sports by competing in soccer and martial arts. He had tried baseball but decided that was too slow.
“My dad opened up the door for pretty much everything for me,” he said. “He told me to do what I wanted.”
For 13 years, soccer was Mindlin’s number one sport. Until he got a taste of track in ninth grade.
“My brother had been a pretty big name in track in our school, and the coach pretty much said, ‘You don’t have a choice. You’re coming out for the track team,’” Mindlin recalled. “Of course, he was joking, but at the same time, I wanted to come out to stay in shape for soccer.
“My initial response was that it was kind of hard. The workouts were really difficult. For most sports, if your coach tells you to run a lap or do sprints, everyone kind of groans and hates it. It’s kind of weird because I didn’t love it either when I was playing soccer, so why would I want to make that my sport, but I loved staying in shape, and I knew that would keep me in shape.”
A sprinter from the start, Mindlin ran the 100, 200 and 4x100 as a freshman. He excelled from the outset.
“I would say I was a little cocky as a freshman,” he said. “It’s not that I thought I was better than everyone, but I didn’t go into meets thinking I would lose.
“The last dual meet we had I did lose, and that was really the wake-up call that I not only had to go out there and run my fastest, but I had to learn different techniques about running. It’s not a sport you can pick up in just a few days. It requires a lot of time.”
By his sophomore year, soccer had fallen by the way side.
“I fell in love with track,” he said. “What really kept me in it was – in soccer, I felt like I was part of a team, but in track, I really felt like I was part of a family.
“We have a ton of guys on our team, and throughout my years, I have had a core group of guys who have pretty much become family for me who I will keep in touch with the rest of my life. With track, everyone cheers each other on. Whether you’re good or not so good, your teammates are going to be there for you and congratulate you at the end. It’s a bigger family, but at the same time, it’s a more close-knit family than soccer for me at least.”
It wasn’t long before Mindlin was setting school records, going on to eventually break all of his brother Matt’s records.
“Me and my brother didn’t have the greatest relationship, but over the past couple of years when he’s been away at college, we’ve talked a lot more,” Mindlin said. “He’s told me that he’s proud of me, and he’s glad the records are at least staying in the Mindlin family.”
Mindlin is the owner of three outdoor state medals. Last year, he finished eighth in the 200 and this year captured sixth in that event. He also was part of Rock North’s 4x100 relay that finished fifth in states this year.
In the fall, Mindlin competed in cross country.
“It’s difficult for me,” he said. “I really don’t like long distances, but at least I’m doing it with the group of guys I consider to be my family.”
A standout student, Mindlin was accepted at West Point, but he was disqualified due to a medical reason.
“I spent over a year on that application, and after being so close to actually getting there, it was hard to give that up, but it wasn’t going to work out,” he said.
Instead, Mindlin will be attending Pitt where he plans to continue his track career. He is majoring in biology/pre-med with the goal of one day becoming a neurologist.
“When I was young, I always wanted to do something in medicine, but anesthesiology was really cool to me back then just because it was a really long name, and nobody knew what it was,” Mindlin said. “That was my childhood foolishness.”
He outgrew his childhood fantasy of becoming an anesthesiologist but never lost his passion for pursuing a career in medicine. Several years ago, Mindlin’s older brother Matt suffered a concussion. He was treated at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Langhorne by Dr. Emil Matarese.
“Dr. Matarese told my brother if he was interested in doing rounds with him that he’d be more than happy to have him in the office,” Mindlin recalled. “My mom said, ‘I have another son at home who’s very interested in medicine. Would he also be able to do this?’
“Dr. Matarese, being the great guy he is, said he’d be more than happy to have me. Over the past couple of years, I have been doing rounds with him, and I fell in love with his profession. He’s definitely one of my biggest role models.”
Interestingly, Mindlin’s brother Matt is pursuing a career as a physician’s assistant.
“I definitely believe – and I’m sure he would tell you – that Dr. Matarese played a huge role in that as well,” Mindlin said. “He’s honestly one of – if not the most – amazing people I have ever met.
“The thing I admire most about him is he always considers the patient first. That’s his main priority – helping the patient.”
At the encouragement of his father, Mindlin took classes and passed the test to become a licensed EMT. He has volunteered on the ambulance in that capacity for the past year and a half.
“My parents have pretty much opened doors for multiple opportunities,” he said. “I do best when I’m structured. If I have too much free time, I tend to kind of waste it. If I always have something to do, I find myself doing a lot better.”
Last year – in his most rigorous year of high school – Mindlin excelled on his ACT, achieved a 4.0 GPA and passed his EMT exams. This year, Mindlin, a member of the National Honor Society, took AP Calculus and AP Biology, and he has proven along the way that keeping busy can result in big dividends.
