School: Neshaminy
Cross Country, Track & Field
Favorite athlete: Allyson Felix
Favorite team: The Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: All the friendships I’ve made throughout the years. Without all the girls on my track team, I probably wouldn’t make it through the season. They made practices and bus rides to meets so much fun, and I’m going to miss them more than anything next year.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that happened while competing in sports: One day during cross country practice, all the girls were taking pictures together, and the boys’ team was being obnoxious right in front of us. Well, the next thing we know – one of the guys pantsed another one right in front of all of us. We all started cracking up hysterically, and he couldn’t look at any of us for the rest of the week.
Music on iPod: A little bit of everything, but a lot of country music. I listen to Nicki Minaj to get me pumped up before meets.
Future plans: Attend Quinnipiac University in the fall, studying sports medicine. I plan to most likely compete in track, but I still haven’t decided. After graduation, I definitely want to get married and have a family someday.
Words to live by: ‘To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.’
One goal before turning 30: Set myself up in a good job and be able to travel around the world.
One thing people don’t know about me: When I’m by myself, I love playing music in my car really loud and singing along.
Alyson Albertson is impossible to classify when it comes to competing in track.
The Neshaminy senior could safely be called a runner since that’s where she got her start, and although slowed by shin splints this season, she is still a capable fill-in when needed.
Albertson certainly fits the bill as a thrower as well. She has already qualified for districts in the javelin and routinely finishes at or near the top in the javelin, shot put and discus at dual meets.
But there’s more.
High jump, it turns out, is Albertson’s real passion, so she is a jumper as well.
Whether she’s running, jumping or throwing, one thing is certain – the senior captain is racking up points for her Redskin squad.
“I can count on her for anything,” Neshaminy coach Margie Taylor said. “At first, she was more of a runner, but her favorite event is the high jump, so she is more into that aspect.
“We could put her in the 200 and 400 if we needed to, and she always places in first in all three (throwing) events.”
Just as Albertson – a two-year captain - is willing to help out where needed on the track, she is equally willing to lend a hand off the track as well.
“I can always count on her if I need something done for the team,” Taylor said. “As a captain, she gets everyone to be involved and to keep up the motivation. She leads everyone in the drills.”
Albertson also brings some welcome levity to the team as well.
“She and one of her friends are the goofballs of our team,” Taylor said. “They come in with witch hats, different color clothing. “
Albertson laughed when the subject of her seasonal attire came up in conversation.
“Me and my best friend get crazy ideas,” she said. “We dress up for the holidays. For Christmas, we wore reindeer antlers and Christmas sweaters. For Easter, we put Easter eggs all over our clothes.
“It brings the fun into the sport because everyone kind of dreads going to practice every day, but we just try and show it can be fun if you make it fun.”
Albertson, who attended Catholic school, began competing in track when she was in first grade.
“One of my friends was doing it, and that’s the only reason that I asked to do it,” she said.
She also tried her hand at basketball, softball, field hockey and volleyball.
“I did everything,” Albertson said. “But track stood out the most.”
Albertson stuck with basketball until this year, but it was track that was her true passion. She began her career as a sprinter, but when she joined a summer AAU program out of Bensalem, she was encouraged by her coach – Mary Ellen Malloy – to think outside of the box and try new events.
“In CYO, it was more – you’ll be running this, or you’ll be running that,” Albertson said. “This was more – you’re allowed to do whatever you want.
“I did multi-events, jumping, throwing and sprinting – a little bit of everything.”
That’s when Albertson was introduced to high jumping.
“They saw I had potential, and I absolutely loved it,” she said. “I think there’s just something about it that fascinates me how you can just do that.
“It came kind of easily, but I definitely had to work on it. I’m still really working on it to get better.”
When she reached high school, Albertson was ecstatic to learn that her coaches – who allow everyone to try every event during the first week of practice – also encouraged athletes to try many different events.
“We had two girls who never knew they could throw a discus,” Taylor said. “They’d never done it in middle school, and they come up and throw a discus 70 feet, and we’re like, ‘You’re a discus thrower,’ so some of our throwers aren’t your general throwing type.”
Add Albertson to that category. Her coaches saw her potential as a thrower, and the next thing she knew, she was throwing the javelin, shot put and discus and excelling at all three.
“For throwing, it’s not just all body weight and everything behind it,” Albertson said. “You need a lot of speed in throws, and my speed helps me to be good in that.”
A natural from the start, Albertson medaled in the javelin in the 2006 AAU Nationals in her first season throwing.
This season, Albertson already has a javelin throw of 105, surpassing the district qualifying mark of 102. In the shot put, she has a 32-8 with the district standard at 33 even. In high jump, she’s cleared the bar at 4-11 and the district qualifying height is 5-1.
“My speed helps me in jumping too,” Albertson said. “I come in good and have good speed, but getting my body off the ground is definitely the hardest part.”
There’s also the frustration of reaching a plateau in an event.
“There’s a certain point where it’s so hard to get past,” Albertson said. “In high jump, it’s getting over five feet. In shot, it’s 30 feet, and in jav, it’s a hundred feet.
“Once you get around to that area and you can’t quite get over it and you’re just trying to piece everything together, that’s definitely the most frustrating part.”
Still, the good moments far outweigh the bad, and Albertson – who also was captain of her indoor team last winter - points to making districts this year for the first time ever as a personal highlight.
“This also is my first year of making the meet of champs for indoor season for high jump,” she said.
In preparation for track season, Albertson decided to run cross country last fall for the first time.
“It was hard to get used to, but once you started doing the practices, it really comes easy,” she said. “You get into really good shape, and the races aren’t even anything by the end of the season. I really loved it and wished I did it every year in high school.”
An honors student, Albertson will be attending Quinnipiac University this fall where she will major in sports medicine with the goal of becoming an athletic trainer.
“I always was interested in the medical field, and sports have always been my passion,” she said. “I figured that was the best of both. I could get both things that I’m really interested in one.”
In what little spare time she has, Albertson coaches her former CYO track team, giving back to youngsters with the hope they will someday share her passion for the sport.
“Track has definitely made high school a lot of fun for me,” she said. “I look forward to it every year, and during the season, I’m always so happy that it’s finally track season, and it’s really helped me get through everything.”
She hopes to continue her track career at the collegiate level, although she has been warned that it is difficult to compete in a sport with her major, which includes a lot of clinical hours.
“I still might try it,” Albertson said.
If the past is any indication, she will find a way to make it work.
