BY SAPNA PATHAK
When she joined the West High track and field team as a freshman four years ago, Julianne Quinn should’ve felt uneasy when hearing her new coach’s expectations. She should’ve been nervous being part of Leo Ducharme’s successful squad.
She wasn’t.
Instead, it was Ducharme who felt the pressure of Quinn’s presence as a rookie Blue Knight.
“She came to West with the eighth-grade 800 (meter run) record,” said Ducharme. “I realized how serious she was about this sport and made me think, ‘I better not mess this up.’ She already came in with a sense of dedication and work ethic that most coaches have to develop in their players … She already had it.”
Quinn’s dedication and work ethic paid dividends both on and off the track as the senior said goodbye to West this year, graduating at the top of her class and with a handful of school track records.
The Bedford resident graduated with individual school records in the 600-meter run, 800-meter run, 1,000-meter run and 1,500-meter run. She also competed on three West relay teams that hold various school records.
As a junior, Quinn won the 1,000 at the Class L outdoor track and field championships. She holds the best overall record in West’s cross country program. At this year’s track and field Meet of Champions, she placed eighth in the 1,600, with a time of 5 minutes, 16.48 seconds.
She did all this while studying her way to a 3.98 grade-point average upon graduation.
“There were a lot of late nights,” said Quinn with a laugh. “It could be overwhelming, but then again, the running was a great stress reliever, so it was kind of a nice cycle. The more I studied, the more stressed I got, and then the more I ran and got better at that.”
While Quinn laughs off the extra time spent training as a way to stay relaxed, Ducharme chalked up her success to other things.
“It’s simple. What it takes to excel in our sport – dedication, motivation – those are the things that drove her to put in four, five hours a night in front of her books,” said Ducharme. “Those who are strong enough to will themselves to do the extra work are the ones that make it far. That’s how Juli is. She was exceptional at making things look easy.”
Now that her days as a Blue Knight are over, Quinn said she’ll spend the summer training to be part of the track team at Columbia University, where she’ll study either civil or environmental engineering.
“The last four years, I could put her name down on the lineup and know she’d take care of things,” said Ducharme. “I’ve been lucky to have such a dependable runner in Juli. Coaching her may have been easy, but losing her won’t be.”