By Jim Hague
When Erin Marshall left the humble confines of her hometown of Mount Laurel, N.J. and her high school alma mater of Lenape High School for downtown Newark to attend Rutgers-Newark three years ago, she thought her track and field career was history.
Marshall had some offers to run track in college, but she elected to play soccer at Rutgers-Newark and study political science and anthropology.
“I basically thought it was over,” Marshall said. “I had some good offers from Division I schools to run, but I chose Rutgers for soccer. I love soccer and had been playing since I was five years old. I know it didn’t make my high school track coach happy. In fact, he was quite unhappy with me.”
But Marshall was resigned to the fact that her days as a runner were finished, because when she enrolled at R-N, there was no track and field program at the school.
“I knew I was going to miss it a lot,” said Marshall, who was a standout half-miler and miler at Lenape. “I was a little disappointed, but I knew I came here for school and for soccer. When I was a freshman, there was some talk that they were going to start a track program, but it didn’t happen. I didn’t think it ever would happen, even though I was hoping they would start one. I was getting nervous that it wouldn’t happen while I was here.”
But when Rutgers-Newark athletic director Mark Griffin, a former track coach in his own right, decided to make the commitment to initiate a track program a year ago by hiring veteran coach Juan Edney, Marshall’s interest in returning to the sport started to pique.
“When they told me that they brought in a coach to start the track program, I was so excited,” said Marshall, who has been a mainstay at midfield for three seasons with the Scarlet Raiders’ women’s soccer program. “I was a little skeptical at first, because I didn’t know what know what kind of coach he was, but when I met Coach Edney, I knew he knew what he was talking about. I knew he had experience and that he was very smart. He’s awesome and truly cares about the athletes. He treats all the kids the same and there are a lot of them that had never run before.
Added Marshall, “Coach Edney knows he has to differentiate between the experienced runners and the newcomers. He has a different relationship with each runner and that makes it easier for everyone.”
Edney was a successful coach at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, so he had the experience necessary to build the program from scratch. He also knew from talking to Marshall that she could be a solid contributor to his new program.
“She hadn’t run track in a while, but I knew she was seasoned,” Edney said. “She came from a good high school program, one that I was very familiar with. She was still playing soccer and that’s a little different training than track, but I could see her work ethic and I could see that she was as tough as nails. I knew she was going to help us.”
When Marshall joined the track team after the conclusion of the soccer season, she was regularly training with the R-N male runners.
“But she had been sitting out for two years,” Edney said. “I was hoping that it wouldn’t take her too long to get back into shape.”
“I knew he expected a lot from me, because of what I had done before,” said Marshall, who ran a personal best of 2:19 in the half-mile and 5:15 in the mile in high school. “It was hard, because I really wanted to focus on myself.”
At first, Marshall got a little frustrated.
“Coming back into it, I told Coach Edney that I just couldn’t do it,” Marshall said. “I felt I wasn’t capable. I wasn’t in running shape.”
“I see a lot of promise in Erin,” Edney said. “Her problem is her confidence. She has that normal nervousness that you see in runners and that’s good. That’s the mark of a champion because it means she’s striving for perfection.”
When the Scarlet Raiders traveled to their first indoor meet in December, Marshall was a nervous wreck.
“I was shaking,” Marshall said. “I couldn’t stop crying. I couldn’t stop eating. This was far beyond any time I’d been nervous before. I was so scared. I was thinking back to what I was like in high school and after being totally out of it for three years, I thought it would come back again.”
While Marshall didn’t exactly eclipse her personal bests of high school, she didn’t fare too poorly either. She ran a 2:35 half-mile. One meet later, it was down to 2:32. There was progress and promise.
“I think it’s going to take some time for her to get her track legs back,” Edney said. “Right now, she’s running kind of rubbery. But she’s getting better. And she’ll get there. She’s going to get ready for the outdoor season.”
Edney thinks that Marshall has so much promise that she might be able to qualify for the NCAA Division III championships.
“Wouldn’t that be awesome?” Marshall said. “If I could do that, it would be incredible. Coach Edney told me that I could do this and when he told me what he saw in me, I got so excited. After being away for three years, I thought it was impossible, but it is like riding a bike. From the minute I stepped on the track, I felt it all came back to me. I just have to get it into my head that I am a different runner. I’m using the winter season to get back in shape and then I’m really looking forward to the spring season. Even though we have a new program, I think we can make a name for ourselves this year.”
And it will enable Marshall to truly enjoy a senior year of both sports.
“I’m really having fun now,” Marshall said.
“I just wish I had more time to work with her,” Edney said.
When her days at R-N are over next year, Marshall hopes to take her political science background to graduate school. She’s been a politically active person since high school and may want to pursue a career in public relations or communications for a governmental affiliation.
“That’s the feeling I have for now,” Marshall said.
Or maybe she’ll decide to run for office. After all, Erin Marshall’s life is all about running -- once again.
