By Jim Hague
Lama Darwiche never thought she would become an active runner, When she decided to join the track and field team at Dickinson High School in Jersey City, Darwiche did it for a simple reason.
“I wanted to get fit,” Darwiche said. “I really wasn’t thinking of anything else.”
At the time, Darwiche spent a lot of her free time working at her father’s retail clothing factory.
“That kept me busy,” Darwiche said. “I would always go to help him out. I worked in the factory doing a bunch of different things since I was 10 (years old).”
But then Darwiche’s older brother Kassem advised his little sister to give track a try.
“He inspires me with everything,” Darwiche said. “He says that he sees a lot in me and reminds me of that, so that definitely gets me going.”
Darwiche’s family is of Lebanese descent. She’s the third youngest of nine children in the family.
“We’re all close,” Darwiche said. “We have six girls. It can get a little crazy when we have the whole family together. I can’t sleep some nights because the lights are on and the TV is on. My Mom wanted to have boys and she got all girls instead. But we’re all very close and that’s a good thing.”
So Darwiche took the advice of her brother and went out for track. But Lama didn’t know what kind of athlete she was.
“I was doing every event from the 100 (meter dash) to the mile (the 1,600-meter run),” Darwiche said. “I was doing everything. No one knew what I was. Whatever the coaches said, I just said, ‘OK.’ I would do it. After a while, I started to like it more and more.”
After graduating from Dickinson two years ago, Darwiche enrolled at Rutgers-Newark, but had no intentions whatsoever of competing in track and field.
“I wasn’t going to run in college at all,” Darwiche said. “I wanted to concentrate on school.”
But Rutgers-Newark head track and field and cross country coach Juan Edney wanted to have Darwiche become part of the program. R-N assistant coach Chris Happel saw Darwiche run in high school and wanted Lama to join the Scarlet Raiders like fellow Jersey City natives Kerry Collado and Karina Sanchez.
“Chris went to the Hudson County championships in Kearny and recruited that group all at the same meet,” Edney said. “We knew that they could help bolster our team.”
After Darwiche enrolled at R-N, Edney saw Darwiche’s abilities up close and personal.
“She came in very raw,” Edney said. “She had a little bit of an attitude that we had to capitalize on. She was angry for a reason. I asked her what she was angry about. Instead of talking things out, she looked like she was angry. I told her that concentration was the key to get better. She didn’t realize that she was using all of her energy.”
Edney said that Darwiche had to better utilize her talents during the workouts.
“She really wasn’t tired, but she wasn’t giving it her all,” Edney said. “She was actually better than what we were giving her credit for. We worked on her mindset. She had to understand how to run. Sometimes, the mileage becomes overwhelming and she had to understand that. She needed confidence. I figured that if I could work on her confidence, she could become a better runner.”
Darwiche didn’t really know what her best events or approach was.
“But I found the more I did, I started to like it more,” Darwiche said. “If I’m going out there to compete, then I’m going to give it my all. I ran cross country as a senior in high school, so I figured I could do it. But I really got into it. I didn’t think distances were my thing. I would go back and forth as to what I wanted to do. I guess I was better in the 400 (meter run) and hurdles, but I don’t mind cross country. If I’m going to run, I’m going to want to get better.”
Darwiche said that she needed something to motivate her to run distances. Because runners cannot use any type of Ipod or music headphones while competing, Darwiche came up with a musical approach without actual music.
“I was always a singer growing up,” Darwiche said. “I was a singer and performed in middle school. I was really dedicated to singing. So I would sing songs in my head.”
And Darwiche had particular artists in mind when she sang in her mind. She would feature the styles of Drake (who is a singer) and A Boogie (who is a rapper who also goes by the name of A Boogie wit da Hoodie).
“I was always positive,” Darwiche said. “I always thought positive. If you think negatively, then why bother? You’ll never succeed.”
Darwiche has been showing tremendous signs of improving. Edney believes that Darwiche could eclipse 25 minutes in cross country very shortly.
“We stayed in touch all summer and she did all the right things with her training,” Edney said. “She trained hard and you can see the results now. She’s close to 27, 26 now and I can see her breaking 25. It’s up to her now.”
When the time comes for indoor and outdoor season, Edney said that he truly doesn’t know the events that will feature Darwiche.
“Maybe the 800 (meter run) or the intermediate hurdles,” Edney said. “Right now, she’s having some good success in cross country. I’m not saying she won’t have success in track, but I’m looking forward to seeing what she can do.”
Darwiche is intrigued with what she can become.
“Right now, I feel so much better,” Darwiche said. “I feel like a whole different person. I don’t want to go back to what I was. I feel like I have a good future ahead of me. It has been a lot of fun and I’m willing to try a bunch of different things.”
And as for the rest of the Scarlet Raiders, Darwiche is excited, because the roster is deep and filled with young talented runners like herself, especially her close friends Sanchez and Dana Duffield. All three are just sophomores, but they’re full of life and excitement.
“They call us ‘The Three Goofballs,’” Darwiche said. “I like our team and like what we might be able to do.”
Darwiche also works hard part-time in retail for 20-to-25 hours per week for a sporting goods company, so she obviously keeps busy. She’s majoring in business management and hopes to become a sports agent someday.
“I can see myself doing that,” Darwiche said. “I have that kind of personality. It’s very interesting and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”
As long as she’s not singing A Boogie in her head and acting like one of The Three Goofballs.
