From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank

Sometimes, some local athletes competing in college fall through the cracks and I never have a chance to mention them. Not everybody is a superstar or conference champion or All-America.

But there are some great stories out there and one of them is Holly Chambers, a senior at Ursinus who had high school PRs at Kingsway of 2:27.79, 5:29.24 and 11:55.32.

Her first year at Ursinus – the abbreviated 2020 indoor season – she ran 2:32.92 and 5:33.04.

She didn’t race again until the 2021 outdoor season, when she ran 2:31.08 and had a nice breakthrough with 4:57.85 for 1,500 meters – equivalent of a 5:19.80 for 1,600 meters or 5:21.68 for a full mile.

Last year, she PR’d at 2:27.64 for 800 meters and then outdoors last year she dropped all the way down to 2:20.43 and had a huge PR of 4:45.63 in the 1,500 – equivalent of a 5:06.68 for 1,600 or 5:08.48 for a full mile.

She scored in the conference meet in the 1,500 and ran on Ursinus’s 3rd-place 3,200-meter relay team.

Over the last few weeks – the final weeks of her senior year – Chambers PR’d again in both the 800 and 1,500.

She placed 6th in the Centennial Conference Championships on her home track in Collegeville, Pa., with a 4:42.28 – that’s 5:04.86 for a mile – and then this past weekend she broke 2:20 for the first time with a 2:18.86 at Widener.

To go from 2:27.79 and 5:29.24 to 2:18.86 and 5:04.86 is remarkable.

Athletes like Chambers are why you stick with a sport even if you don’t have immediate success or get the results you want. If you keep working, you will get better. Chambers is proof of that.