Lydia Wallace likes to run past people, and she’s been doing a very good job at that.

In fact, she’s been so good that next year, the Jim Thorpe senior will put on her track shoes for Rider University after accepting a scholarship to attend the Division 1 New Jersey college.

“It came down to Temple, St. Francis (PA) and Rider,” said Wallace. “I really liked the track program at Rider and the campus is beautiful.”

Wallace’s interest in running came about when she was in sixth grade and playing soccer, a sport she continued to play for Jim Thorpe to build her endurance and for the fun of the game.

“I realized I was pretty fast and I was running by everyone else,” she said.

At a seventh-grade track meet, she ran the 800 meters and won the race by an incredible 30 seconds over the second-place finisher.

As a high school freshman, Wallace excelled at the 400 and 800 and at the 400 relay, in which her relay team qualified for states. While already excelling in three events, Jim Thorpe track and field head coach Frank Miller was thinking Wallace might add another.

“We were looking for something else for Lydia to break up the boredom between races and the idea of running the 300 hurdles was appealing,” said Miller. “We kind of just told her to go for it and she did very well in her first race. The hurdles are pretty low to the ground so they’re easy to clear. We worked on her power step to get over the top and keep going.”

“I was nervous about the hurdles,” said Wallace, “but I figured I could just use my speed.”

Athletes come and they go, but in Miller’s 18 years coaching the Olympian track team, he places Wallace in the top three of girls who have had outstanding work ethics.

“Lydia’s drive to be successful is unparalleled,” said Miller. “She not only conditions herself; she is very coachable and wants to gain an understanding of what she does on the track so she can keep learning strategies for success.”

Wallace’s success at Jim Thorpe has her name fixed in the record book. As a freshman, she set school records in the 400 and the 800. She won the District 11 AA 400 and was runner–up in the 800. As a sophomore, she won the district title in the 800 and took second in the 400.

She made the state finals for the 300 hurdles, and took home a sixth-place medal.

For her achievements, she was named the 2019 Times News/ Lehigh Valley Health Network Track Athlete of the Year.

“Lydia had exactly seven hurdles races as her total experience and four of them were in high stress, postseason competition,” said Miller. “But it just goes back to her drive to perfect every technique and craft thrown at her.”

At Rider, Wallace will concentrate on middle distance events and intends to major in education.

Last spring, the outdoor track season became a casualty of COVID-19, save for a few indoor events. Wallace is hoping there will be a track season for her senior year, but if not, her performances over the past two years as an underclassman were already impressive. She was only the second girl in school history to earn a scholarship to a D1 university.

Rider’s women’s track and field team finished second in the 2019 Outdoor Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships, so Wallace will bring her talent and work ethic to a strong Bronco program.

“No matter what events they have for Lydia, her versatility here at Jim Thorpe has proven she is an exceptional track athlete,” said Miller.

Wallace looks forward to the competition she’ll face at the D1 level.

“I know I can get better if I compete against really good athletes,” she said.

With only two full years of experience as a Jim Thorpe track star, one can imagine how much better Lydia Wallace can be once she puts on her track shoes again.