Wilmington Friends’ Margo Gramiak has medal-winning season after over a year off the track
WILMINGTON, Del. (BVM) — Unfortunately, for all returning track and field athletes in the state of Delaware, it was a long wait between meets. With the 2020 season being completely cancelled by the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association, the athletes were forced to wait nearly two complete years before they returned to their home tracks. Wilmington Friends School rising senior Margo Gramiak was one of those athletes, but despite the long layoff, she was able to achieve greatness in her junior season.
“As you can imagine, not having a sophomore season was really hard. I think every outdoor track runner can be on the same page on that one,” Gramiak said. “With training, it was definitely frustrating not being able to track my progression as an athlete. … Not being in a meet setting, with adrenaline and competitors next to you it’s really hard to track where you are so it was really weird going into the junior season without a meet since spring of my freshman year.”
On May 22, Gramiak had the best individual day of her track career, winning the DIAA DII 300-meter hurdles event, finishing in a personal-record time of 48.39 seconds. With the win, Gramiak became the only track athlete from Wilmington Friends, either male or female, to win an individual state title during the season.
“To finally have a title is really exciting,” Gramiak said. “I feel like it’s a symbol of the hard work I’ve done and the work I’ve put into track. It’s really cool to have that kind of recognition. Crossing the finish line was a really, really happy moment.”
Not only would the junior win gold in that event during the DIAA D2 State Track & Field Championships, but she would also win the bronze medal in the long jump with a PR 16-foot and 2.75 inch jump and finish No. 5 in the 100m hurdles with a time of 18.14 seconds. These three top-five finishes in the state come after Gramiak only participated as a member of the Quakers as a freshman in 2019, where she participated in the 200m, 4x100m relay, 4x200m relay and the 4x400m relay to go with her 300m hurdles. The lack of a second season made the junior year even tougher for Gramiak, as she had to learn how to participate in certain events on the fly.
“Part of missing my sophomore season, one thing that was frustrating was I might have been able to do some of the new events I was put in this year, but obviously I didn’t get that opportunity,” Gramiak said. “The 100-hurdles for example, I think I ran them for the first time halfway through the season so I wasn’t even able to do that long.”
However, after her strong junior year, it seems like the rising senior has found a permanent home as a hurdler/jumper rather than a pure runner in the future.
“I rely on my coaches to tell me what I am best at and what I can be most successful in and this season it made sense for me to kind of lean into the hurdles,” Gramiak said.
Following her performance at the state championships, Gramiak was selected to participate at the DIAA Meet of Champions on May 26, which pits the best runners from each level of the DIAA against each other in their respective events. With her D2 win in the 300m hurdles, she would participate in the event where she would again set a new PR finishing in 47.95 seconds and winning the bronze medal.
“Going into the Meet of Champs I was seeded in the third position, so I stayed true to my speed, but what I was really nervous about was the PRs for the girls seeded fourth, fifth and sixth were faster than me,” Gramiak said. “I was dead set on keeping my seed in third place, which I was able to do which was really exciting. … Getting bronze is really exciting, especially at Meet of Champs, because it’s the best of the best.”
Though she didn’t win the gold at the Meet of Champions, the competition gave her a goal to strive for during her upcoming senior campaign. With a more normal offseason expected for next year, Gramiak should be able to not only retain her D2 state title, but also maybe even achieve her goal of being the best 300m hurdle runner in the entire state.
Next year will also provide another opportunity for Gramiak as she could use a good season to propel herself into college recruitment talks and potentially a scholarship opportunity. As a three-sport athlete, excelling in basketball and field hockey as well as track, Gramiak will have a lot of tough decisions to make during her final year. While she is expecting to participate in athletics in college, she is not sure of which sport she will do but hopes to be able to do multiple.
“It’s hard to imagine myself not continuing to play a sport in college, right now it looks like it’s either going to be track or basketball and I don’t have any kind of decision on that yet,” Gramiak said. “I think keeping my options open is important to me and also the possibility of maybe doing both. Academics are definitely important to me so being able to have options and picking a school that I love as opposed to just picking a sport is an option I’ll have which is exciting.”
Wilmington Friends’ girls track will be in good hands with Gramiak leading the charge. With the lone state champion making her return, Gramiak will look to prove that with even more preparation she has what it takes to be the best in the First State. Hopefully, college programs are paying attention to the Quakers hurdling queen.
