Snyder's Campbell named Female Athlete of the Year

When Alicia (pronounced AH-LEE-SEE-AH) Campbell first enrolled at Snyder High School a little more than three years ago, she had only one thing in mind.

“I just wanted to play volleyball,” Campbell said. “I didn’t have anything else in mind.”

It didn’t matter that Campbell’s mother, Alexandria Jerez, was a Hudson County champion in the shot put and discus during her high school days at St. Dominic Academy. Campbell was all set to concentrate as a middle hitter for the Tigers.

But then Snyder track and field coach Robert Arena sort of challenged Campbell to give track a try.

“She started off as strictly a shot putter,” Arena said. “But when I told her that she could do more, she said, ‘Sure, I’ll give it a try.’ I looked at what Malia Gray did at St. Dominic’s and I thought that maybe Alicia could do the same things for us. I saw Alicia and I thought she had the possibility of being a dual threat.”

Gray was the 2016-2017 Hudson County Athlete of the Year when Campbell was a freshman at Snyder.

But Campbell didn’t have immediate success in track.

“At tryouts, I did one lap (around the Lincoln Park track) and I thought, ‘No way,’” Campbell said. “I felt a little out of place. We had a good group of seniors and I looked up to them.”

Campbell stuck with track and field, throwing the shot put like her talented mother. At the Hudson County Track Coaches Association’s indoor championships in 2017, Campbell was just another competitor.

“I scored one point,” Campbell recalled. “It was in the shot put. I was so proud. But I came to the realization that if I wanted to do better, I had to work harder. I definitely got more serious about track in terms of workouts. I changed my attitude toward track. I still wanted to play volleyball, but honestly, I didn’t think of myself as a great athlete. I just had to push myself a little harder. I actually thought of myself as being average.”

As it would eventually turn out, Campbell was far from average. In fact, she became downright incredible. Plain and simple, Campbell developed into the best female athlete that Snyder High School ever produced.

Snyder High School graduate Alicia Campbell (second left) receives the 2019-2020 Jim Hague Sports Female Athlete of the Year from Hague (second right). Also pictured are Campbell's mother Alexandra Jerez (far left) and Snyder head track and field coach Robert Arena (far right).

Arena believed that Campbell could eventually become a competitor in the heptathlon, participating in a series of seven events – hurdles, the 200 and 800-meter runs, the long jump, the javelin and Campbell’s first-ever event, the shot put.

But the heptathlon is not offered in high school in New Jersey. A high school athlete is limited to compete in a maximum of four events.

So Campbell made sure that she would make the most of the four events that she would be entered in, considering the meet.

In May of 2019, at the Hudson County Track Coaches Association championships, Campbell did exactly that, capturing four gold medals in the long jump, triple jump, javelin and discus, leading Snyder to its first Hudson County team championship since 1984. It was a performance to last a lifetime. She set two county records in the long jump and triple jump in the process.

“She did that consistently for us,” Arena said. “She would get us the easy 40 (10 team points for each gold medal) and the rest of the team had to chip in. But to be that dominant in four events? I never saw anything like it. She had the ability to not just do it in the county, but in the state as well.”

Campbell was 19 feet better than anyone else in the javelin and 21 feet better than any other competitor in the discus.

Two weeks later, while competing in the triple jump at the NJSIAA Group III championships, Campbell landed awkwardly and suffered a serious break of the fibula bone in her ankle.

“I was depressed and gloomy,” Campbell said. “I didn’t think it was over for me, but I thought it would take me a very long time to get back in shape.”

Arena remained positive and steadfast.

“What I really thought that Alicia could go two ways,” Arena said. “I told her that she was either done with track altogether or it could be the best comeback story of all time. I told her to think of Rocky Balboa. I think she really needed to face what it was like to be defeated and to be a little humbled.”

Campbell did not remain downtrodden for long. She was determined to recover fully and make a comeback to dominate the way she did before she broke her ankle.

“She did the research to learn about what she needed to do,” Arena said. “She trained seven days a week. You can’t tell an athlete what they should do. She had the drive and determination on her own. She was in the weight room all the time. You just don’t see that kind of drive all the time.”

Arena credited former top athlete Jerez for Campbell’s work after the injury.

“I’m only the coach,” Arena said. “I have to give credit to her Mom. I think Alicia gets the drive from her Mom, especially when rehabbing. She was helping Alicia with the rehab.”

“My mother always told me that she wanted me to be better than her,” Campbell said. “She was my motivation.”

Campbell recovered from the broken ankle well, only to sprain the other healthy ankle right before the volleyball season was set to begin in September. She missed the first three weeks of the volleyball season, only to return to record 105 kills, 54 digs and 39 blocks, earning All-Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic League honors in the process.

During the indoor track season at the HCTCA championships, Campbell won the gold medal in the long jump (17 feet, 11 inches) and the shot put (39-6 ½) while finishing third in the 55-meter hurdles and fourth in the high jump. Campbell went on to finish seventh overall in the state at the NJSIAA Indoor Meet of Champions at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

Who knows what would have happened in the outdoor season that never took place due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic?

Campbell still holds the Hudson County records in the long jump (18-6) and the triple jump (35-9).

“It would have been a great outdoor season,” Campbell said. “I was ready for it.”

“For her to come back and do what she did is amazing,” Arena said. “I don’t think we’ll ever see that again. It really was the best comeback story. I think it’s crazy to me what she did. I’m very proud of her.”

For her efforts, Campbell is the recipient of the JIM HAGUE SPORTS FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR for 2019-2020, the first-ever athlete from Snyder (male or female) to receive the award in 35 years of giving the award to the top multi-sport senior from Hudson County.

“I think as a head coach, there’s a sense of pride for her and the school in general,” Arena said. “I’ve never seen an athlete be so driven as much as she was. She was so willing to learn and put the time in. You see someone with that kind of drive and you know you want her to succeed. And now the other girls want to be like Alicia. You just don’t see that kind of drive every day.

Added Arena, “I don’t know if we’ll ever see it again. From the standpoint of being so dominant in four events all the time, it just doesn’t happen. I know I’ve been lucky to have her.”

Campbell will take her immense talents to Rutgers University in the fall, where she will continue to compete in track and field. She’s learning now how to compete in the hammer throw to add to her repertoire. Campbell plans on majoring on kinesiology in New Brunswick.

Campbell said that she was honored to receive the year-end award.

“Looking back, I think, ‘Wow, I did all that stuff,’” Campbell said. “Getting the award makes me really happy. I’m glad that someone recognized my hard work. I know this is just the start. I have the next four years to build up from this. I want people who are younger than me to see that you don’t have to start as a little kid and be successful. You can develop as an athlete if you work hard and try.”

And if you work hard and try, you can leave a legacy of greatness, like Alicia Campbell did.

HUDSON COUNTY—JIM HAGUE SPORTS

FEMALE ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

1994-1995-Cheri Selby, St. Dominic Academy

2000-2001-Tiffany Aciz, Secaucus

2003-2004-Mercedes Nunez, Memorial

2004-2005-Christine Capetola, St. Dominic Academy

2005-2006-Nicole Degenhardt, Secaucus

2006-2007-Leslie Njoku, McNair Academic & Cory Roesing, Secaucus

2007-2008-Jenna Totaro, Secaucus

2008-2009-Jennifer Mateo, Union City

2009-2010-Ashley Barron, Hoboken

2010-2011-Shannon Waters, Secaucus

2011-2012-Sybil Lynch, Hoboken

2012-2013-Danielle Roesing, Secaucus

2013-2014- Carolina Herrera, North Bergen

2014-2015-Julia McClure, Secaucus

2015-2016-Camille Bertholon, St. Dominic Academy

2016-2017-Malia Gray, St. Dominic Academy

2017-2018-Nyasia Mixson, Hoboken

2018-2019-Claire Chapeau, McNair Academic

2019-2020-Alicia Campbell, Snyder