Pennsylvania talent Sarah Walker embraces her own 'weirdness'

By Mary Albl, for DyeStat

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Sarah Walker is your spirit animal.

The middle-distance runner from Lower Gwynedd, Pa. wears ninja turtle socks when she races, loves to wear dinosaur and kangaroo onesies, and really doesn't care what social media says about her.

And oh yeah, she's one of the fastest high school 800-meter runners in the country.

She's the outgoing, crazy-talented friend you've always wanted but probably never had.

“My nickname is Baby Monkey (or) Spunky Monkey,” Walker said with a grin. “I have two older brothers and I'm the only girl, so I always just liked what they liked.”

That's Walker's explanation of her self-described weirdness. But it also happens to be what makes her so unique and fascinating. YALE CLASSIC INTERVIEW

After winning her first 800 of the indoor track season last weekend at the Yale Track Classic, the first thing she wanted to talk about was her lost white headband that slipped off toward the end of the four lap race.

She then dived into race details. She was shooting for a sub-2:10 time. She finished 2:12.21, currently the second-fastest in the country.

“I never pay attention to the heat (sheets),” Walker explained of her approach. “I don't know if that's good or bad. My coach tells me to focus on what you can do, your game plan. That helps me because I know I can get a bit freaky about racing. So I try to focus on just me.”

Just Sarah is the senior from Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia, that has no problem just being herself.

Last Saturday at Coxe Cage before she ran the 4x400 relay, she spoke about how much she's grown in the last year.

“At the beginning of junior year I was like 5-foot. I think I'm almost 5-5, it's exciting,” said Walker, her big brown eyes lighting up. “I want to be tall.”

Walker, a former soccer player, resembles a bit of professional runner Alexi Pappas, with her welcoming smile, dark hair pulled up in a bun and wonderfully diverse mannerisms.

“Her senior school picture this year is her wearing a banana suit,” Germantown Friends head coach Rob Hewitt said of Walker. “Which is pretty comical. Most kids would take their senior picture pretty seriously and want to have this like really nice photo. But she wears a banana suit, which is totally her.”

Hewitt illustrates Walker as a bubbly, smart, passionate, driven person who possesses a lot of Type-A characteristics.

“She takes things seriously, but she doesn't take herself too seriously,” Hewitt said.

Running is one of those serious things. Hewitt, who said Walker is the best athletes he's ever coached, has created a centralized and refreshing environment at Germantown.

In a time where just about any competitors result, time and split can be found online, Germantown tends to stray away.

“We talk about controlling what you can control,” Hewitt said. “I don't print out the meet entries, I don't ever look at them. That floors some people. I think it's part of who we are as a program, keep things in perspective. Fortunately I've found Sarah to be one of the best students I've ever had in terms of that stuff.”

That means there's a pretty good chance Walker has no idea she'll be racing fellow middle-distance standout Sammy Watson of Rush Henrietta NY this weekend at the New Balance Games in New York in the 500. The national record could be in play if a forecasted snowstorm doesn't ruin travel plans.

Hewitt said Walker had some early career struggles but moving forward has been always been one of her strongest traits.

“She adapts really, really quickly,” Hewitt said. “She has huge high-end ability. She can sprint with the best of them.”

The All-American, who ran a personal-best 2:03.70 last summer, also excels in the 400 and 600. Hewitt said right now Walker could put down a 57.

While Walker said she doesn't really know the people she races against, she has managed to form a friendship with distance standout Hannah DeBalsi of Westport, Conn.

The two met a year ago at an unofficial outing at Harvard. Walker said they connected instantly because of their peculiar personalities.

“We're both kind of weird,” Walker said. “I'm very outwardly weird, she's inwardly weird. That worked.”

Walker said they've stayed in touch through text and Snapchat.

“I know more about her collection of crazy socks,” DeBalsi said, who also wears similar socks when she runs. “I probably have seen a Snapchat of the socks before.”

Both will be headed to Stanford this coming fall.

Walker, who said she hasn't raced DeBalsi yet, said it wouldn't affect their friendship.

“I think we're both just really competitive with ourselves,” Walker said. “I think we don't need to know what other people are doing to know we can also run well. We don't need to know who else is in our race to know we can run fast and win our race.”

The two will be joined by distance standouts Fiona O'Keeffe and Ella Donaghu – the four make up one of the year's best recruiting classes.

“I am beyond excited to be surrounded by so much talent,” DeBalsi said. “I think and hope that we will all be able to push each other to be the best runners and people we can be.”

And don't be surprised if you see a picture surface in the next couple years of the four of them in some crazy costumes on a track.