Track & Field: Higginson goes the extra mile

Recently, Higginson, co-captain of the women’s track team, finished in fifth place at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in the women’s 3,000m run, earning All-America honors. Her run of success, however, dates much further back than her senior year of college.

Hailing from the nearby town of Colts Neck, N.J., roughly a 40-minute drive from campus, Higginson gained distinct recognition as a runner almost immediately after she began the sport. She started attending Princeton’s summer track camps after her sophomore year of high school and immediately “hit it off with [head] coach [Peter] Farrell,” she said.

Higginson, who is known for her modesty and humble nature, described her college selection process as somewhat typical.

“Princeton is an incredible place, and no one thinks they just deserve it.”

Farrell, however, was more demonstrative in his characterization.

“She’s a stellar kid,” Farrell said. “She was probably one of the highest sought-after recruits in high school. But she chose Princeton, and we were very fortunate that she chose Princeton.”

“I was very impressed with her as a high school senior, as a camper,” Farrell continued.

“I knew right then and there that she had leadership potential, leadership skills. When she was a high school senior she said that her goal was to score for Princeton in the [Heptagonal Championships] — not many students know what the Heps is, meaning that she was more savvy than the average kid coming in and she knew enough to make Princeton’s priorities her own priorities.”

Even before she came to campus, Higginson created buzz among the Princeton athletic community. In her senior year of high school, she ran in the Sam Howell Invitational, a 5K held at Princeton that year. She finished second, a surprising result given the competition: collegiate cross-country runners from around the country, including Princeton’s entire team, all of whom she outpaced.

Higginson’s success accumulated in a noteworthy fashion as her career ensued. Her freshman year she was honored as a second-team All-Ivy League selection in cross country; that same year she moved up to a first team All-Ivy selection for the 5,000m run in outdoor track and field. Since her freshman spring season, Higginson has been a first-team All-Ivy selection in cross-country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field in every season.

Most notable of Higginson’s successes, however, is the remarkable versatility she demonstrates: She has been honored with All-Ivy selections for her running in the 5K and the 3,000m; she was awarded All-America honors by the NCAA for finishing third place at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the steeplechase, a 3,000m run with obstacles — all in addition to her recent selection by the NCAA this past month.

Much of her success can be attributed to her regimented but practical training program. Ashley runs 70–80 miles a week, but “she’s not maniacal about her training,” Farrell said.

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“She knows her body very well to know what she can and cannot handle,” he said. “She’s mature enough to know when to back off ... but she still trains as hard as anyone.”

Nevertheless, what is most important to Higginson is the legacy she leaves on this team as a co-captain and a senior leader.

“What I’m going to remember here,” she said, ”[are] the captains ahead of me and how they created this for me ... Hopefully I can keep creating something for the younger girls.”

“Particularly right now, she shows the young kids how to compete, how to go up to the line,” Farrell said. “To me, that’s invaluable.”

Higginson, a politics major, will pursue law school following her graduation this spring. But first she intends to train for the Olympic trials final round next year in Eugene, Ore.

“There are 12 women in that final round vying for three spots,” Farrell said. “And I think she’ll get [to the final round]. It’s up to her to see what happens from there.”