For Julia Hernández (‘26), an exchange student at Oyster River High School (ORHS), the shift from her casual club track in Salamanca, Spain to the rigorous hurdle practices of ORHS Track and Field Coach Nick Ricciardi was jarring.
The high intensity and frequency of practices, as well as the guidance she received in her training here was a stark contrast to the way she trained in Spain. With Ricciardi’s top-tier hurdles coaching and the support of her teammates, she is confident in her ability to work hard and reach her goals during the upcoming outdoor track and field season.
Hernández started with the ORHS indoor track team this past November, three months after arriving in the United States. She said, “It was really tough the first three months [of school] that I didn’t do a sport. I really missed it. Getting back on the track was so good and I’m so thankful because that’s what gets me moving every day.”
Her hope was to qualify for the post-season meets during indoor track season to then eventually earn herself a place in the indoor track championships in the 55-meter hurdles. However, after missing the qualifying time by one tenth of a second, she was unable to compete with her teammates at the post-season meets. She still attended the championship meet, which only made her ultimate goal even clearer in her mind: to make the outdoor track championships in the 100-meter hurdles and compete alongside some of the best athletes in the state.
Hernández said, “Our girls are so good that they were able to win states, so I want to be a part of that.” She’s passionate about making states primarily because there is no opportunity like that available for her back home in Spain. She says, “We didn’t have school sports, so it was club track which was the only option if you wanted to do sports.”
Anybody could compete in her track meets, even people who didn’t participate in club track, which meant that there was no such thing as scoring points for her team. She said, “It’s obviously impossible to be a national champion so it’s much more difficult to have [the states] experience.”
She estimates that only around a quarter of her school in Spain participated in sports, and the people who did would skip practice often. She says, “When you would have a test you would have to not go to track because you wouldn’t have time [to study] for it. The coach wouldn’t be mad because they knew you had to put school first.”
Coach Ricciardi, on the other hand, does not tolerate any absences or tardiness at all. As he always says, “five minutes early is on time.” Despite not being used to the early practice times with Ricciardi in the U.S., she has been able to adjust quickly and stay on time to practice, no matter how early.
Back in Spain, missing a practice meant Hernández would only be getting one or two more practices that week. They would practice on Mondays, Wednesdays and some Saturdays for an hour and half. Meets would be once every two weeks to a month, meaning there were much fewer chances to compete.
Sports were very self-motivated. The team didn’t do lifts due to their limited time together, but she said, “if people were really good, they would go to the gym by themselves, and their coach would send them things to do.”
Although Hernández did some hurdles during outdoor track season in Spain, her training for indoor was almost entirely for the 55-meter dash and the 300. The only times she trained for hurdles were the practices on the days before the meets.
At Ricciardi’s practices, all of her practices are about hurdles. Hernández says, “I feel like I’m getting better at them because it’s the first time I’m really doing hurdles.”
Sadie McLeod, teammate of Hernández’s, is also a first year hurdler and spoke on how the two worked together on their technique during the indoor season. McLeod says, “We bonded a lot because we were both nervous going into it. Jumping something that high while going at full speed is scary, especially counting your steps…We felt like we weren’t alone, and we felt like we had each other and were learning together.” That bonding led the two to became fast friends, and they’re planning on continuing to practice together during the outdoor season.
Nora Rogers (’26), another teammate, friend, and fellow hurdler participated in states for hurdles last year and is confident in Hernández’s abilities both mentally and physically. She said, “As an athlete she’s determined and works really hard… I think she has that drive to make states in outdoor.”
A member of Hernández’s host family, Teagan Nadeau (’26), said, “I get the perspective of picking her up after practice and she’s like ‘Oh my god I’m so sore! I can’t walk!’” Even out of practice Nadeau says that Hernández thinks a lot about how she can improve. Ricciardi frequently sends videos he finds online to his athletes to demonstrate form and drills, and for Hernández, he sends them through Nadeau, who said that she is equally eager to learn from each video he sends.
That eagerness combined with the new energy she’s gained from coming just short of her previous goal has made Hernández a force to be reckoned with.
With the work that Hernández is putting into hurdling, she is certainly on track to making states. The NHIAA Outdoor Track and Field Division 2 Championship Meet will be held on May 31st at Sanborn High School, just a month before Hernández returns to Spain. Hernández hopes to return to her club team with not just her Oyster River merch, but also with the story of the perseverance that will have led to her impressive accomplishment.
– Sadie Goldberg
Mouth of the River 
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