“She is way beyond a great kid!”

By Mitch Silver

“She is way beyond a great kid!”

That’s John McGee, Rye High girls’ track coach, talking about Garnet long-distance runner Maggie McDermott. “Maggie has been an absolute joy to coach. She is one of the hardest workers and most focused athletes I have ever had.”

The coach was speaking a day after McDermott lowered her Rye High 2,000-meter steeplechase mark by a whopping 11 seconds to 7.29.3 at the Westchester County meet. She’s the school record holder in the 1,500, 1,600, 3,000 and 3,200 as well. And now the whippet-fast senior is also the winner of the Lions Club Athlete of the Month award for May.

“I’m so honored,” she said when she learned of the award. “You know, I’ve always read about the Lions Club winners, about all the academic honors they earned and their many activities outside of school…I looked up to them. And now I’m one of them. It’s thrilling, actually.”

Usually, it’s McDermott doing the thrilling. Rye’s boys’ coach Jim Yedowitz noted, “Maggie has been League Champion seven times in the winter and spring seasons. We keep a Top-10 list for every event going back to 1971, and Maggie’s on it for 18 different races. She’s run the four best steeplechase times in school history. She’s run the two best at 3,200 meters; she holds the record at 10:31.7 and eight of the ten fastest performances in the 3,000.”

Her performances in the classroom make the Top-10 list as well. The Georgetown-bound scholar is a member of both the National Honor Society and the National Music Honor Society (she plays violin in the orchestra), a National Merit Commended Student, and winner of departmental awards in Biology, Physics, and Physical Education. Her AP classes make a list almost as long as her roster of school track records, including Chemistry, Calculus, and Economics.

“I’m a math and science girl,” she said. “I’ll probably major in Biology in college. There are a lot of exciting breakthroughs happening these days.”

For now, though, Maggie still has the Garnet & Black school newspaper sports section to edit, a few Athletes Against Substance Abuse meetings to help organize, and a few more races to run.

Coach Yedowitz offered, “Maggie is the epitome of a team leader in that she motivates and encourages the younger members and shows them how a successful veteran runner conducts herself both in victory and defeat. She has a contagious vitality which allows her to be helpful and caring to the program.”

Coach McGee added, “Yes, the best part of Maggie is her personality. She’s not only been a leader since she joined the team, she’s been willing to compete in any event that would help the Garnets win. Even as she is winding down her senior year, that spirit and focus is still there.”