Rider’s Gardner stars in track and fashion modeling
LAWRENCEVILLE » Whether she’s trying to clear 10 hurdles in under 14 seconds or walking a runway in Paris or Milan, Sara Gardner knows there’s one thing the two passions in her life have in common.
“I hope I don’t fall,” she said with a laugh.
The Rider University senior balances her time as an elite college hurdler and a high-end fashion model.
“There was a lot of going to practice and then my mom would pick me up, we would go to the city to go to the calls, come back and do it all over again,” said Gardner, who started modeling during her freshman year at Delaware Valley High School. “In college, I made the decision that when I’m here, it’s all about track, and that’s how I want it to be.”
It’s brought her to the cusp of a spot in the NCAA Championships.
Gardner will be the lone Rider representative at the East Regional in Tampa this weekend when she competes in the 100 meter hurdles. To earn an automatic place at the NCAA meet, Gardner needs to secure a top-12 finish among the field of 48 competitors.
Gardner posted a 13.41 PR in a winning performance at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships earlier this month in what has been a huge season for her (she’s already graduated with a degree in communications but will return next season as a graduate student for her final year of eligibility). She ran 13.63 at the Georgia Tech Invite and followed that up with a sixth-place finish at the Penn Relays in 13.51.
“As an athlete, you’re never fully satisfied, so you’re never right where you want to be,” Gardner said. “I’m very happy with where I’m at at 13.41. It gives me a great feeling going into this, but I think there’s always room for improvement.”
She’ll have her work cut out in Tampa where she’s been placed in a very difficult heat with five of the eight runners having clocked a faster time than her this season. The top three in each heat plus the next six best times advance to the four quarterfinal heats. The top three in each quarterfinal automatically make the NCAA field.
The 100 meter hurdles, however, is the most unpredictable event on the card.
“You have those barriers and anything can happen,” Gardner said. “You can hit a hurdle and that can take off a tenth of a second. I think it’s about making sure I get a good start and just race. If I think about all the things that could go wrong, I would drive myself crazy.
“When it comes to racing, I expect the best from myself. I think (the coaches) don’t put any extra pressure on me because there’s that natural pressure there because it’s the biggest stage I’ve ever been on.”
Away from the track, Gardner is accustomed to the bright lights of the fashion world. She travelled much of her sophomore year of high school for modeling jobs, including a trip to Paris. “I like cried when I left. It was beautiful there,” she said. (Yes, sometimes she gets to keep the clothes even if they aren’t always practical for day-today wear).
She’s continued to work for NYC-based Red Model Management while balancing life as a student-athlete. Gardner is permitted by the notoriously stuffy NCAA to take modeling jobs and get paid for them because she’s not using her
likeness as a Rider track athlete.
Together her passions have shaped her into the person before you.
“If anything it has given me a bit of thicker skin because it is a tough world,” Gardner said. “When I first started, I had very thin skin and it took me a while to realize that you have to have thick skin if you’re going to make it through this. I think my parents, hands down, were incredibly supportive. I would come home sometimes and be like, ‘I don’t think I’m cut out for this,’ and my mom and dad would be like, ‘It’s OK, we’ll get through it.’”
Her attitude has impressed head coach Bob Hamer.
“Don’t let this little glowy, happy face kid fool you, she’s a fierce competitor,”
the 10th-year coach said. “That’s what makes her great. She races every single time like it’s the championship race, so when she gets an opportunity like this, yeah it’s a big-time race, but she’s been in big races the last four weeks with lots of pressure and circumstances.”
Once the season ends, whether it be this weekend or at the NCAA Championships the first full week of June, Gardner still has plenty to look forward to.
“I just want to come off this year, keep my head in the game and train over the summer and run really hard next year,” she said. “Whatever happens after that, whether it be modeling or not, I’ll make that decision then.”