Entering her eighth-grade year, Caroline Schleif, a promising swimmer and runner, reached a crossroads in her young life, both figuratively and literally.
During a family vacation that summer in Arizona, Schleif was walking along a path with her sibling when she was injured in a freak accident.
“I was playing around with my brother and wasn’t really paying attention when the walkway split into two and I fell into a cactus,” Schleif recalled. “We were in our own little world.”
Schleif thought little of what proved to be a fateful brush with the prickly plant until she learned months later that one or more of the cactus spines, still lodged in her right ring finger, had become infected.
In excruciating pain, Schleif consulted a physician who informed her the infection put her in danger of losing the finger. After undergoing surgery, Schleif’s right hand was placed in a cast up to her forearm.
Unable to get the cast wet, Schleif’s time in the pool as an active member of the Metuchen-Edison YMCA and Edgar Middle School swim teams was put on hold for a month.
“Before then I was swimming really well,” recalled Schleif, who was never able to return to her true form in the pool that year. “Instead of swimming, I was doing dryland and I was running. I really saw I started focusing more on running. After training and doing a lot more running, I was able to have a really successful eighth grade (outdoor) track season.”
Schleif went on to become a two-sport athlete at Metuchen High School. She enjoyed success in the pool, on the track and on the cross country course. After leading Metuchen to sectional and state cross country championships as a freshman and winning the Greater Middlesex Conference individual cross country title as a sophomore, it became evident Schleif was on her way to becoming a three-season scholastic runner.
“She was a very dedicated athlete, both to her running and swimming,” Metuchen swim coach Jim Thomas said. “She always wanted to swim and still loves swimming, but she’s a better runner.”
Schleif blossomed into one of the state’s best distance and middle-distance runners, setting school records in the 1600 (indoor) and 800 (indoor and outdoor) and being part of Metuchen’s Middlesex County indoor record-setting All-American distance medley relay unit.
The two-time state group 1600- and 3200-meter indoor champion led Metuchen to sectional and group titles this past winter and helped the team place second over the weekend in the outdoor sectionals.
The sport is taking the multi-talented senior to Columbia University, where Schleif will continue her athletic and academic career as an Ivy League student pursuing a degree in engineering.
Owner of a 4.4742 weighted grade point average, Schleif balances extensive extracurricular activities with work and community service.
She is president of the Science National Honor Society, a member of the National Honor Society and an AP Scholar with nearly a dozen AP classes under her belt.
Schleif, whose impressive resume is as long as the 800-meter race she won over the weekend, has been named the recipient of a Marisa Tufaro Foundation Greater Middlesex Conference Student-Athlete Scholarship.
A member of Girl Scout Troop 80612 currently working on an 80-hour project toward her Gold Award, Schleif has been a volunteer counselor at Camp Mason and serves this year as a high school peer leader.
She volunteers at the YMCA as president of the Teen Leaders Club, which organizes and runs events for children, and as a youth track and field coach.
“It felt good to give back to the community and work in a sport that taught me many life lessons and played a role in shaping who I am today,” Schleif said. “I want to inspire children at the Y. Through track and field, children can improve not only their physical abilities but their self-confidence and resilience. I want children to have the best experience possible. I make it my goal to put a smile on everyone’s face, allowing them to feel welcome and have an enriching experience.”
Schleif, who still swims, mostly as cross-training, is omnipresent around Metuchen, a town whose two square mile radius the young runner is frequently seen traversing.
Under the tutelage of Marty and Kelli Holleran, the Metuchen girls and boys track programs have a reputation and tradition of being among New Jersey’s strongest, as the small-school Bulldogs prove they can run with the big dogs.
“It’s exciting to be a part of the program,” Schleif said. “The Hollerans definitely push us to be our best and they allow us to reach our potential. They give us great training advice. It’s just an amazing community to be a part of. I like that we are a smaller town. The team is very close because it’s small. We all work hard. We all want to become better for each other, to be the best we can. In a championship race, we lift each other up.”
Metuchen’s season continues with the upcoming state group meet, where the oval track, unlike that walkway in Arizona, won’t split into two, but will provide a series of left turns for Schleif in her running events.
If the Bulldogs can win a state title, Schleif might have a ring to place on that once-injured finger.