Newcestown athlete Jane Buckley on fast track to the top

JANE Buckley even surprised herself with her success-laden first year at Providence College in Rhode Island.

The Newcestown athlete, recently turned 20, hit the ground running in her freshman year in the States. Head-turning performances. Big PBs. Her historic Big East Cross-Country Championship win. To cap it all she scooped her college’s Female Athlete of the Year for Individual Sports award.

‘I am very thankful that it worked out for me because it doesn’t always go that way for athletes who move away from home on a scholarship so I am very happy I had a good year,’ Buckley said, as she added a Celtic Ross Hotel West Cork Sports Star monthly award to her growing collection of accolades.

She is heading back across the Atlantic later this month ahead of her sophomore year at Providence College, and she can’t wait to link back up with her coach Ray Treacy and the athletics team.

‘Running is factored into my day over there so I find it a lot easier to balance running, college and other things,’ she explained.

‘Since I have been home I have found it more difficult to train and run by myself, because at Providence it is built into my day and the schedule is mapped out.’

Newcestown’s Jane Buckley with her West Cork Sports Star monthly award for April.

Buckley is an athlete always looking forward to the next challenge and she doesn’t dwell on what she achieved, but it’s important to note her success in her freshman year.

Her victory in the women’s 6k in the Big East Cross-Country Championship put her on the map; only 19 at the time, she was the first Friar (Providence College athlete) freshman – and only second freshman in conference history – to win this race. That was a good day, she modestly added. Her 49th-place finish at the NCAA Cross-Country Championship was also the highest for a Friar since 2015.

‘I loved cross-country because there was no expectation on me because no-one knew who I was,’ she said. While she competes – and impresses – in both cross-country and track, Buckley has a slight preference for the former. It’s always been this way; she remembers when she started athletics late in national school with her twin sister Tara, cross-country grabbed her attention the most. Interesting and fun is how she describes it.

But Buckley also starred on the track at Providence College, and set a new outdoor 5000m PB (15:41.68) at the NCAA qualifiers in May, and indoor PBs in the 1500m, mile and 3000m while in the States. She also raced at NCAA national finals in Texas, finishing 13th. On top of that the Newcestown runner was part of her college’s 4x1500m team that won gold in the Champions of America Division at the prestigious Penn State Relays. In her first year she packed a lot in. Her college thought so too – and she won the Female Athlete of the Year for Individual Sports award.

‘I wasn’t expecting that because there are so many sports in the college and sport is such a big deal there. I was surprised because I didn’t think I’d win it,’ she admitted. Even though she’s home for the summer, and last month secured a top-ten finish in the women’s 5000m final at the European U23s, her mind is already thinking about her return to Rhode Island. She likes the lifestyle, and the importance athletics receives.

‘I will be starting into cross-country when I go back and we hope our team will qualify for the nationals; that would be the main goal. I want to enjoy it too,’ she adds, knowing too that her exploits in the States are making headlines here at home, evidenced by her West Cork Sports Star monthly award.