Dennis molded by fate
This is part of a continuing series of articles spotlighting former Butler County area athletes and what they are doing now.
ADAMS TWP — Lydia Dennis doesn't dwell much on what could have been.
During her junior year at Mars, she was a member of the Planets' WPIAL championship girls soccer team in the fall.
In the spring, she soared in the triple jump and long jump, setting school records that still stand today.
But in the late summer of her senior season, Dennis felt the tell-tale pop of an ACL shredding in her right knee.
It wiped out her soccer season and limited her profoundly during the track and field season.
Still, Dennis had a chance to shine again at the University of Pittsburgh on the track and field team there.
Only again she felt that familiar and heartbreaking pop in the same knee.
She never reached the heights she wanted to in the jumps with the Panthers.
“It was nothing like what I was doing before the injuries,” Dennis said. “My performance in college was not what I expected or what I wanted.”
But Dennis found a way to persevere.
At the end of her senior year at Mars, she was one of 26 athletes to receive the Positive Athlete Award from Positive Athlete Pittsburgh.
“The injuries were definitely difficult, but I learned a lot about myself,” Dennis said. “I learned to accept what is out of my control and what I can't change.”
Dennis was one of four Mars soccer players to tear an ACL during a span of just a few months.
Karli Paracca, Maggie Sarver and Olivia Haefner were the others.
“I was the last one,” Dennis said. “I had just gone through three weeks of two-a-days when I tore it. I put in all that work and didn't get to enjoy any of the fun.”
These days Dennis is giving back to track and field as an assistant coach for Mars.She instructs the jumpers and helps out with the hurdlers as she finishes up her Certified Public Accountant exams at Pitt.“I enjoy coaching,” Dennis said. “I hurdled a little bit in college when I ran the heptathlon, so I helped out with the hurdlers a little bit.“I was a speed jumper,” Dennis added. “I got a lot of distance just whipping myself down the runway, so sometimes it's difficult for me to coach the jumpers on technique because I was all about speed.”Dennis said her biggest coaching influence was Mars girls soccer coach Blair Gerlach.She tries to emulate his style now when she coaches.“He made everything fun,” Dennis said. “I thank Blair a lot. To this day he's the favorite coach I ever had.”Dennis was also a talented soccer player. As a striker, she used her speed to pressure the defense.“I loved soccer,” she said. “I started playing when I was 5. I signed up the first day I could. Soccer taught me how to be tough and conquer adversity. We'd play soccer for five hours a night. It taught me work ethic.”In fact, Dennis only participated in track and field at first to stay in shape for soccer.It turned into much more.In middle school, Dennis' first attempt in the triple jump measured at 33 feet, which would have been close to setting the high school record at the time.That's when she knew maybe track and field was where she could leave her biggest mark.She parlayed her performances in the jumps to a scholarship at Pitt.Now she is on the verge of starting her career as an accountant.“My family is full of accountants,” Dennis said. “Figuring out number puzzles makes Lydia happy.”
