GORHAM — Hannah Wiley of Arundel is rewriting the University of Southern Maine track & field record book. And she’s only a freshman. She just wrapped up a year in which she broke four indoor school records and six outdoor school records, and she collected more awards than the movie Titanic.

“It was quite a remarkable year for a first-year student,” said USM track coach George Towle. “We’ve certainly never had a freshman of this caliber. If you look at the NCAA across the country, she certainly was one of the top freshmen at the national level.”

Wiley competed in the Division III NCAA Championships, where she was a finalist in the 400m hurdles and finished 10th in the Long Jump with a school record jump of 5.71 meters. Her jump was the best of any freshman in the field. She qualified for the nationals by winning the 400m hurdles and coming in second in the Long Jump at the D-III New England Championships.

Wiley also competed at the D-III NCAA Indoor Championships, where she became the first USM women’s track athlete to compete in two events at the same indoor championships. Wiley was the lone freshman in the Triple Jump, placing 14th, and ran in the prelims of the 400m dash.

“I was so surprised, and I was even more surprised when I got to nationals,” Wiley said of making it to the indoor nationals. “I felt really calm before I went on the plane, and then as soon as I stepped on the plane I was like ‘this is actually happening.’ So I got to the meet and it was the coolest experience ever.”

While her performance at the indoor nationals wasn’t what she had hoped, Wiley still enjoyed the moment and took in the gravity of her accomplishment. She also used the experience to be more prepared for the outdoor nationals.

“I was definitely a lot more confident for the outdoor nationals than I was for indoor,” said Wiley.

Wiley is a 2010 graduate of Thornton Academy, after starting her high school career at Kennebunk. She took a year off from track after switching colleges last year. She didn’t really begin training again until just before the cross country season this past fall.

“Our plans were to use cross country just to get her foundation back, and she ended up in our top five. So that was a bit of a pleasant surprise,” said Towle. “Then within two weeks we had her on hurdles, and that’s when we started to realize that she could be something special.”

“That time off I really missed track and its competitiveness,” said Wiley.

And as far as what she thought her freshman season would bring, she said, “I didn’t have any expectations, because taking a year off I didn’t ever think I could make it to nationals for both indoor and outdoor.”

Even for people that did have expectations for Wiley, she certainly exceeded them. She holds USM indoor records in the 200m dash, 400m dash, Triple Jump, and as part of the 800m relay team. She upped that in the outdoor season by breaking records in the 100m and 200m dashes, the 100m and 400m hurdles, and the Long Jump and Triple Jump.

Even more than just an outstanding runner and jumper, Wiley also puts the “student” in student-athlete. If freshmen could be named Academic All-Americans, than Wiley would be able to add that to her already overflowing mantle. That will just have to wait until next year.

“It feels good knowing that you’re getting good grades, and that you’re achieving what you want to do as far as creating your career. If I wasn’t doing well in school, then I wouldn’t be able to run,” said Wiley. “Making sure that my grades stay up, and knowing that there’s also awards like Academic All-American or Academic Athlete of the Year, that also helps me strive to be a better student-athlete.”

While Wiley has three more years to break more records and collect more hardware, her ultimate goal would top all of that.

“My goal is to make it to the Olympic Trials my senior year, and I want to do it for the 400 (meter) hurdles.”

A lofty goal, but for what Wiley has accomplished in such a short amount of time, it might not seem that farfetched.

— Contact Wil Kramlich at 282-1535, Ext. 323.