By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Running all began on the middle school cross country team for Franklin’s Ella Chandaria, and although the young runner was hoping to join the track team when she arrived at the high school, she hit somewhat of a snag. Unfortunately, during her eighth-grade season COVID-19 ravaged the country and sports, along with a lot of other things were put on hold. 

Eventually, things got back to somewhat of a normalcy and the Franklin resident was able to try out for the high school track team, where she would run the 4 x 200 relay as well as the hurdles.

“Originally, I was just hoping to have fun while running with friends. It wasn’t supposed to be anything serious, but I found that I really liked it, so much I gave up cheerleading to focus on track,” Chandaria said. “Hurdles were not something I was even thinking about, but Coach (Paul) Trovato threw me in there, thinking that I’d do good.”

In the beginning, Chandaria was more than terrified with the newly appointed event and found herself just running and jumping over the hurdles, but by the end of the year, she had figured out the sport.

“By no means is it an easy event, but with training you eventually learn the proper form, endurance and speed of the event,” she said. “By my indoor season during my sophomore year I had finally gotten it down. I prefer the 400-meter hurdles to the 100 as it gives you the opportunity to get your rhythm down with the hurdles spaced further apart.”

Although now a senior participating on the Franklin track team, Chandaria is a contributing member who had been living in the shadows of an All-American hurdler.

“On any other team, Ella is a record holder in the hurdles, but unfortunately Sarah Dumas, who is now running at the University of Pennsylvania, was taking part in the same event,” Panther Coach Trovato said. “Now that Sarah has moved on, Ella has taken the opportunity to finally emerge as a Hockomock Champion.”

Trovato noted that when he first put Chandaria in the hurdles, it was somewhat of a learning curve for the then freshman; thankfully she was able to learn while watching one of the best hurdlers in the state.

“I firmly believe that she really learned a lot by practicing with Sarah on a daily basis,” the Franklin Coach said. “They brought out the best in each other and now that Sarah has moved on, Ella has grabbed the torch and is running with it.”

While many athletes may not have taken the situation so lightly, Chandaria took it with a grain of salt and used it as a learning experience.

 “Having Sarah in front of me was a good thing,” she said. “For three years I got to train and run with her and accomplish something that I never thought possible. I like to think that she also got better because I was running on her tail; it was something that we both benefited from.”

The senior went on to say that she truly doesn’t believe that she would have progressed as fast as she did without having Dumas pushing her.

As a three-time Franklin Outstanding Spirit Award recipient as well as a three-time Hockomock League All-Star, Chandaria knew that her final season running with the Panthers was going to be one that would be totally different.

“With Sarah gone, I knew that although all the pressure was not going to be placed on my shoulder, I did know that I was going to be counted on to step up to help this team to succeed,” the senior said. “I like the push it has given me, but I also enjoy helping the younger girls starting to pick-up the hurdles.”

Coming into her final year with Franklin, Chandaria was looking to improve her throwing bests in the shotput and discus. She was looking to get her shotput above 35 feet and her discus over 115 feet; she is close to both of those throws at the time of this writing. In addition to the throwing and running events, the Franklin senior has competed in both the Heptathlon, where her best point total is 3458, and the pentathlon (2656 points). 

When the spring season finally comes to an end and she graduates, Chandaria will be taking her skills to Providence College, where she will be looking to help the Friars in the Big East Conference.