IN THE FAST LANE: Zach Della Rocca, right, sprints to the finish line in a race this spring during his freshman season for the Princeton University men’s track team. Former Princeton High star Della Rocca will be running on the international stage next week as he competes for Athletics Australia at the World Athletics U20 Championships which are taking place in Lima, Peru, from August 27-31. (Photo provided courtesy of Princeton Athletics)

By Justin Feil

Zach Della Rocca’s progress in his first college track and field year opened the door for his first international competition.

The Princeton High product made big leaps in his first year across town at Princeton University to put himself in position to compete for Athletics Australia at the World Athletics U20 Championships which are taking place in Lima, Peru from August 27-31.

“I haven’t even really been able to truly process it,” said Della Rocca. “It’s such a proud moment. In terms of my goals going into this year, this is like the very top of the list. Right now I’m just really focusing on training, not thinking too much about it and getting too stressed out so that I can really perform and show up and be a good teammate for these guys and we can really do some big things down there.”

Della Rocca will be a member of Australia’s 4×100 men’s relay. He could not attend Australia’s U20 national meet that determined their top two finishers in each event to go to worlds, but he was selected for the team by Athletics Australia based on his performances over the last year.

“It’s such a huge achievement,” said Della Rocca. “It’s such a huge moment to even get to step foot on the track there, so I really want to do my part and make them proud.”

Della Rocca has had a lot to be proud of over the last year. Since developing rapidly at PHS as he embraced his track potential, Della Rocca came farther than he anticipated in his first year at Princeton. In his first season, he tied the Ivy League record with a 6.67-second finish in the 60-meter dash in the preliminary round of the Ivy League Indoor Heptagonal Championships.

“That was a pretty big moment for me,” said Della Rocca. “It was a high pressure moment for me because it was my first indoor Ivy championships and I really wanted to focus and do well for the team. I had set my mind to just want to perform well and then actually doing it is a proud moment.”

This past spring, Della Rocca ran a personal-record 10.27 seconds in the 100 meters for the top preliminary time in the Ivy League Heptagonal Outdoor Track & Field Championships. He ended up placing second in the 100 final in a time of 10.40. In the 200, he set a personal record of 20.67 in the first round but was unable to start in the final. Della Rocca competed in the 200 meters in the NCAA East Region meet to conclude his first year of college competition. He placed 34th in a time of 21.01.

“I thought it went great,” said Della Rocca. “I had my expectations and goals going in and I went so far past them, to an amount that I would have never even been able to even think about doing coming in as a freshman. It’s definitely been a hard adjustment, been a hard environment to start in, but it’s amazing what the team and what I’ve been able to do this this year.”

Della Rocca’s improvements earned him a spot on Team Australia. Della Rocca’s father was born in Australia and he got his citizenship there as well. Della Rocca has family in the country as well. In late June, he traveled to the country’s Gold Coast for a five-day camp with the U20 team. It was important to him to be there.

“They already had it pre-planned to be in the Gold Coast because it will mimic the temperature and climate that will be in Lima,” said Della Rocca. “And as an outsider, especially being from America, I felt it was really my responsibility to go and be with them and get to know the team rather than just showing up in Peru with a whole new team and a whole new environment. So I’m really glad I went because I think it’ll really help us perform better in Peru.”

He is looking forward to the chance to compete again, this time on the world stage. He is also hopeful to have a chance to explore Lima if time permits.

“It’s probably all business,” said Della Rocca. “We have a pretty tight schedule in terms of training and then recovery in the afternoon, but I think there will be opportunities to maybe walk around a little bit around Lima, but they’re going to want us pretty tightly organized in terms of what we do once we move into the World Athletics hotels during the week of competition. I know that’s really got a lot more strict competition focused space. But I’m hoping I get to explore a little bit of the city. That’d be nice.”

Della Rocca is one of three Princeton University athletes competing in the U20 Championships from the men’s team. Xavier Donaldson will run for the United States and Jackson Clarke will compete for Guyana. The three freshmen are part of a strong class of sprinters for the Tigers.

“I knew we were good, but I had no idea we would be that good,” said Della Rocca. “I know for a lot of us like coming out of high school, we weren’t top recruits. We weren’t anywhere close. I dropped a second this year for my high school time, which is pretty ridiculous. And that’s a similar story for Jackson Clark. Coming in,

it was a big surprise. We knew we were good runners, but we had no idea the potential that could happen even in just one year. So it’s been a really nice surprise.”

Now they will have the chance to show off on the international stage, just weeks after the Paris Olympics. Princeton University sprints coach Robert Abdullah has been giving them workouts, and Della Rocca has been making the short trip over to Princeton to work out on the track and in the weight room. Della Rocca felt like he benefited from the move to college training this year.

“I think the biggest difference is the culture and the environment, especially with my teammates,” said Della Rocca. “Everyone is so driven, so competitive, so talented and you’re working with them every single day. You know they’re always with you and that really makes you compete harder and practice a lot harder and really focus on your goals. And then when you get distracted or you go into hard times, they keep you focused. That’s really what’s been the most helpful for me in keeping me on track, because with academics especially you can get really stressful points. I’d say that’s really what brings this to the next level and allows me to compete at the next level.”

Della Rocca, an economics major, had to balance a rigorous academic load with training for track. It was a difficult adjustment, but something that again relied on the team’s help.

“It was like a whole other level and I know a lot of freshmen, including myself, were really struggling at first,” said Della Rocca. “But then the team, our coaches, our advisors, they helped us through it, which is just really great and we all got through.”

They came out on the other side of the initial adjustment stronger and faster. Della Rocca wasn’t sure what sort of impact he would be able to have in his first year at Princeton, but it didn’t take long for him to find his stride on the track.

“Seeing that you can compete with college athletes, and once you start to realize that I can compete well against them too, the amount of extra motivation that you get and amount of confidence that you get going into it, that’s when I started to realize I could potentially score at the Ivy League championships, I could go to NCAAs. Once I had that first meet and you realize you can actually compete against them, the confidence you get from that really propelled me into the future meets.”

That’s not something that Della Rocca expected coming out of PHS. He hadn’t seen the caliber of competitor that he routinely ran into in college.

“These big school names that you see, like Villanova, Georgia, when you see them it’s terrifying at first, but then you realize you can do it and that’s really a huge moment for all of us,” said Della Rocca. “And that really gives you so much confidence.”

Della Rocca credits his improvements to the training environment as well as focusing on some important changes.

“Definitely starts was a big one,” said Della Rocca. “My starts in high school were really bad, so working on that a lot helped a lot and then just really focusing on my form itself, like keeping my face relaxed, helped. It’s just really focusing how to use my energy efficiently, which was something I didn’t even touch in high school. And it makes such a huge difference.”

He will put all that he has worked on into his U20 racing before he returns to continue his development at Princeton. He is looking forward to representing the Tigers and Australia well at worlds. The U20 Championships will put a cap on his first year of college running, and propel him into his second year. His initial success has expanded his outlook for his college career at Princeton.

“Definitely my goals have changed a lot,” said Della Rocca. “I want to go a lot further. I want to go to the NCAAs and championships. I want to finally win at Ivies because I’ve gotten first in the prelim three times and never won the finals. My goals have definitely changed. Of course, I want a PR in everything and do the best I can and just keep going forward.”