Few people outside of the Lyndhurst track program were aware of Rola Mustafa before last Monday’s NJIC Championships.
By the end of the meet, Mustafa had delivered the kind of performance that had everyone at Emerson High School taking notice.
Competing in her first NJIC Championships, Mustafa took first place in the 100 Meter High Hurdles and High Jump, while also medaling in the 400 Meter Intermediate Hurdles and the 4×400 Meter Relay.
Mustafa’s breakout day makes her The Observer Athlete of the Week.
“A bunch of coaches didn’t know who she was either. They were like ‘where’d she come from?’” head coach Rich Tuero said. “I’m like, she was here. She just had an unfortunate medical emergency last year that caused her season to end a little short.”
Both Tuero and Mustafa thought this kind of breakout could have happened a season ago. Unfortunately, an emergency appendectomy last April forced Mustafa to miss most of her junior year, including the NJIC Championships.
“I didn’t have a chance to compete in our league meet or any of those meets, so there was a lot of pressure coming into this for me,” said Mustafa. “I felt like I had to show up for myself because I didn’t have an opportunity to compete last year.
“I definitely do feel like it was my little coming out party.”
Mustafa’s day started with a personal best time of 1:13.40 for a fifth place finish in the 400 Meter Intermediate Hurdles, an event she admits isn’t her favorite.
Mustafa followed it with gold in the 100 Meter High Hurdles, first with a personal best 16:30 in the preliminary heat followed by 16:42 in the finals.
Her best performance of the day came in the High Jump where Mustafa set a school record with a jump of 5-2.
“When I cleared 5-2, I was screaming and cheering, then when I went over to Tuero and some of the other kids on my team they’re like, ‘Rola, I think you just tied the school record,’” said Mustafa. “I was like, no way and then when Tuero confirmed it a little while later, it was an amazing feeling. It definitely makes me feel like all the hard work that I put in definitely pays off.”
Mustafa’s day ended as one of the legs of Lyndhurst’s second place 4×400 Meter Relay team.
“Without Rola, we could not win,” Tuero said. “I’m blessed to have these kids and Rola is a huge piece because we could not win without Rola. She’s just like Julia (Tozduman). She’s that valuable to our team.”
For Mustafa, Monday served as a reminder of just how far she’s come. Not just from the appendicitis that ruined her junior season, but her freshman year when she competed in the hurdles for the first time.
“I remember freshman year, my first ever meet. I was in the 400 Meter Hurdles, my first one ever and I fell on the fourth hurdle and I couldn’t finish the race,” Mustafa said. “Then on the high hurdles, I fell on the first third and last hurdle, but managed to finish the race. I was like (Coach Tom Shoebridge) is going to kick me off the team, but he wasn’t upset at all.”
Last year, Mustafa was able to come back from the appendicitis just in time to compete in the state sectional championships and despite not being at 100 percent, was just one-one hundredth away from qualifying for the Group 2 championships.
This time Mustafa will enter the state sectionals with a newfound confidence.
“I have a little bit of a bad habit of being too hard on myself,” Mustafa said. “But the (NJIC) meet made me understand that everything that everyone always said about me and how the coaches always believed in me, it was for a reason. They weren’t just saying that to be nice.”
Learn more about the writer ...
Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)