NHTI Athletic Hall of Fame
Usually we don’t refer to a great student or athlete as a “rebel punk who only cared about partying” as a candidate for an exclusive Hall of Fame. Heather Searles became a standout runner here at the ripe old age of 21 years old after a less than stellar high school academic career where she never participated in athletics.
That is correct. Heather didn’t play sports in high school but went on to win a national championship at NHTI in cross country. She came to NHTI determined to become a dental hygienist, one of the most challenging programs at our school. Heather had to start at the bottom taking many remedial classes, but she was now a very motivated and determined student.
Heather not only became a three time All-American but also a three-time Academic All-American graduating in May of 2009 Heather maintained close to a 4.0 GPA in a very demanding and competitive Dental Hygiene Major. She was a Dean’s List Student and served NHTI as a member of the college president’s Advisory Board.
She served as Captain of the NHTI Women’s XC Team for all three years and her leadership was evident from the first day of practice. She led by example, not wanting so much to verbalize as to demonstrate. Heather worked harder than any member of the team and harder than any member of the men’s team.
Heather ran in three USCAA National Championship races at Southern Virginia University. In 2006, she placed number three. In 2007, Heather was the runner-up. In 2008, she became the National Champion. A young woman from Penn State Wilkes Barre was the prohibitive favorite but Heather won the race.
She is a tremendous story of hard work, patience and dedication with her lack of high school experience. Her National Championship helped promote the NHTI CC teams with Heather serving as our flagbearer.
Heather is still an amazing runner. She continues to compete in local races while contributing time and energy back to our current NHTI cross country program. She continues to “give back” in many ways to the greater Concord community with her charity work.
She has been very successful in the running world with a first-place finish in the Connemara Half Marathon in Ireland in 2010, a third-place finish in the Quebec City Half Marathon in 2013 and a third-place finish in the Reykjavik Half Marathon in 2017.
As you can see, her running success continues. The fire still roars that has helped her to be such a great competitive runner. She has continued to run since her first NHTI CC meet held at Daniel Webster College in Nashua when she finished the race but swallowed a bee at some point during the race. Yours truly took her to the hospital emergency room when she had a reaction to the bee.
Heather lives in Andover Mass with her daughter and works in nearby Methuen, Mass as a Dental Hygienist.
On behalf of NHTI Athletics, let’s welcome Heather Searles on stage for her induction to the NHTI Athletic Hall of Fame
