Maggie Lepley, a Lynn native, is having the time of her life as an assistant track and field coach at Wellesley College.
An applied behavior analysis (ABA) specialist at the Joseph Lee K-8 School in Boston, Lepley completed her master’s degree in behavior analysis in the spring of 2024 at Salem State, then found she had “a lot more free time on her hands.”
She started scouring the internet for coaching opportunities. When she saw that Wellesley was looking for a throwing coach, she jumped at the chance.
“I was itching to get back into the track and field world so when I saw they were looking and you only needed experience as a thrower, I applied,” Lepley said. “I did a phone interview with Coach Phil Jennings and then met for an on-campus interview and a little while after that, they offered me the job.”
A 2013 graduate of Bishop Fenwick, Lepley served as captain of the winter and spring track teams as a senior, posting personal bests of 33-00 in the shot put, 107-01 in the javelin, 115-00 in the hammer, and 39-07 in the weight throw. Then-Fenwick coach, now Peabody coach Jay Smith coached her during her four years on the teams.
“She was a multiple-nationals qualifier in the weight and hammer,” Smith said. “She twice qualified for nationals in the javelin.”
A graduate of St. Pious V School, Lepley moved on to Stonehill College where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English. Lepley was a four-year member of the women’s track and field team. She competed in the 20lb weight throw, javelin, and 4k hammer throw events. Stonehill won seven NE-10 Championships during Lepley’s eight seasons on the indoor and outdoor teams.
Lepley also got the job done in the classroom, earning multiple NE-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll and Athletic Director Honor Roll honors. She also earned a Division 2 ADA Academic Achievement Award.
Smith said he continued to help her during her Stonehill years where Lepley threw the indoor weight throw (PR 46-06.7) and outdoor javelin (PR 112-10) and hammer, setting a school record (140-08) at the Minuteman Invitational in April, 2016. Lepley often trained with the Peabody High boys’ throwers under the watchful eye of Smith while on spring breaks. During her four years at Stonehill, the Skyhawks won multiple NE-10 track championships.
“We learned how to use video,” Smith joked. “I think she was in their record books at one time in the hammer. She really had a brilliant career at Stonehill.”
Her favorite events at Stonehill were the hammer and weight.
“I think it’s because I really got the technique down in high school from Coach Smith,” Lepley said. “He taught us proper techniques early so I feel I had a nice advantage going into college. Those events aren’t really high school events, so many kids go into college having not thrown those events, but because I had that knowledge, it gave me the confidence, especially in my junior and senior years l when I had most of my success.”
Lepley was hired at Wellesley in November. She wasted no time jumping in and it didn’t take long for the Blue throwers to see success.
“I had five throwers and, right from the start, they started getting PRs, some of them pretty big ones in the weight throw,” Lepley said. “We definitely had good success with one thrower only three centimeters from qualifying for New Englands. We’ve also seen success in the shot put.”
Now that Wellesley’s indoor season has ended, Lepley said the team has already made the transition to the spring season working with the team on shot put, hammer, discus, and javelin. She is looking forward to the Blue’s first meet of the outdoor season – the Tufts Snowflake Classic on March 29.
“I’m loving what I’m doing at Wellesley and cannot wait for the first meet,” she said. “While it would be great to get a lot of PRs, I just want the athletes to get their confidence so they can carry that through the season. I feel it’s important to set that feeling right away to set them up for the rest of the season.”
Lepley said one of the challenges she faces as a coach at one of the most selective schools in the United States is recruiting.
“So far, I have met with two recruits who were facilitated by Phil,” she said. “It’s kind of hard to recruit because Wellesley is so selective. Whether the recruits get in is up to admissions. The kids still have to be accepted. I know that if we get a couple of kids we’ve been talking to in, we will be in great shape going forward, so I’m really excited about that.”
