Few 27-year-old math teachers find themselves chasing an Olympic dream, but Long Island’s Lauren Harris is not following a typical script. After years of hesitation and stops and starts, her long-delayed pursuit of the sport’s biggest stage is finally gaining momentum.
Harris, a standout American racewalker ranked No. 34 in the world, has built a résumé that includes multiple U.S. records across events ranging from the 5K to the half marathon. Now, with qualifying races set for December, she is positioning herself as a serious hopeful for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“That’s the ultimate goal,” the Center Moriches High School educator told The Post. “I keep saying: I’m all in for these Olympics and trying to make it.”
It is a striking shift for the former Sachem East and Marist track athlete, who once appeared ready to leave competitive racewalking behind after college rather than fully commit to the grind.
“I just wasn’t mature enough yet, I think, to fully commit myself to the sport,” she said.
Stumble along the way
That uncertainty dates back to her high school days. Harris once landed in trouble for skipping track practice to attend a basketball game with friends, avoiding dismissal from the team only after reading an apology letter aloud to her teammates and coaches.
Even when Harris struggled to give racewalking her full focus, two-time Olympian Maria Michta-Coffey — a local legend and the wife of Harris’ coach, Joseph Coffey — recognized that the young athlete had rare ability.
“She really had quite a bit of talent as a high schooler,” said Michta-Coffey, who works as a physician assistant at South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore.
It was still pulling teeth to get Harris to reach her full potential after college, as she would flake on Michta-Coffey, who was more than willing to train a next-generation protégé.
“The level of like, ‘I’m tired, I’m sleeping in, I’m not going to meet you for practice today,’ ” Michta-Coffey recalled. “Or, like, ‘Oops, sorry, this didn’t work out, or I’m hanging out with people tonight, so it’s not going to work out tomorrow.’ ”
Harris ended up taking about three years off from the sport in 2021 while starting up her teaching career — a financial necessity as racewalking alone can’t make ends meet.
“Things kind of just spiraled downhill,” Michta-Coffey said of Harris’ athletic career. “My husband and I would lament how she had this talent that got away. ‘Could you imagine how good she could be? She has all this potential, too bad.’ We just couldn’t get it right on track.”
Harris couldn’t truly stay away for good, though, and found herself coaching up-and-coming youth runners and walkers for a love of the game. She even volunteered with Sachem coach Daniel Schaub, who was the one ready to toss her off the team a few short years prior.
“I showed up to the meets, and it was so exciting,” Harris said of rekindling her racewalking love around 2024.
Watching the Paris Games that summer with a coulda-woulda-shoulda mindset was another factor.
“Then it’s like, I’m running every day, I’m in shape,” she said. “Why don’t I just get back into walking and feel this joy of racing again?”
Best foot forward
She pulled out the stops and went all in, intending to qualify for the World Championships in Tokyo last September.
“I had one year basically to become top 50 in the world,” Harris said.
When she wasn’t teaching, she was training — hitting both the pavement and track by her Lindenhurst apartment while wowing Michta-Coffey with the suddenly unbreakable champion’s mentality.
“If anything, I have to be the one to keep her in check and hold her back,” Michta-Coffey proudly said, calling Harris’ change of heart “unparalleled.”
Making the top 50 worldwide turned into a piece of cake. Harris finished 27th in Tokyo last year and 13th in the 2026 World Championships in Brazil.
“I found some intrinsic motivation that I didn’t have prior,” she said.
Now everybody from Michta-Coffey to her school to neighbors, sponsors and local fans are all in on Harris’ success and Olympic pursuit.
Especially her mom and dad, Gina and Todd.
Gina handles the “behind-the-scenes stuff” such as having groceries available for her daughter, while Todd won’t miss a moment of training come hell or high water — literally.
Harris’ dad rides his bike alongside her while she hits the road no matter the conditions, like last winter when she braved a nine-miler during freezing rain.
“He went out and got a yellow giant rainsuit. He looked like Big Bird, and he put it on and was biking next to me,” Harris said with a laugh. “And he’s been to every country with me: China, Japan, everywhere, Finland. He does not miss anything. I know how proud he is of me.”
