‘70S ERA WOMEN TO BE FEATURED IN THE 2026 MERCER TRACK H.O.F. CLASS
- Mar 6
- 4 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Published 3/6/26
The Mercer County Track and Field Hall of Fame’s 2026 induction class is comprised of extraordinary individuals in track and cross country. Among the 18 inductees who will be honored at the hall’s 3rd annual awards banquet are five women from the county’s pioneer era of girl’s sport—The 1970s.
The ‘70s five are some of the best to ever come out of Mercer County New Jersey. The quintet is comprised of Trenton Central’s Dorothea Smith (Class of 1977) and Gina Nelson Holloway (Class of 1979), along with Lawrence High’s trio of Lori Dowers (Class of 1979), Kimberly Hatchett (1980) and Karen Hatchett Pavlin (1980).
In a girls track program with a storied history, sprinters Dorothea Smith and Gina Nelson became Trenton Central’s first ever girls state champions when they both won titles at the 1977 state meet. Smith won the Group IV 220 Yard Dash and Nelson took the Group IV 100 Yard Dash.
Smith was also the 220 Mercer County Champion in both 1975 and 1977. She held the Trenton school record at that distance until future Olympian Wenda Vereen broke it in 1982. She was part of two Mercer championship 440 Yard Relay teams for the Tornados., one of which was anchored by Nelson.
Nelson was both county and sectional 100 Yard champion in ’77 to go along with her state title. From 1977 to ’78 she was a member of 4 county and sectional championship relays. She earned all of her many accomplishments while simultaneously being a member of the varsity cheerleading squad for TCHS.
Both Nelson and Smith finished runner-up at the 1977 Meet of Champions in their respective events.
Lawrence High's girls track team in the late 1970s was led by Coach Jo Ann Couglin-Groeger, and her group attained historic results. In 1979, the Lady Cardinals team won both the Sectional and the State Championships for Group II. The squad was led by speedster Lori Dowers, and twin sisters Kim and Karen Hatchett.
Dowers was a sprint sensation for Lawrence. A master of the 100/220 yard sprint double, she was the first female athlete in county meet history to win back-to-back doubles when she swept the 100 and 220 at the Mercer Championships in both 1978 and 1979.
In sectional competition Dowers won her first Central Jersey title as a junior--in the 220 in spring of '78. In '79 as a senior she repeated as 220 sectional champ and added the 100 title to complete another major double win.
Her greatest double occurred at the 1979 Group II State Meet. She she took gold in both sprints to help lift Lawrence’s team to the state crown.
Dowers went on to compete collegiately for the Hornets of Delaware State University. In 1980 she gained college All-American honors in the 60 Meter Dash when she finished in 3rd place at the women’s indoor national track
and field championships.
It's no surprise sisters Kim and Karen Hatchett were so highly accomplished in sports. Their late father William "Bucky" Hatchett is the only student-athlete in Rutgers University history to be inducted into the Scarlet Knight Athletic Hall of Fame in two sports--football and basketball.
His daughters followed in his footsteps.
Kim Hatchett was Lawrence’s first ever track state champion. She was the Group II winner of the high jump in the spring of 1978. A versatile athlete, earlier in that same season she was county champion in the 110 Low Hurdles--setting a county meet record.
After graduating, Kim went on to The University of Virginia where she was ACC Champion in the 100m and 400m Hurdles in 1983. She also achieved All-American status on Virginia’s 4x400m team at the 1982 indoor national championships, where one of her relay teammates was her sister Karen.
After Virginia Kim earned a Master's Degree from Harvard. Today she is Managing Director of Private Wealth Advisement at Morgan Stanley in New York.
Karen Hatchett excelled in sprinting, hurdling and jumping for Lawrence. One of the most decorated athletes in county history, she won 12 major championships in her high school career. From 1978 to 1980 she collected 3 county titles, 4 sectional titles, 4 Group II state titles, and she won the 1980 Meet of Champions in the high jump.
At the University of Virginia, Karen was twice an All-American. She was a national champion on the Cavaliers Distance Medley Relay at the 1982 indoor national meet. She also earned All-American for a second time while teaming with her sister Kim in the previously mentioned 4x400.
After UVA Karen studied at Dartmouth and Cornell. She is the current Chief Workforce Innovation Officer at ServiceNow in New York City.
While at Virginia Kim and Karen were members of a program that won the 1981 indoor national championship and multiple ACC team championships.
On account of Lawrence High’s tremendous efforts in 1979, The Trenton Times named Lawrence Coach JoAnn Coughlin the “Mercer Coach of the Year” for spring track.
Lori Dowers and Karen Hatchett won the 1979
Times spring track “Co-Athletes of the Year” award, and in 1980 Karen was awarded 1st team All-State for the high jump by the Star-Ledger.
Smith, Nelson, Dowers, and both Hatchett sisters will soon be honored at the hall of fame awards banquet on Sunday May 17, 2026 at Mercer Oaks (725 Village Rd W, West Windsor Twp NJ). They will be joined by 13 other inductees who once competed for or coached at Mercer County high schools and excelled in the sports of track and field and cross-country.
The deadline to RSVP for the induction banquet is May 10. Info on attending can found HERE.
© 2026 Mercer County Track & Field Hall of Fame
