Local Legacies: Tara & Zoee Gologram

From starting track as a ‘time filler’ in high school to competing at a collegiate level, Tara and Zoee Gologram have had a love for track and field from the beginning.

The Gologram sisters grew up in Industry, Pennsylvania, attending Hopewell High School, a 15-minute drive north from Robert Morris University.

Both Tara and Zoee started with track as a hobby but quickly grew to love the sport they now participate in at RMU.

“I started track as a time filler between school and gymnastics practice. I was a competitive gymnast for a while. [It] turns out [that] I was pretty good at it and I just kind of fell in love with it after the first season,” Tara said, a junior sprinter and jumper. “I was involved with track in high school. I only did it sophomore, junior, and senior years. In my sophomore year, I was just doing it for fun, and then junior and senior year, I was a state qualifier, and then in my Senior year, I placed sixth in long- jump at states and eighth in the 100 at states.”

The sisters chose to come to Robert Morris for various reasons, but a major deciding point for Zoee was finally getting to be on a team with her older sister.

As for most athletes, role models play a big part in how they train and conduct themselves in and out of competitive settings. That is no different for the Gologram sisters.

“Our parents, even if we were having a rough time, wouldn’t let us quit because [they] knew that we would be miserable if we actually quit, and some of my coaches knew how to calm me down when I had a bad practice or throw,” Zoee said. “Tara honestly is another reason, because you always have to have a competition with somebody, and it just happens to be my sister now.”

Through the years, they both agree that their parents and coach have always set great examples for them to follow. However, Zoee Gologram says that her sister is a big role model because she likes the competition.

In addition to having each other as a support system, their parents try to make it to as many meets as they can, even though most are not at Robert Morris. Their mother and sister even flew out to Connecticut one time to watch Tara compete.

Last year marked the first home meet for Robert Morris. At the time, Tara was a junior and Zoee was a freshman. The sisters were ecstatic to have their family watch them at their very own facility.

“It’s exciting. This was my first home meet in two and a half years at Robert Morris,” Tara said. “It was just crazy because we were always on the road and always dealing with COVID, so just having one weekend where I know I don’t have to travel was a weight lifted off my shoulders.”

While Tara had to wait for her family to see her compete at their home facility until she was a junior, Zoee could have that experience as a freshman.

“It’s pretty nice, honestly. It’s kind of scary, though,” Zoee said. “I feel like the pressure is on since it’s your home field and your parents are coming to watch you and a bunch of your friends is probably going to come and watch you, but I feel like that pushes you to run faster, jump farther, and throw farther, so I think it’s honestly very beneficial even though it’s a little bit scary.”

Even though hosting track meets at Robert Morris University can sometimes put the Gologram sisters under more pressure than usual, that has not affected their performances as Tara recently broke the record for the long- jump last year with a jump of 5.78 meters, which she says is her favorite moment.

“I would have to say it was when I broke the long-jump school record for indoor,” Tara said. “It’s just the fact that all of my closest friends on the track team, all of my closest friends, my parents and my sister got to see me do that. It was just kind of a heartfelt moment seeing that I’ve been working for this for so long that I finally crushed my goal, and now I get to set a fresh pace going into outdoor.”

Zoee also pegs this as a favorite moment of her just blossoming RMU track career.

“That was probably my favorite moment too. Even though I didn’t compete how I wanted to at that meet, we were all just really proud of Tara,” she said. “If somebody had a bad meet, they put that aside and went and congratulated her and was so happy for her. That’s really when we saw the team come together probably the most it has in a long time.”

Through all of the training, stress, and competing, the Gologram sisters still love to compete while being on the same team.

Zoee and Tara will look forward to competing in the upcoming outdoor season with their eyes set on the upcoming home invitational on April 22 and 23.