All-Area Girls' Cross Country Runner of the Year: Kenzie Konyar

WINCHESTER — Instead of entering her first varsity cross country season with a lot of expectations, James Wood freshman Kenzie Konyar made the clock her main competition.

Konyar targeted the 20-minute mark as her main goal for the season, but reaching that mark in early October made her set new goals.

A conference championship wasn’t even on Konyar’s radar at the beginning of the year, but she achieved that and more in what turned out to be an eye-opening first year.

Konyar broke the 20-minute mark — placing 26th in 19 minutes, 56 seconds — for the first time at the 5K distance (3.1 miles) at the Glory Days Invitational in Manassas on Oct. 8, and from there she just kept getting better.

“Coming in I was inexperienced and I didn’t really know what to expect at first,” said Konyar, The Winchester Star’s Girls’ Cross Country Runner of the Year. “My goal was probably low 20s or anywhere under 20 [minutes] coming in time-wise. Other than that, I really didn’t have any expectations to start.”

The expectations changed for Konyar following Glory Days.

She was the only area runner to medal (top 20), finishing 17th overall 19:15 at the Third Battle Invitational at Millbrook on Oct. 15.

Konyar’s time at Third Battle was a personal record at that point of the season, and it made her a contender for one of the top spots at the Conference 21 West championship race at Kernstown Battlefield.

“Third Battle was when I hit my goal that I set for the season,” Konyar said. “That was when I had one of my best races, and I felt really good, so that one really stands out for me. After I hit that goal at Third Battle, I kind of had a new [outlook] because after that was conference, regional and states, so I had new goals set for myself. Not time-wise, but more place-wise, and I knew where I wanted to be.”

From that point of the season on, Konyar kept the standout performances coming.

At the conference meet, she showed her strength, pulling away during the final mile of the race to win by 18 seconds with a time of 19:46.

James Wood cross country coach Mike Onda said Konyar exceeded expectations all season, but really took her racing to another level at the conference meet on Handley’s home course.

“I think the first [race] that was really like ‘whoa’ for me was when she was able to take the conference championship,” Onda said. “We were thinking top five or maybe third, and for her to come in and win it — and win it in such a statement-type fashion — was really the wow race for me.”

A week later, Konyar placed 17th (20:29) at the 4A West Region meet at Kernstown, qualifying for state by being one of the top 10 runners not on state-qualifying teams despite clocking a time that was 43 seconds off her conference-winning mark on an unseasonably warm day with the temperature near 80. In her first Group 4A state meet at Great Meadow, Konyar bounced back from a sub-par performance at regionals.

She clocked a 5:48 mile split and was in 20th place, but over the next mile, Konyar moved up nine spots to take 11th place at the two-mile mark (12:06). Konyar pushed through the final mile, moving up one more spot to finish 10th in 19:06, setting a PR for her freshman season.

“I don’t know if states was my strongest [race],” said Konyar, who earned all-state honors by placing in the top 15. “I ran my best time there, but I wouldn’t say I felt my strongest. I think I felt my strongest race was probably conference.

“Conference was really exciting, and I felt really well at conference. I was super-shocked that I won, so that was really exciting and a standout race.”

Onda said Konyar’s parents Chris and Stacy Konyar both run, so some of it comes naturally for Kenzie. But the Colonels coach also said Kenzie possesses all of the ingredients that are necessary to excel in athletics.

“With athletes there’s those three key elements, kind of a triad or three legs of what make a really good athlete — natural ability, work ethic and coach-ability,” Onda said. “More often than not we get athletes that maybe have one or two of those three, but when you get one that has all three [like Kenzie] — then you can really see them blossom and shine.”

Onda said Konyar always worked hard during practice sessions and races, pushing herself to reach goals that the Colonels’ coaching staff set for her.

“As we worked with [Kenzie] when coach [Liz] Mumaw would talk with her about race strategy and where she should put herself in the pack or who she should key off of, she would always do that,” Onda said. “We pushed her on her paces and setting goals for her and seeing her hit those goals in terms of training runs and workouts —those are the kind of things that really stand out. There never seemed to be any type of negative attitude or unwillingness to do what we asked, whether it was something in a race or something in a workout.”

Onda said there’s certainly room for Konyar to continue to improve, and there’s extra motivation just by looking at the results of the 4A state championship.

“As she physically matures, she’s going to get stronger and faster,” Onda said. “The challenge we have — I was looking at the [state] results and she was only the fourth fastest freshman in the race, so there’s really a lot of depth in 4A. She can’t be resting on her laurels if she wants to improve and move up and have some of those higher positions to become one of the top athletes in the state. There’s already folks ahead of her as good as she ran [at state].”

It doesn’t seem like Konyar will be satisfied with what she accomplished during her freshman year.

A new season brings new goals for Konyar.

She plans on running indoor track this winter and outdoor track in the spring. Her all-state cross country season has changed her outlook for both track and next fall’s cross country season.

“I definitely have a new view of where I want to be in track next year and even for the future,” Konyar said. “I know I’m going to at least run throughout high school and maybe even college if I can. I just want to try to keep my base over the winter and hopefully do well in track.”

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