Girls' Cross Country Runner of the Year: James Wood's Kenzie Konyar

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI | The Winchester Star

Dec 22, 2017

WINCHESTER — James Wood sophomore Kenzie Konyar gave everything she had to take third at the Region 4C cross country meet at Kernstown Battlefield on Nov. 1, and her supporters summoned all the energy they had to let her know they recognized it.

“That’s the way to fight!,” her father Chris loudly proclaimed after Konyar emerged from the finishing area.

With determination written all over her face, Konyar made up a five-yard deficit over the last 30 yards of the 3.1-mile race to nip Fauquier’s Kyra Holland by two-tenths of a second at the finish line in 19:26.9. This came on the heels of Holland winning the Class 4 Northwestern District championship one week earlier by beating Konyar (18:52) by seven seconds at Nokesville Park.

Konyar ended her season nine days later by taking eighth in 19:14 at the Class 4 state meet, the fastest time of any area runner in state competition at the Great Meadow course in The Plains. It was the second straight all-state performance for Konyar, who took 10th last year.

From start to finish in 2017, Konyar fought hard for faster times and better places, and her effort earns her The Winchester Star Girls’ Cross Country Runner of the Year for the second straight season.

“She’s doing really well,” James Wood coach Mike Onda said. “Her training’s really showing, her coachability is really showing, her natural ability is really showing.

“It’s just that whole package deal. She has a lot of natural ability, and she has the work ethic to go along with it. When you put those two together, the sky’s the limit.”

Konyar didn’t know what to expect out of herself coming into high school, but she raised the bar in a big way throughout the 2016-17 school year.

Not only did Konyar end her cross country season in 2016 with her fastest time of the year (19:06), but she also ended her outdoor track season with her best time in the 3,200 meters. At the Class 4 state meet in Harrisonburg on June 3, Konyar recorded a time of 11:29.59, good enough for eighth place and all-state honors. Konyar was seeded 17th going into the meet.

“That gave me a lot of confidence going into cross country,” Konyar said. “It definitely helped me to boost my training over the summer.”

Konyar said she increased her mileage to prepare for the start of cross country season in August, running four-to-five days a week, four-to-five miles a day, and alternating her pace based on how she was feeling.

The main thing was that she took her training more seriously.

“This year I definitely knew what I was doing,” Konyar said. “I knew what I needed to do to get in shape.”

That being said, Konyar surprised herself at the season’s outset. At the Central Invitational in Woodstock — a competition that lasts three miles, slightly shorter than the standard 3.1 — Konyar blew away the 10-team field by 24 seconds with a time of 18:35.

“I was ahead of where I thought I was going to be at that point,” Konyar said.

Konyar said the following meet was the one that really showed she could be in for a special year. At the 14-team Judges Classic at Kernstown Battlefield on Sept. 2, Konyar crossed the finish line in 19:39, which was six seconds faster than she ran to win the Conference 21 West title at Kernstown Battlefield as a freshman.

“I was definitely excited from then on,” said Konyar, who also won that race by 24 seconds.

Konyar continued to perform at a high level from there. She placed fifth in 18:41 at the 31-team Knights Crossing Invitational in Salem on Sept. 9, eighth in 19:42 at the 60-team Oatlands Invitational in Leesburg on Sept. 16 and fourth in 18:40 at the 36-team Octoberfest Invitational on the non-state course at Great Meadow on Sept. 30.

Konyar then showed she was ready for the postseason in James Wood’s last regular season meet at the Third Battle Invitational at Millbrook on Oct. 14. Konyar placed fifth in a personal-record 18:27.

“I was hoping I could just place at all the postseason meets [to earn all-district, region and state honors], which I ended up doing,” Konyar said. “I was really excited that my times were fast [heading into the postseason]. I was feeling good place-wise compared to everybody else in our [district] and region.”

Konyar took second at the district meet, then had the strong finish at the region meet. While Fauquier’s Holland is definitely a strong and talented runner, it was evident at the region meet based on her decision in the last 30 yards to look back to see where Konyar was — and her blank facial expression compared to Konyar’s fierce one — that she was in trouble.

“I definitely needed that boost of confidence,” Konyar said. “It was good to know that I still had the ability to place where I wanted to, because at [the district meet] I had lost to her, and that was kind of upsetting. But coming back at regions definitely had me prepared for states and ready to do well.”

Konyar did extremely well. Though Konyar didn’t run as fast as she did at last year’s state meet at Great Meadow — the 30-degree temperature and slight breeze made things much harder on everyone this year — Konyar’s experience helped her improve by two spots to get eighth.

Konyar used two runners — Holland and Grafton’s Meredith Beaver — to pace herself, and made sure she had the strength to properly attack the two hills to beat both of them.

Konyar (19:14) beat Beaver (19:17) by three seconds — they were the only two runners to finish between 19:04 and 19:26 — and topped Holland by 16 seconds for the best performance by any Northwestern District runner.

“I feel like every year and every race is a learning experience, and just makes me ready for the next one,” Konyar said. “I’ve been learning a ton and just getting better and better, especially strategy-wise. Just knowing where to push, where to take it easy, where I need to work.”

Konyar said she couldn’t have been happier with a season that saw her improve on her state finish.

“I thought it was amazing,” Konyar said. “I did so much better than I expected. I had huge PRs, I ran really good races, I never really had a terrible race. And I did really well place-wise. I was ecstatic with my whole performance this season.”

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