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

WINCHESTER — The Virginia High School League Class 4 state cross country meet at Oatlands featured a familiar sight in the final mile — James Wood junior Kate Konyar tearing through the course with no one else in sight.

Without having anyone just in front or behind her, Konyar finished her season with another spectacular finish. In taking second place, Konyar achieved the highest state finish for a James Wood girl in program history. Her time of 18 minutes and 32 seconds was 27 seconds faster than last year at the state meet.

It’s not easy running a large portion of a 3.1-mile race by yourself. But it seems like every time Konyar fires off the starting line, she’s going to shine no matter what the competition is like because of her work ethic and mentality.

“She says, ‘Run fast, don’t care,’” said James Wood coach Matthew Lofton, noting that Konyar used the phrase a few times for the first time this year. “She doesn’t care who she’s against. She doesn’t care who’s around. She’s just going to run fast. She might have said it to be goofy one day, but I think there’s a lot of truth in it. I don’t care who’s around, who you are. I’m just going to run fast. You don’t intimidate me.

“She’s one of the runners I really don’t give a lot of advice to pre-race, because I know she’s just going to do her thing. I can trust in her that she’s just going to run as hard as she can, because that’s what she does.”

Konyar — The Winchester Star Girls’ Cross Country Runner of the Year for the third time — established a high standard for herself because of what she did her sophomore year. Konyar took fifth in Class 4 after taking fourth at the state meet as a freshman, but she improved her state time by 23 seconds from her freshman year and her personal record by 31.1 seconds to a school-record 18:12.8. She would also be the second-fastest returning runner in all of Class 4 this season.

Konyar said she didn’t really change much from previous summers to prepare for the 2024 cross country season. She said she might have cut down her mileage a bit to focus on recovery.

While there was no noticeable difference in Konyar’s physical training, Lofton could see a change in Konyar’s mindset.

“I think she came in ready to be a leader,” Lofton said. “I’ve mentioned before how she’s really easygoing and kind of talkative, but was still working hard. She definitely came into the season a lot more focused and stepped up to lead the girls’ team, which is what we needed after losing a few seniors last year.”

During the regular season, Konyar repeatedly proved that she was even better than last year.

At the season-opening Central Invitational in Woodstock, Konyar won by 11.6 seconds in 18:05.3. Konyar’s other regular-season highlights were taking sixth at the Oatlands Invitational in 18:36 (45 seconds faster than last year), capturing the Judges Classic by 1:19.04 in 18:52.84 (22.86 seconds faster than last year), placing second at the Albemarle Invitational at Panorama Farms (18:06.5, 14.5 seconds ahead of third place) and taking second at Millbrook’s Third Battle Invitational. Konyar broke her own school record with an 18:01.7 at Third Battle, which was 19.1 seconds faster than last year’s season-best time set at the meet and 4.6 seconds ahead of third place.

The Oatlands Invitational was the only major meet for Konyar in which anyone finished three seconds or less ahead of her or behind her.

Konyar said she feels like her experiences in outdoor track is one of the reasons why she does so well running with no one to push her. For example, in the 3,200 meters at the Northwestern District meet last spring, Konyar won by 1:04.64 in 11:18.58, a personal-record time.

“There’s not many people that run the two-mile, especially around here,” Konyar said. “That’s where I got really used to [running by myself]. I’d start PR’ing by myself. [Running by yourself] makes you mentally stronger and physically stronger. Racing against yourself and trying to stay on pace by yourself is so much harder than having someone right there where you can go, ‘I know what pace they’re going.’”

Konyar’s goal at Third Battle on Oct. 19 was to get under 18 minutes over 3.1 miles for the first time. She was able to run with Herndon senior and eventual winner Meghan Sullivan for most of the race to help her, but she was truly on her own at the Northwestern District meet 10 days later at the same location. Konyar ran a time of 18:02.3 and won by 1:15.5.

Konyar might not have achieved her time goal this year, but she had a spectacular postseason. She took second to the state’s best runner regardless of classification in Charlottesville junior Elaina Pierce at both the Region 4D meet at the Poplar Forest course in Forest (18:28.5, 34.5 seconds behind Pierce and 49.6 seconds ahead of third-place Blacksburg freshman Lola Olsen) and the Class 4 meet at Oatlands (25 seconds behind Pierce, 31 seconds ahead of the third-place Olsen). Pierce was the only returning Class 4 runner who finished ahead of Konyar at last year’s state meet.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything better from her [in the postseason],” Lofton said. “She went out aggressively at the state meet, and it showed.”

The Class 6, 5 and 4 state meets are all held on the same day at Oatlands. Konyar’s time would have won the Class 5 meet by 33 seconds, and only two people ran faster in Class 6. Herndon’s Sullivan — who beat Konyar at the Oatlands Invitational in addition to this year’s Third Battle Invitational and last year’s Judges Classic — finished in 18:34, two seconds slower than Konyar.

“I keep progressing,” Konyar said. “[Pierce] is my main competition, and she’s getting better, and we’re just kind of progressing together. Having her there as a push is always nice. I’m trying to keep mentally tough, because running’s hard. It’s very much more of a mental game than it is physical.”

That being said, Konyar has navigated the physical part of her career well.

It’s difficult to improve every year in cross country because of the physical toll it takes. When training, Konyar said she’s mindful of how she feels on a given day and adjusts her pace accordingly. She’s done physical therapy throughout high school to make sure her hips are in good shape. And she did not participate in indoor track her first two years in order to help with recovery from cross country. Konyar noted that her older siblings suffered injuries during indoor track while at James Wood, so she focused on going to the gym and maintaining strength during the winter of her freshman and sophomore years.

This year, she feels she’s in a place where she can take on a larger workload, so she’s suiting up for the Colonels this winter. Konyar believes it will help her for outdoor track, where’s she twice finished in the top five of Class 4 in the 3,200.

“I’m older now,” Konyar said. “And there will be a lot less anxiety. I’ve always gone into outdoor thinking, ‘I’m so far behind.’ I think this will give me peace of mind.”

Konyar did her part as a leader as well. James Wood placed fifth in Class 4 after taking fourth last year, but Konyar wanted her team to realize they had a strong effort that day as part of another stellar season for the Colonels. They repeated as district champions and again took second in the region to Blacksburg, which won the state title.

“I think we did amazing,” Konyar said. “We went in thinking we were going to place higher [at the state meet]. But instead of being sad, we were all just still happy that we placed fifth. It’s important to be happy when you win, but emphasizing being happy even when things don’t come out how you like them is super important, and I think as a team we did that really well. We were all celebrating and screaming, because we still did good.”

Konyar said she was grateful for the support from her teammates and her coaches this fall. The Colonels had a new assistant coach, Hannah Chambers.

“Having a female role model in running is super big,” Konyar said. “I think she came in and really changed my mindset a lot. She’s very positive and always happy. She definitely brightened up the team and me in general.”

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