Konyar headlines list of James Wood signees

WINCHESTER — Kenzie Konyar is sure glad she kept her options open.

George Washington University wasn’t part of the recruiting process for the James Wood senior during the first year she spent looking for a college home.

But the cross country and track runner couldn’t be happier to be attending the Washington, D.C., school beginning next year because of what it can offer her academically, athletically, financially and with its location.

“I’ve been doing recruiting since the beginning of my junior year, but I didn’t get in contact with [George Washington] until [last] September,” said Konyar, following a signing ceremony on Tuesday in the James Wood cafeteria. “I kind of knew as soon as I got in contact with them and I saw the campus and everything, ‘This is where I want to be.’”

Nearly 100 people attended to also celebrate the collegiate signings of volleyball player Olivia Biggs (Gettysburg College) and baseball player Daniel Copenhaver (Potomac State College) on Tuesday.

Konyar said she doesn’t have her official scholarship package yet for NCAA Division I George Washington, but from what she understands practically all of her expenses will be covered from athletic and academic scholarships and financial aid.

A four-time Class 4 all-state cross country performer and two-time Winchester Star Girls’ Cross Country Runner of the Year (2016 and 2017), Konyar will continue a tradition of collegiate running in her family. Her father Chris ran for Bloomsburg University and her brother Kevin is a sophomore at Bloomsburg.

Konyar said American University — another Washington, D.C., school — and Bucknell University were the two other schools that she was strongly considering. Both offered small scholarship packages.

Konyar made the official trip that sold her on George Washington in December.

“Honestly all the girls on the team were so nice and so welcoming,” said Konyar, who will major in biology. “Everywhere you go, there’s going to be nice people on the team, but I just connected with them.

“I really like the coaches. I knew since way before I even wanted to run in college that I wanted to be in D.C. They have a great program for biology and have a huge med school. It was just a combination of all different things. It was a perfect fit.”

The Colonials are led by Terry Weir, who has coached the men’s and women’s cross country programs for eight years and the track programs for five years.

The women’s cross country team is coming off a particularly successful fall season, placing second out of 14 teams at the Atlantic 10 meet and ninth out of 31 teams at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional meet. Both finishes are the best in program history. The Colonials also qualified an individual for the NCAA Division I Championships for just the second time in program history and the first time since 2010.

Konyar said the success George Washington had this year interested her, and she likes the approach that Weir takes with his athletes.

“He’s actually really laid-back,” Konyar said. “A lot of the coaches I met were super hard-core. ‘Lots of miles — we’re going to get you in shape.’ But he’s not laid-back in a way that I was concerned I wasn’t going to get in shape.

“He obviously knew what he was doing and he wasn’t concerned that I was going to have to work so hard to get in shape. He was very much, ‘We’ll take care of you, we’ve got it under control,’ which was appealing to me.”

Konyar will move to 6K performances in college after running 5K meets in high school. Konyar ended her regular season with a time of 18 minutes, 50.5 seconds at Millbrook’s Third Battle Invitational and ended her career with her best-ever state meet time at Great Meadow by finishing in 18:58 to place 11th.

Konyar will join a George Washington track team that placed 13th out of 13 teams at last year’s Atlantic 10 indoor meet and 12th out of 14 teams at the outdoor meet. Konyar says she “assumes at some point I’ll try everything” in track, but she figures the 5,000 and 10,000 meters is what she’ll focus on.

The longest event in high school track is the 3,200, which Konyar will compete in at the Class 4 indoor state track meet at Liberty University in Lynchburg on March 2 and 3. Konyar placed 13th in that event at last year’s outdoor state track meet and had a season-best time of 11:19.45.

James Wood track & field head coach Mike Onda — who was Konyar’s cross country coach for all four years of her career — said he’s “ecstatic” for her.

“To be able to get this Division I opportunity at an outstanding academic school too, it’s a great fit for her,” he said. “Her record the last four years speaks for itself. She’s just a phenomenal athlete and a phenomenal student. This is something that she really deserves and we’re really happy for her.

“You get different types of athletes on a team. You get ones that are hard workers but may not have a lot of natural ability. You have some that have a lot of natural ability but don’t have a work ethic. Then if you’re fortunate you get ones that have that great combination of natural ability and an outstanding work ethic. That’s really how I define her.”

James Wood coordinator of student activities Craig Woshner — a former standout runner for the University of Pittsburgh — told the crowd of mostly high schoolers just how hard an athlete has to work to get to the level of Tuesday’s signees.

“My challenge to a lot of you younger athletes out there is, ‘Who’s going to be next?’” Woshner said.

Woshner also prompted laughter when he told the signees “don’t get senioritis and give up just because you’re signing.” That won’t happen with Konyar, though. By continuing to set a strong example, some of her teammates could be among the next in line to sign a national letter of intent.

“It’s so exciting [to sign],” Konyar said. “You never go into high school thinking this is going to happen. But I feel like getting here, I’ve seen all the hard work over so long pay off.

“My team now is mostly freshmen and sophomores, and a lot of them have told me I’m a huge inspiration, which means the world to me.”

Olivia Biggs, GettysburgA 5-foot-10 volleyball middle blocker, Biggs will compete with NCAA Division II Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. The Bullets went 14-12 overall and 5-5 in the Centennial Conference last year.

Biggs ranked 10th in the area this season with 33 blocks and also had 132 kills. She was selected to the Region 4C second team and Class 4 Northwestern District first team.

Biggs will major in political science.

Biggs’ older sister Morgan also competes in the Centennial Conference at Dickinson College, where she is a sophomore outside hitter.

Daniel Copenhaver, Potomac StateA middle infielder, Copenhaver will compete with Potomac State College, a National Junior College Athletic Association school located in Keyser, W.Va. The Catamounts went 32-13 last year.

Copenhaver had an on-base percentage of .273 last season and hit .300 with runners in scoring position. He had five RBIs, four runs and a fielding percentage of .913.

Copenhaver plans on having a career in law enforcement.

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