In the rare situations when he expects it to happen, James Wood cross country coach Matthew Lofton has made a point of saying he looks forward to races when competitors should push Colonels senior Kate Konyar and bring out her best.
Lofton didn’t watch Konyar’s last track & field meet in a James Wood uniform live because of a trip to England. The result wasn’t what anyone affiliated with James Wood wanted, but the effort he saw on video couldn’t have been more fitting.
Photo finishes and distance running don’t often go hand in hand, but Konyar created one in the 3,200 meters at the Virginia High School League Class 4 meet at Liberty University despite trailing by 3.49 seconds after six laps and 1.73 seconds after seven laps.
Atlee junior Carissa Ambrose led Konyar by a couple of steps with 30 meters left as they both sprinted the final straightaway, but Konyar found another gear late. At the finish line, she fell to the track because of how much she was leaning and how fast she was going. Despite that effort, she finished one-hundredth of a second behind Ambrose, 10:49.07 to 10:49.08, to take second in Class 4.
“I was really kind of bummed for her to be that close and not get [the state title],” said Lofton, who also coaches James Wood’s distance runners in indoor track. “At the same time, I was so excited for her. Seeing her collapse to the track after that race … I’ve never seen her in that state, ever. The four years I’ve coached her, of all the races she’s done, I’ve never seen her be completely spent and just collapse like that.
“I knew she found her limit, and took it there. That was pretty exciting to know she was able to push it that hard. Obviously, as a coach, I wish the outcome was different. But it was a phenomenal race, and one she won’t ever forget, I don’t think.”
Konyar delivered plenty of unforgettable moments in the 2025-2026 school year. After the best area female distance campaign in more than a decade, Konyar is The Winchester Star Girls’ Athlete of the Year.
This year, the forthcoming University of Maryland athlete — whose best performances will likely be in the future with the longer cross country distance and longer track events in college — ran the fastest cross country time in Frederick County history. Her 3.1-mile, 5,000-meter time of 17 minutes, 44.7 seconds broke the mark of 17:49 set by Millbrook’s Crystal Nelson in 2011. In indoor track, Konyar’s top time of 10:47.82 is the area’s best since Sherando’s Krista DeCeault ran a 10:34.44 in 2011. And in outdoor track, her top time of 10:46.24 is the area’s best since Nelson recorded a 10:36.26 in 2012.
Lofton wasn’t able to watch Konyar’s first major moment of her senior year in person, either. While the Colonels were at Millbrook’s Third Battle Invitational on Oct. 18, Konyar was at the Virginia Showcase at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville.
Konyar not only broke her own school record of 18:01.7 that she set as a junior, but also broke Nelson’s Frederick County record with her 17:44.2. Konyar placed 25th out of 261 runners.
“That was insane to me,” Konyar said. “Even when I crossed the finish line, I was like, ‘How did I just do that?’ I’ve never been more proud of myself to know that I hold the record for the area from where I come from.”
Before becoming James Wood’s head coach in 2021, Lofton was an assistant coach at Millbrook for 10 years and worked with Nelson when she was in high school. Nelson was a three-time state track champion in high school (one indoor and outdoor 3,200, one outdoor 1,600) and a two-time All-America in cross country at Iowa State.
“They both know exactly what to do on race day,” Lofton said. “You don’t really have to give them instructions. They just know how to race. That’s such a good quality in a competitor when you don’t really have to tell them what to do. They like to run from the front, and whatever came of it, came of it. Crystal wasn’t afraid to put herself out there, and Kate’s the same way.”
Konyar’s record run spurred her to yet another strong finish in her illustrious cross country career.
On Oct. 22, Konyar won her third straight Northwestern District title, winning by 57.2 seconds in 20:03.9, to lead the Colonels to their fifth straight team title on the alternate Third Battle of Winchester Battlefield course.
A week later, Konyar placed third at the Region 4D meet in 18:15 on the regular Third Battle of Winchester Battlefield course. James Wood placed third and qualified for its fourth straight Class 4 meet.
At the Class 4 meet, Konyar earned All-State honors for the fourth time and accomplished a feat that no Winchester/Frederick County runner had achieved in 28 years. In taking third in 18:48, Konyar became the first person since Sherando’s Robyn Ritter (1995-98) to place in the top five in state competition all four years of their high school career. Konyar also took second in 2024, fourth in 2022 and fifth in 2023.
Konyar finished 9.4 seconds ahead of Region 4D runner-up Juliana Pearce of Charlottesville at the Class 4 meet. Two weeks after the state meet, Konyar would again measure up in impressive fashion against Virginia’s finest at the Nike Cross Southeast Regionals in Cary, North Carolina.
Between Class 6, 5 and 4, only nine runners ran faster than Konyar at Oatlands in state competition (seven in Class 6, none in Class 5). Six of those runners ran at the Nike meet, and Konyar beat three of them in taking 31st out of 246 runners in 18:17.7. She beat Class 4 runner-up River Smith of Hanover by 30 seconds and again beat Pearce, this time by 16 seconds. Additionally, after finishing 19 and 61 seconds behind two-time Class 3 state champion Samantha Nitzsche of William Monroe in September, Konyar finished just eight seconds behind Nitzsche at the Nike meet.
“I feel like it showed a lot of athletes throughout the season kind of burned out, but I felt like I still had some [strength] left,” Konyar said. “I feel like it really gave me confidence. It showed what my strength levels were looking like going into that meet.”
Konyar’s indoor season didn’t go the way she wanted early. She competed in the Liberty Flames High School Invitational on Dec. 5 so she could get a state-qualifying time (she placed third in the 3,200 in 11:10.97). She then took a two-week break, but got sick when she did return.
When she returned for the Virginia Showcase in Virginia Beach on Jan. 17, she ran a 11:10.30 to place 13th. At the Northwestern District meet on Feb. 9, she ran an 11:07.30 to win, but she was still a good bit away from her outdoor school record of 10:57.96 at the Region 4D meet as a junior.
Konyar chose to run the 1,600 at the Region 4D meet, so she was seeded seventh for the state meet at 11:07.30. Konyar would far outperform her seed mark and time on March 3 at Liberty University at the Class 4 meet.
Konyar had a lead of 0.19 over Hanover’s Smith with 400 meters to go, and she closed with her fastest 400-meter stretch of the entire race (1:16.23). Smith was simply on fire though, blazing the final 400 in 1:12.58 and the final 200 in 33.82 to win in 10:44.36. Konyar broke her own school record by more than 10 seconds in 10:47.82 to take second for the second straight year. In her first year doing indoor track in 2024-25, she finished in 11:02.67 at the state meet.
“When I crossed the finish line, I was not sad at finishing second,” Konyar said. “I had a huge PR. To end the indoor season like that, I was super happy.”
Konyar’s closing 400 in the 3,200 at the indoor and outdoor (1:14.22) state meets are examples of her improved speed over short distances this year. In outdoor track, she had the area’s fastest open 800 time (2:24.76, an improvement from 2:28.40 last year and 10th fastest in school history), and her 2:21.17 4×800 split at the Region 4D meet was faster than every girl except Handley 400 state champion EJ Mullins.
“I definitely felt like my speed really changed the game this year,” Konyar said. “I felt like every race, I had a really good kick at the end.
“Coach [Danielle] Koelker definitely focused in on some speed to help with some last-lap kick type of stuff, because that’s kind of what I struggled with. We did a lot of shorter workouts, shorter lengths. We did 400 repeats, 300s, 200s. We would do that at the end of long workouts as well, so I would know how it feels to kick at the end of a race. I think that really helped me.”
Koelker is James Wood’s head track coach for the indoor and outdoor seasons, and she leads the distance crew in the spring. She knows that Konyar prefers longer workouts, but she liked how Konyar committed to the speed work she put her through.
“No matter what workout you give her, she never lets it get the best of her,” Koelker said. “She’s obviously physically tough, but she’s also mentally tough, which is essential in distance running. She just kinds of grits down and does it, and I think she kind of ends up surprising herself at the end. Any workout I give her, she ends up running faster [than she needs to]. She was always doing workouts very consistently, and finishing not completely winded. She’s just strong.”
Konyar’s combination of speed and strength produced her first significant moment of the outdoor season in the invitational mile race at the Handley Invitational.
As a junior, Konyar participated in the race and finished seventh in 5:13.92. Konyar was seeded seventh for this year’s 12-girl event with the same seed time.
Heading into the final lap, Konyar was 30 meters behind Tuscarora sophomore Christabel Agyeman-Duah, the state runner-up in the 1,000 at this year’s Class 4 indoor meet. Konyar steadily closed the gap and passed Agyeman-Duah with 75 meters left and kept charging to win in 5:04.17, 2.05 seconds ahead of Agyeman-Duah.
Tuscarora junior Catherin Moschera — who placed fourth in the Class 4 outdoor 800 (2:16.91) and 3,200 (11:01.09) this year — was on Konyar’s heels at the start of the fourth lap. But just like at the Class 4 state cross country meet when she finished a second behind her, Moschera couldn’t pass Konyar and took third, 3.51 seconds behind.
Konyar’s mile time converted to meters is 5:02.41, and wound up being the fastest mile/1,600 time of her career.
“I definitely enjoyed having someone to chase,” Konyar said. “I feel like having a person really pretty far ahead of me really gave me the confidence and motivation I needed to really push the last lap. And then when I won on the final stretch, it felt really amazing.”
Lofton does the public address system call for the invitational mile each year. He did not think he’d be announcing Konyar as the winner in what for her is a short race.
“To call that race and to see her close the gap that [Agyeman-Duah] had for the first three laps was incredible,” Lofton said. “You normally see Kate running from the front, not having someone else going to the front and having her hunt them down.”
Four weeks later, Konyar would have the best two-mile/3,200 run of her high school career at the 37-team Victor Cahoon Track Classic at Osbourn Park High School in Manassas. Konyar won the two-mile by 23.75 seconds in 10:50.01, which converts to a career-best 3,200 time of 10:46.24.
“I kind of ran most of the race alone, so when you’re running alone, it’s kind of hard not to get into your own head,” Konyar said. “I really just enjoyed being able to keep myself stable, finishing the race out and doing what I needed to do.”
Konyar won the 3,200 by 53 seconds in 11:07.24 and anchored the 4×800 team to victory to help James Wood to its second straight Northwestern District title, then took second in the 1,600 and helped the 4×800 relay to second at the Region 4D meet.
Then came the state meet. Konyar won the only state title of her career as a junior in outdoor track, when she won the 3,200 by a comfortable 3.26 seconds in 11:02.34 after building up a 10-meter lead heading into the final lap. Konyar was the only entrant with a seed time under 11 minutes.
This year’s state 3,200 figured to be significantly more competitive. Seven runners came in with seed times faster than Konyar’s winning time last year, and Konyar was seeded fourth. Ambrose was the No. 1 seed for the state indoor meet (10:47.72) but came in No. 3 for the outdoor meet (10:43.30).
Neither of the top two seeds — Hanover’s Smith (ninth in 11:30.48) and Blacksburg’s Ruthie Delapp (seventh in 11:10.52) would challenge for the title. Jamestown’s Emily Dahl (third in 10:58.52) was the only runner besides Ambrose and Konyar to run under 11 minutes.
Ambrose and Konyar’s duel in the last 100 meters gave the fans plenty of thrills to start the day — as evidenced by the accompanying picture to this story, a lot of mouths were open, and they were creating a lot of noise. If not for what was posted on the scoreboard, onlookers could have just as easily thought Konyar won as opposed to Ambrose.
“The final kick is definitely what I will remember the most,” Konyar said. “We both had to lean at the line. I’ve never had to lean at the line before. I’ve watched the video many times. It’s a crazy video to watch. I didn’t know I had that effort in me. But I really found it that day.”
“I still talk about it, how proud I am of how hard she fought in that race,” Koelker said. “She literally left it all out on the track. You can’t ask for more.”
One can only imagine what Konyar would’ve done in a state event if she could’ve kept going after 3,200 meters. In addition to going from 5K races to 6K races in cross country, college will also give Konyar the opportunity to run 5K and 10K races in track instead of having a max of 3,200. Lofton figures the 10K will be bigger for Konyar later in her college career.
“Every time I finish a 3,200, I always feel like I can do more. I feel like I could have kept going,” Konyar said. “I think in college, doing the 5K and higher will really be a good spot for me.”
Koelker is looking forward to watching Konyar progress.
“I cannot wait to see what she does at Maryland,” Koelker said. “Definitely a 5K on the track, I think she’s going to surprise herself. Especially with taking training up a notch. I think she’s going to kind of unleash a new speed, but still maintain that grit that she has.”
Konyar won’t forget her time at James Wood. She has great appreciation for her coaches and teammates.
“I don’t think I would have been able to do any of what I did without them,” Konyar said. “I’ve just been so lucky to have so much support. Running is a big mental sport, so having as much positivity as you can get really helps. Having coaches and teammates who believed in me really helped. I’m really thankful for my time at James Wood.”
Her coaches are definitely thankful for her.
“She really surprised me with how easy she is to coach,” said Koelker, who became James Wood’s track coach when Konyar was a junior. “And off the track, she’s funny. Team dinners or at practice, she’s bound to get a belly laugh out of you, and I think that’s definitely going to be missed.
“I’m very proud of her. I’m very honored to have coached her. As a new coach, she’s definitely taught me a lot.”
Lofton said Konyar is probably the most coachable athlete he’s had.
“Not only is she really good, but she listens to everything you tell her,” Lofton said. “She takes it in and absorbs it. You may not know that she’s listening to you, but you find out that she is when you watch her in the race. She doesn’t question anything. And when Kate trusts the process, everybody else is like, ‘If she can do it, I can do it.’ She’s a real good role model for that.”
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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