WINCHESTER — James Wood High School senior Kate Konyar has run faster in 3.1-mile cross country races than any girl in Frederick County history, and she’s covered 3,200 meters quicker than any Colonel who’s ever set foot on a track.
On Wednesday, she celebrated her signing to compete in both sports with NCAA Division I University of Maryland in a ceremony in James Wood’s auditorium that also featured teammates Alina Kieffer and Katelyn Palmer, who will run for Division I Longwood University and Division III Shenandoah University, respectively.
It was a special moment in a running career for Konyar that Colonels head coach Matthew Lofton can’t wait to see develop into something even more spectacular. Lofton wasn’t able to attend Wednesday’s ceremony. But in an interview in December to recognize Konyar’s unprecented fourth Winchester Star Girls’ Cross Country Runner of the Year award, Lofton believes Konyar — who will receive a partial scholarship to run for the Terrapins of the Big Ten Conference — has only scratched the surface of her potential.
“I think she’s probably going to be a scoring member from her first year there,” said Lofton of cross country. “It’s really exciting to see her having teammates to train with that are faster than her, have people to race against that are faster than her, and just to see how fast she can go.
“I honestly think I undertrained her the last few years. I think she’s got a lot left in her, which is usually ideal when you’re training high school athletes, to leave some left for college. I didn’t want to burn her out in high school. I’m really excited to see what she’s going to do.”
On Wednesday, the trio of runners were enthused about signing with each other. Konyar pointed out in an interview before the ceremony that featured about 50 people that it was also great that they were doing it together on National Girls & Women in Sports Day.
Konyar has watched her siblings Kevin (Division II Bloomsburg) and Kenzie (Division I George Washington) sign at the college level, as well as some of her teammates. After committing to Maryland on Nov. 23, Konyar got to experience something she’s been thinking about for a long time on Wednesday.
“It means everything,” Konyar said. “This has been my dream since I was in middle school. To go to so many of my friends’ signings, and my siblings’ signings, just to know it’s my turn is so great.”
It’s been obvious for a long time that Konyar would run at a high-level program, even before she set the Frederick County cross country record (17 minutes, 44.2 seconds at the Virginia Showcase) in the fall and the school 3,200-meter record (10:57.96) in the spring, a season which ended with her winning the Class 4 state title in that event.
Konyar has been recruited heavily at the Division I level in the last year — she had scholarship offers from a half-dozen schools — with her relationship with Maryland starting earlier than the other colleges she was considering.
The reason for that was because she has a fan in Sherando assistant cross country and track coach Becky McGraw, who was at Wednesday’s ceremony. McGraw — whose maiden name is Mack — excelled as a runner for Maryland in college, and Konyar said McGraw told the Terrapins staff she was someone they should consider.
Konyar said Maryland first reached out to her in the middle of her junior season, then began frequent contact with her last summer. Maryland is led by Danielle Siebert, the associate head coach for cross country and the track distance coach, and head track coach Andrew Valmon.
Konyar went on two trips to Maryland, an unofficial trip in the summer to talk with the coaches, and an official trip early in the fall where she spent time with the team.
“It felt really homey,” said Konyar of her visits. “They made me feel like I belonged there. The team was so real with me. They remind me of my friends, and we felt like best friends as soon as I met them. Having to go from the coaches I have now who I’m so close-knit with to Maryland’ s coaches, I felt like I could be super close with them because of how nice they are. I just felt really good about possibly going there.”
Konyar said she was in contact with Maryland about two to three times per week in the fall, a timeframe that included her fourth consecutive top-5 performance at the Class 4 state meet, the first time a Frederick County girl had achieved that feat in 27 years. Konyar took third in earning All-State honors.
Two weeks after the season ended, Konyar chose Maryland after also giving serious consideration to Virginia Tech. Konyar will study public health. Another way in which Maryland will feel like home is that Kenzie and Kevin each live five miles from Maryland’s College Park campus. Kenzie is a registered nurse and Kevin is a personal trainer at a gym and coaches cross country and track at St. Albans in Washington, D.C.
Konyar will join a cross country team that placed 15th out of 18 teams in the Big Ten and a track team that took 17th in indoor and outdoor last year, but features a staff with plenty of experience. For example, Siebert has been at Maryland since 2008 and was the head manager for the U.S. track & field team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Valmon is in his 23rd year and was the head coach for U.S. track & field at the 2012 London Olympics.
Konyar said she’s looking forward to having an opportunity to run the 5,000 and 10,000 in college. In high school, the longest event is the 3,200.
“I wish I could run a 5K on the track right now,” Konyar said.
Danielle Koelker took over as James Wood’s track & field head coach last year. Koelker has a successful running background and is still an accomplished distance runner, but she told the crowd that she was a bit intimidated at the thought of coaching someone as accompished as Konyar when she first started. It didn’t take long for her to feel at ease with Konyar, who also placed sixth in the 1,600 in Class 4 and had the area’s fastest time in the spring (5:11.77).
“Her talent, knowledge, and instinct for the sport are almost immeasurable,” Koelker said. “I’m so honored and privledged to coach Kate for even a small part of her running career, and I cannot wait to see her continue her success at Maryland.”
Kieffer will also receive a partial scholarship to continue her running career at Longwood, a member of the Big South Conference that is located in Farmville. Kieffer made her commitment to the Lancers in October. Longwood was fifth out of nine teams in cross country and placed eighth in outdoor track in Big South competition in 2025.
As a senior, Kieffer had a season PR of 19:21.1 and placed 24th at the Class 4 state meet in cross country. As a junior in outdoor track, Kieffer placed 10th the Class 4 in the 3,200 and had a top time of 11:34.94.
Before high school, Kieffer had never done any competitive running. She took it up at the suggestion of her uncle Kevin Shirk, the former Millbrook cross country and track coach who now coaches at Loudoun Valley. Lofton used to be Shirk’s assistant coach at Millbrook.
Kieffer has come a long way since her freshman year. In prepared remarks from Lofton that were shared to the crowd by James Wood principal Shelly Andrews, Lofton noted that her two-mile time trial of 14:56 that she had as a freshman is now a pace she can maintain while running for 70 minutes.
“Lofton really taught me to love running,” Kieffer said. “He was my first coach, and he showed me the progress I could make and what was out there for me.”
Eventually, Kieffer developed to the point where running collegiately was an option. She first heard of Longwood when one of her former teammates decided to enroll there two years ago, and she filled out a questionaire toward the end of her junior year.
Longwood — which is led by sixth-year director of cross country and track & field Brooke Craig — reached out to Kieffer by email. Kieffer visited the campus in the summer and went on an official visit in September. The second trip sold her on Longwood as a strong option.
“It’s a really nice community, and I really love the vibe of the team,” Kieffer said. “They were all really nice and supportive. I really like [Craig’s] coaching philosophies, and getting to talk with her about what she’s done for the program, and what she’s going to do for the program. That really inspired me.”
Kieffer also thought about going to William & Mary for academic purposes, but she feels she’s getting the best of everything with Longwood. Kieffer will study elementary education.
“Longwood is really well known for being a teaching school,” Kieffer said.
During the ceremony, Koelker mentioned that Kieffer competed in the steeplechase as a junior. It’s not an official event for high school, but it is for college, and Kieffer would like to do that as one of her events for Longwood.
“It’s really fun and something that not a lot of people do,” Kieffer said. “I thing my longest event will probably be the 5K.”
Kieffer’s desire to try the steeplechase is an example of what Koelker admires about her.
“Her passion for the sport and her determination to succeed have always stuck out to me,” Koelker said.
There’s a lot for Kieffer to like about Longwood, and it means a lot to know that she’ll get to continue running.
“I’m really excited, and I feel really, really honored to have the support I’ve had to get me to this level from the my family, coaches and friends,” Kieffer said. “I never even thought of running before high school. Running has changed my whole life, and I’m really, really glad that it did.”
In cross country, Palmer had a season PR of 19:54 in placing 18th in Region 4D, and she took 53rd in Class 4 this year to join Konyar and Kieffer as a First Team All-Area selection. Last spring in track, Palmer had best times of 5:41.16 in the 1,600, 2:29.96 in the 800 and 52.88 in the 300 hurdles.
Palmer will study physical therapy at Shenandoah, which placed third in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in cross country this fall and fifth in indoor and seventh in outdoor ODAC track meets last year.
“Palmer is one of the most communicative, dedicated and hard-working athletes I have ever coached,” stated Lofton in comments shared by Andrews. Koelker also praised her leadership and attitude.
Kieffer said the fact that three James Wood runners signed together on Wednesday shows just how special the Colonels’ distance program is, and how hard they all worked. James Wood’s senior class led the Colonels to their fourth straight state meet and fifth straight Northwestern District title this season.
“These ladies make me proud to call myself a Colonel,” said Lofton through Andrews. “There’s no doubt they will all succeed in both running and their careers.”
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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