Peninsula Catholic's McKenna Prepares for Next Run as Auburn Tiger

After a record setting senior year with Peninsula Catholic,
Molly McKenna has made a huge jump in competition,
now competing for Auburn University of the SEC.

On the heels of the most successful outdoor  track season for any female distance runner in Peninsula (VA) history, Peninsula Catholic’s Molly McKenna found herself in a unique and unusual position. Just the year before, she had been overshadowed by teammates such as Martine Hunnicutt, who won the Daily Press cross-country female runner of the year, but established herself as the solid #2 or #3 harrier on a team which won the VISAA Division II crown in 2012, beating teams such as Walsingham Academy and Wakefield School — solid squads, but like the Knights, ones which represented schools with under 500 students.

Even at the previous week’s State Catholic meet, the largest team Peninsula Catholic faced was Fairfax’s Paul VI high school, a member of the prestigious Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, but still, a school which would qualify as Group 4A (out of six) under the newest Virginia High School League (VHSL) conferencing alignment.

But in spite of her regular doses of small school competition, between these schools and the TCIS (Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools) meets which her Newport News school competed in, McKenna broke out in a big way during her senior year, setting 1600 (5:00) and 3200-meter (10:47) records for the Virginia Peninsula, marks which rivaled those of the public school standouts in the southern half of the state. 

By the end of the 2014 outdoor track season, McKenna was a full-fledged blue chip recruit, but one who had peaked too late for many schools to notice, much less hold scholarships for. 

Fortunately, late appearances at the MileStat.com Elite Track Classic and New Balance Nationals helped her star shine as graduation neared.

PC girls cross-country coach Susan Bender recalls the move that inspired her star runner’s leap of faith into college, marked by a jump from the TCIS and VISAA conferences of private school Virginia straight into the SEC as the newest cross-country and track runner for Auburn University.

“I believe they contacted her and had her come visit the campus.  She really liked the school and the coaches and the few runners she met.”

Even McKenna saw the unfolding of events as something beyond the ordinary.

“I actually can't remember exactly why I applied to Auburn, but did so pretty late in the game and kind of out of the blue. I knew very little about the school, but I guess it was just meant to be.”

In fact, her two day official visit to Auburn also marked her first excursion to Alabama. But McKenna’s first impression was her lasting one.

“It just had the right feel to it. (There’s) no other way to put it.”

Her start as a political science major has been an auspicious one so far. McKenna made the trip south on August 6th, and reports that  “Aside from some homesickness, the transition has been very easy, thanks to the great team and coaching staff here. It truly is like moving in with a second family. After one week, I already feel at home. And I'm really enjoying this level of training."

Any worry about her new SEC competition, which includes nationally ranked Arkansas (#7) and Vanderbilt (#23), as well as Florida and Alabama?

“The pressure is on, but it's a good pressure. I can feel the potential for great things down here.” 

She also added that her “classes are great! I'm loving being able to focus on subjects that really interest me.”

Somewhat surprisingly, a look into the 2014 Auburn cross-country media guide shows that McKenna also sports the fastest 1600 and 3200 times among her five person incoming class. But the 18-year olds goals remain modest and have nothing to do with breaking a certain time barrier.

“I have several goals, but my main ones are to stay healthy, drop time, and score for the team.”

At this point, there is no benchmark. The college women run many of their races at the 6 kilometer distance, one which McKenna admits she does not have a time for. But there is one other goal, and for that, she makes note of the September 26th entry on the Auburn schedule, the Panorama Farms meet, hosted by the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville.

Thinking back to the VISAA meets at the scenic Woodberry Forest campus in nearby Orange, VA, she adds, “I'm really hoping to travel for that race. It would be nice to see Virginia in the fall.”

Newport News (VA) to Host Inaugural "One City" Marathon in March 2015

Although it shouldn’t be viewed as a move to secede from the Hampton Roads (VA) region, the founders of its newest marathon have opted to call the race which will begin and finish in Newport News, Virginia, the “One City Marathon.”

Surprisingly, fitting a marathon into this one city isn’t that hard of a feat. Starting at the far north end of town in Newport News Park, the race course makes some diversions into local neighborhoods, but still manages to follow a mostly north to south course which covers all 26.2 miles of the race. This becomes more understandable when one learns that the narrow city of Newport News measures about 24 miles from top to bottom.

Along with the self-identifying race title, the inaugural marathon has also been scheduled for March 15, 2015, exactly one week before the annual Shamrock Marathon in neighboring Virginia Beach.

Ironically, one person who may be vexed by this scheduling impasse is also one of the most visible spokespersons. Last year, Desiree Williams, the  representing the state as Miss Virginia 2013, completed her first marathon on the flat Shamrock oceanfront course. This year, as a Newport News resident, doctoral student at nearby Hampton University, avid runner and professional yoga instructor, and public figure, she was asked to help promote the One City race.

Asked whether she was planning on running the race itself, Williams wants to keep her options open. 

“I will be running an event as well as presenting at the Health & Wellness Expo, but I have not yet determined whether I will run the marathon or the 8K,” said Williams.

Desiree Williams will be involved with
the One City Marathon, as a
spokesperson, and runner, although her
race has not been decided yet.

I’m looking forward to the event. Although 33 years have passed since the last time I ran a marathon, it is inspiring to see an event which has the opportunity to enhance community pride, while encouraging physical fitness and spirited competition. One of my favorite memories of completing the Marine Corps Marathon three times was seeing the swarms of people who lined the course from Rte. 110 in Arlington, through Crystal City, over the Key Bridge into Georgetown, around the Capitol, into West Potomac Park, around Hains Point, back over the 14th St. Bridge and toward the finish at the Iwo Jima Memorial. Tens of thousands of people showed up and made the day for the thousands more competitors.

The One City Marathon has the chance to bring the community together, for this year, and hopefully many more to come. Stay tuned here for more race updates.

Yorktown's Burden Wins FINA World Championship in Masters Diving

Just received word from Jim Burden, one of my former article/post subjects, that he won the gold medal for 1-meter diving at the recent FINA world event in Montreal. For the record, Jim is the diver who found his way back into the sport after a 38-year absence. Now 61, Burden also placed third in the 3-meter competition. As he told me,"I can't believe it really happened!" Coming off of 2nd place finishes in the U.S. meet, it is quite a feat. Congratulations Jim, and I look forward to covering this in more detail in the very near future.

Southeastern Virginia Swimming's "Magnificent Seven" 13-14 Year Olds Break U.S.A. Top 200 Rankings

Most of article is shown as published in the Hampton, Newport News and York County Town Square sections of the DAILY PRESS on Thursday, July 17, 2014

The pride of SEVA Swimming -
Danika Katzer, Jenna Thompson, Morgan Miller,
 Jacqueline Tinneny,Skyler Dewall, Kathryn Nunez,
 Andrea Ducar

In organized sports, coaches, athletes and fans are known to long for the fairy tale season involving their favorite team.

This summer, Jeff Kincaid, coach of the Southeastern Virginia Seahawks swim team, has been living through the experience, both literally and figuratively.

That’s because seven of his 13 year old age group female swimmers have pierced through the plateau of the Top 200 IM Xtreme national rankings established by USA Swimming, Inc. The rankings, which Kincaid says are “a motivating factor” to all of his swimmers, is based on a point system for key races starting at 100 meters, including the freestyle and individual medley.

Two of the Seahawks, Danika Katzer and Jacqueline Tinneny, both of Yorktown, have even made it into the Top 20. Katzer has scored in 14 different events, the most of any individual  in Virginia, while Tinneny’s strength comes from being the highest ranked in the breaststroke.

Joining the pair in the rankings are fellow Seahawk teammates Morgan Miller (highest rank 35th), Jenna Thompson (#81), Skyler Dewall (#112), Andrea Ducar (#129) and Kathryn Nunez (#189).

For Kincaid, the success of his 13 year olds all part of a group effort, one which has earned a nickname from their coach, a moniker that associates more with Walt Disney than Mark Spitz.

“They’re like the Seven Dwarfs,” says Kincaid, now in his third year at the helm of the Seahawks. “Each one brings unique personalities to the pool.”

And while the Dwarfs reference may sound demeaning, it engages the larger effort involved with youth swimming, an effort that requires six days a week of summer workouts, which on a recent Tuesday at the Midtown Aquatic Center in Newport News, began at 5:45 AM.

“We try to do fun things to keep the swimmers happy,” adds Kincaid. “If this were easy, every child would be up at 5 AM to go to practice.”

Katzer and Tinneny are no strangers to the early morning regimen. Both have been swimmers for at least six years, and Tinneny in particular has a master plan to keep her summer schedule as regular as possible.

“It’s exhausting,” says the rising ninth grader, who will enter Grafton High School this fall. “I have to go home after practice and take a nap,” a comment which drew a knowing nod from Katzer.

The hard work is paying dividends.

Last month, at the CGBD (Coast Guard Blue Dolphins) Summer Madness meet at the Midtown Center, the younger swimmers were able to match up with older competitors in “Super Finals” races, which were open to all age groups. Both Katzer and Tinneny matched up well with more accomplished swimmers, such as Peyton Baldwin and Nicole Piercy from Hampton Roads Academy. In one memorable race, the 200-meter freestyle, Katzer held her own against former Menchville star and current University of Tennessee standout Amanda carnet, keeping up for several laps before fading behind by 1.7 seconds, still good enough for a respectable second place finish.

“Danica really pushed her (Carner) to the limit,” said Kincaid. Katzer looked at the opportunity as “really fun.”

Next up for the Seahawks was the non-scoring Summer Awards meet, the Senior Champs, and finally, the Age Group Championships, which was held at the Christianburg Aquatic Center in southwest Virginia. At the Age Group Championships, SEVA collected enough points to win the girls 13-14 age group title for Midsize team, while Katzer won high points award for the age group. 

However, the Seahawks alignment with Katzer will be ending soon as her military family will be relocating to Northern Virginia before the beginning of next season.