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| 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.”
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