Vradenburgh regular top-10 runner at age 13

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

Last season, Kathryn Vradenburgh not only ran with the big dogs of the Chattanooga Cross Country League, she competed with them.

This year, she's been stronger, faster and better.

Vradenburgh, who runs for the home-school program, has been among the leaders in league meets so far this season. The 13-year-old technically ran last season as a seventh-grader and was still good enough to place in the top five in each of the four meets she competed in and earn Best of Preps honors as a 12-year-old.

So far this season, she has finished in the top 10 in five of the seven meets, the only exceptions being a 13th place in the first meet of the year and an 11th at the prestigious McCallie Invitational. The McCallie meet was also her personal best of her brief career, as she finished the five-kilometer course at Moccasin Bend in 19 minutes, 31.69 seconds.

"I'm running a lot faster than I thought I would this year," she said after Thursday's race at Chickamauga Dam. "I try to run about five times a week -- a couple of times with the team and a couple of times by myself."

Signal Mountain's Mallory Young and Baylor's Jackson Goodwin were the victorious individual runners Thursday, while Baylor's boys and Heritage's girls were the team winners.

Vradenburgh, who was sixth, said she has set a goal to eclipse the 19-minute barrier this season. It's not a goal that she's sure she can attain this season, with only next week's Front Runner City Championship at Baylor and the National Association of Christian Athletics championship race a couple weeks later, but it won't be from a lack of effort if she can't.

"If I can't get there, I'm definitely going to shoot for the lower 19s. Maybe around a 19:20," she said.

Of course, if she can't, it's OK. She's still got four more years.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.

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