It has been all about Kathryn Schoenauer in girls’ track and field this season. During the winter the High School South junior was named girls’ MVP at the Mercer County indoor championships, following a county title in the long jump. She led the Pirates to the Group IV indoor title and finished third at the Meet of Champions in the 55 hurdles.
Her spring has been even better. Schoenauer helped the Pirates to four first-place finishes at the Mercer County relays in April, was the only female athlete from New Jersey to compete in the long jump at the Penn Relays, and racked up three first-place finishes at the Mercer County Championships, which South also won as a team. She’s also a standout in the 100-meter hurdles, 400-meter hurdles, 3×400 meter hurdles, shuttle hurdles, and sprint medley relay.
Not bad for someone who has only been running track for a year.
Schoenauer picked up the sport after a gentle nudge from head coach Todd Smith, who coached her older brother, Brian, one of South’s all-time greatest football players. She played lacrosse as a freshman and initially took up track during the winter of her sophomore year as a way to stay in shape for lacrosse.
“I thought it was a good way to get conditioned,” she said. “Coach Smith coached my brother in football, and he knew my family. He knew I was athletic, so he wanted me to try it.”
And Schoenauer, a lifelong cheerleader who also cheers for the Pirates in the fall, fell in love with the sport. She had a breakout rookie campaign, standing toe-to-toe with North’s Pati Dziekonska, then a senior who dominated the county girls’ track scene.
Like most track athletes, she started with sprints, and she ventured into the long jump during her first spring season.
Unlike most track athletes, though, she also tried hurdles that winter — and she loved them.
“I think I’m a very technical person, and hurdles is a very technical event,” she said. “I can focus on the little things, and that helps me run better overall.”
This year Schoenauer, who hopes to run in college but doesn’t have any immediate plans, tried the 400-meter hurdles for the first time, and she didn’t waste any time climbing the county’s ranks in the race. She captured the Mercer County title May 9.
The 400 hurdles “is relatively new to me, so I’d love to see what I can do as the season goes on,” she said. “[Teammate] Bernadette Cao is also doing great, so we’re able to push each other.” Cao finished sixth at the County meet, less than three seconds behind Schoenauer.
Schoenauer said the transition from cheerleading to track can be a tough one. She sometimes loses her aerobic endurance in the fall, so she has to work to build it back up.
“During the fall I try to keep up in the weight room and squat a lot,” she said. “I don’t have as much time to really get a good run in.”
There are some similarities between the seasons, though.
“I think people think of track as an individual sport,” she said. “I think it’s as much of a team sport as anything. Our team is always working together for bigger team titles.”
As the spring season winds down, Schoenauer, who also has a older sister, Cira, would like to shave some seconds off of her 100m hurdles time, as well as place an compete at the state Meet of Champions.
“We have sectionals in two weeks,” she said. “Hopefully, we’ll go out to win a team title. That’s really our next big step as a team.”
It shouldn’t be a problem. The South girls have dominated over the last several years, and Schoenauer attributes that to an encouraging environment.
“Our coaches really create a positive environment for us to excel,” she said. “Our workouts have been hard, but they’ve really shown to pay off. We’re just working as a team really well. We have the depth to win big meets like that.”
And though Schoenauer is used to major meets, nerves always creep their way in before a big race.
“There’s always added pressure when the meet is bigger,” she said. “Sometimes, I get too much in my head or get too stressed. I try to just treat it as a normal meet. I know that our coaches prepare us well.”
