Schoenauer is counties MVP
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Kathryn Schoenauer was still figuring out her strengths in track and field last year after she switched sports.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro South junior has returned with a year of experience and is fast approaching the marks she set last year in the 55-meter dash, 55-meter hurdles and long jump.
”It’s different because now this year I know what my best events are and I know where I’ll succeed, whereas last year I was kind of playing around, if I like 400 or hurdles better,” Schoenauer said. “I know where I show my talents best. It’s exciting to know where I can fit in best. It’s a different type of competition for me. I know and have the confidence in myself. Last year, I was gaining that confidence and building it up. This year, I’m trying to improve with the help of my team and my coaches. I’m trying to push myself more each week.”
Schoenauer had a setback when came down awkwardly in a hurdles drill and rolled her ankle. For the last three weeks, she has been recovering from it, and competing with a heavily wrapped ankle. It didn’t hinder her Sunday at the Mercer County Championships at Lawrenceville School.
Schoenauer led a WW-P South sweep of the long jump with a season’s best 18-feet-1¼, won the 55-meter hurdles in a season’s best 8.63 seconds and finished fourth in the 55-meter dash even after running a new personal-best 7.54 seconds. Her big day helped the Pirates cruise to the team championship with 99 points, more than doubling runner-up Lawrenceville. Schoenauer was named the meet’s Most Valuable Player for her double win and contributions.
”I did not think we’d win by that much, but I know we have the depth you need to win counties,” Schoenauer said. “We have the distance runners, we have the field events, we have great sprinters. I thought we could win. We were just ecstatic when we did. Our team has a lot of depth and shows a lot of progress in all events.”
Kathryn Schoenauer is the Princeton Packet Athlete of the Week.
”She’s a lot more confident in her races,” said Pirates head coach Todd Smith. “Her form, it’s becoming not necessarily flawless, but it’s gotten a lot better. She’s just more consistent with everything now. She’s taking a serious approach to the weight room and becoming a better athlete. You can see all that hard work paying off for her.”
Schoenauer’s work has helped her improve across the board, and it put her in a position to succeed even not at full strength. She would have done a fourth event, but the Pirates want her healthier for this Sunday’s Central Jersey Group IV meet.
”We didn’t want to push it with her,” Smith said. “Kathryn sprained her ankle pretty bad three weeks ago. In the past couple meets, she’s had a gigantic swollen ankle. We’ve been dealing with that and Kathryn did all that she did today at probably 90 percent. Hopefully when she’s healthy she can do a little more.”
Schoenauer is working at each of her events to improve. She could move up to the 400 meters as she develops, but she could just help the Pirates in the 200 in the indoor season. She has picked up plenty in the year of track.
”Compared to my winter season last year, I’ve learned the technique and I’ve learned what I can do better,” Schoenauer said. “Whereas last year I was just learning how to get over the hurdles as fast as I can, through the spring last year, I learned a lot of the technique and the tricks to reaching and I learned how to push myself more in them.
”I didn’t know fully what I was doing last year,” she added. “I didn’t know any technique. Now that I’ve learned it, I’m trying to get my marks higher and faster and be more consistent in how I do that rather than winging it and trying to rely on my strength. I’m trying to think more about my technique I’ve learned the past year.”
Her hurdles win was especially satisfying given that she wasn’t at top speed and still won. It allowed her to stay atop the county this winter.
”I was definitely hoping I’d win it,” Schoenauer said. “I felt that I’ve been very strong in the hurdles for the past few weeks in practice and ending my spring season last year, I felt really strong. I was hoping I’d win. Coach Smith did say I was the No. 1 seed, so that pushed me more to fulfill what I was capable of.”
Her win in the long jump showed some resilience. Schoenauer and teammates Bernadette Cao and Edwina Gulama took the top three spots in the long jump, but it didn’t look promising at the start of the meet for Schoenauer.
”I had lots of tape on my ankle,” Schoenauer said. “My first two jumps, it was really bothering me. I didn’t do my best. I did 16-7 on the first, and my second one I fouled. Then I went to the hurdles and dash and it started feeling better and I kind of stuck it out.”
Schoenauer came back to pass everyone with her final two attempts. It gave her plenty of confidence going forward.
”That was my second best ever,” she said. “I was really excited. The whole meet previously, Edwina Gulama and Bernadette Cao were in first and second. I was excited to see them do well. They motivated me to jump to the best of my ability. They were really supportive.
”The fact that we got first, second and third for our team was huge,” she added. “Especially because we don’t spend much time on it in practice. It gives us a preview of what the season and the spring holds. It was really exciting.”
Her dash too went well, and she knows it can improve. She made a significant improvement from the preliminaries to finals.
”In the preliminaries, I didn’t get off to the best start,” Schoenauer said. “I could have been better. The dash is all about your start and maintaining your speed and quickness. I thought I did it better in the finals. I think I could improve my start and maintaining my speed. It’s all about power. I think I can grow more in that event.”
WW-P South is happy to see how Schoenauer has come back to them. She is more prepared after going through a year of track.
”She picked up right where she left off,” Smith said. “She hit the ground running and she was ready to go. The ankle is just a hiccup. Her long jump (Sunday) was her second longest ever in her life. She has school record 18-3. That’s the stuff you’re starting to see — that it’s consistent.”
Schoenauer’s goal is to maintain her performances and build on them into the spring. She will have great competition in the coming meets, and as she gets healthier, she figures to have a better chance to hit her marks.
”Coming into this year, for the long jump, after I jumped 18-3¾ in the spring, I really wanted to maintain that and be consistently in the 18s and have these longer jumps,” Schoenauer said. “Going into counties, I told Coach Smith I think I can do 18. I knew what I was capable of. I’m trying to stay consistent in my jumps and my times and build them up to longer distances and faster times.”
Being more consistent will keep her in position to contend for titles at any meet. She is focusing on her repertoire of events after spending her first year figuring out her favorites.
”I can’t pick a favorite, but I think long jump is my best event,” Schoenauer said. “We don’t practice it much during the year. Naturally, that’s my best and I’m most fit for that. I love hurdles. Hurdles came naturally for me sophomore year. I’m working on my speed and improving my technique. I want to improve my technique and get better and faster.”
Schoenauer is starting to figure out her events and how to be even better in them. It doesn’t bode well for the competition if she can make more strides.
”I don’t see her doing more than the dash and hurdles until we get her 100 percent,” Smith said. “I expect her to push for a sectional championship in the hurdles. She’s that good. We have that goal to get to the Meet of Champions in every event she competes in. The message was get through the sectional meet and then we have two weeks to get her ready (for groups).”
And as much as rest and ice can help her, winning too has helped her ankle recover. At least, it seemed that way after the county meet.
”Coming out of the meet and at the end of the meet, I was so ecstatic about how I performed and how my team did, I wasn’t thinking about my ankle at the time,” Schoenauer said. “I felt good. I was happy I was able to pull through and do well. In the beginning of the meet I was kind of doubting myself and concerned. I felt better as it went along. I’m excited to go into sectionals and feel better.”