Race Stories: Brent Kennedy

In a year where a lot of runners were up and down on the rankings, one consistent force seemed to be Kiski Area's Brent Kennedy. Kennedy, coming off a terrific sophomore XC campaign, proved he not a one trick pony on the track. He led his Kiski relay team to the medal stand indoors and outdoors in the DMR and 4x800m and performed some of the most impressive doubles and triples of anyone in the spring. All of this as a sophomore in high school. Coming into the XC season as the 7th place finisher at last year's state meet, expectations would naturally be high for Brent, but he didn't fold under that pressure: he rose to the occassion.

Early in the season Brent cemented himself as one of the top guys in the state with a big win at the Red, White and Blue invitational in one of the fastest 5k times of the year. He followed it up with an extremely impressive time at the Carlisle course where he was a close second to Vinny Todaro and then two impressive marks in the District 7 area at Tristates and WPIALs, just barely coming in second again to Dan Jaskowak before taking the gold at Districts.

Knowing that Todaro and Jaskowak would both be racing half an hour before him, Kennedy went into the state meet race confident and ready to compete for the title. He ran smart and put himself in perfect position throughout, getting his chance at the title with about a mile to go. After the pack was depleted by the grueling Aloha hills it was just Pondel, Kennedy and Russell left to jockey for state gold. Ultimately, Tony broke away in an impressive move that Kennedy highly respected. "The fact that he hung on to that commanding lead for the entire last mile shows how strong of a runner he is."

Kennedy used his kick to sprint into high gear up the final hill and snagged himself a silver medal as a Junior at the state championships, an achievement few can match. He leaves states without regret and ready for his next challenge at the Footlocker regional championships. He has hopes for the meet and appreciates the support he has gotten on his journey so far.

But really his story is just beginning.