Girls track athlete of the year

CHRIS HUMPHREYS
Published: May 3, 2008

At some point, you have to wonder if Heritage’s Laura Rapp ever stops running. The senior is a standout on the Pioneers’ cross country team, the indoor track team, the outdoor track team and the girls soccer team.

But it was her dominance in the middle distance and distance events that helped carry Heritage to second-place finishes at the Seminole District meet and the Region III meet and a third-place finish at the Group AA state meet and led her to be selected as The News & Advance all-area girls indoor track athlete of the year.

“That was one of our best finishes (at the state meet) in a long time,” Rapp said. “Early on in the season, we thought we would have a pretty good team. Then one of our top sprinters (Dee Williams) got hurt but everyone stepped up. It was exciting and everything fell into place for us to do well.”

Rapp was especially proud of her effort in the 1,000 meters this season after finishing second in the event to Blacksburg’s Cate Berenato by .15 seconds at the 2007 state meet.

This year, she not only placed first in the 1,000 at the district, region and state meets but she also broke the three-minute mark at the Region III meet (2:57.37) and the state meet (2:57.98).

“I decided early on that I really wanted to do well at the 1000 after finishing second at the state meet last year,” Rapp said. “I set really high expectations for myself.”

“It’s kind of a different distance, but I like it. It’s a good combination of running fast and long. It starts relatively fast and has a steady pace. The 1,600 sometimes slows down around the 1,200-meter mark.”

Rapp should know as she’s no slouch in the mile either. She placed first at the Seminole meet (5:17.06) and the Region III meet (5:13.18) and second at the state meet (5:08.88) in the distance. Rapp was also the Seminole champ in the 500 (1:23.33).

Rapp will slow down a little next year at Wake Forest. She won’t be playing soccer, but will be running cross country and indoor and outdoor track.

“It was a tough decision,” Rapp said. “I thought Wake Forest would be a good fit academically and athletically. It was nice to finally get that weight off my shoulders.”

“It will be an entirely new environment. It will be neat to have many people running in the same events as me on the same team. There weren’t that many distance runners at Heritage. It will be nice to have teammates to push me. It will make training both easier and harder.”