Kaitlyn Highduch caps Mifflin career with second-fastest 3200 in Berks history (updated)
(Updated to show time is second-fastest in Berks history)
By Julie Pelchar Cohen — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent
SHIPPENSBURG — Kaitlyn Highduch didn’t dress in a maroon cap and gown alongside her Gov. Mifflin classmates Friday night.
Instead, she found herself wearing a bronze medal Saturday morning.
The Mustangs star skipped her graduation ceremony to run at the PIAA Track and Field Championships.
Looks like she made the right decision.
Highduch blazed to a 10:35.24 to finish third in the Class 3A 3200. Her time was the second-fastest in county history on a warm and sunny morning at Seth Grove Stadium.
The race punctuated one of the best senior years in Berks County distance running history. It also marked Highduch’s culmination of triumph over years of heartbreak.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” Highduch said. “But I know I deserve it. I know I worked hard for it.”
Highduch’s honest statement is severely understated.
After winning a junior high county cross country title in eighth grade, Highduch carried success into her freshman year. She finished third in the Berks Conference Run, produced a Top 10 finish at the District 3 Meet and finished 16th at the PIAA Championships.
A freshman earning a Class 3A cross country medal is special. Her high school career looked limitless.
Turns out setbacks speckled her next few years. Shin splints sidelined Highduch for three months later in her freshman campaign. A stress fracture erased her sophomore cross country season. She ran through another spell of shin splints as a junior and never found her stride on the track, when she finished 21st in the PIAA 3200.
“It was just a struggle to even break 11 (minutes) last year,” Highduch said. “So literally all of junior year was just a struggle. There were few wins.”
That changed when Highduch started her senior year. She was finally healthy enough to showcase the talent that waited beneath her battered shins.
Highduch cruised to a county cross country title in the fall. She earned a district bronze and finished 15th at the PIAA Meet. In the indoor season she earned a 3200 fourth-place medal at the state championships.
Highduch was primed to finish her high school career with a flourish.
She’s done just that.
After winning her second straight county-championship Firing Meet title, she took district bronze by shaving three seconds off the personal best she had set earlier in the spring.
She lopped off another seven seconds Saturday, finishing behind repeat champion Logan St. John Kletter of Mount Lebanon and DuBois Area’s Morgan Roemer.
“To do something as big as this is just a pleasant surprise,” Highduch said. “I’m still taking it in. I’m just really happy.”
Skipping graduation was never not an option for Highduch.
She’s worked too hard.
The pain she’s endured during her journey made Saturday’s race more meaningful.
“I wanted to be here,” she said. “Graduation is special, but so is this. I felt like if I didn’t prepare properly and if I didn’t go to bed at a good time then I might as well not even step on that line. I’m glad I did it this way.”
Gov. Mifflin honored Highduch and teammate Zack Zerbe during Thursday’s commencement practice. An announcement was made that they would be competing at the state championships. Zerbe and Highduch received applause and their diplomas.
“It was really kind of the school to accommodate us,” she said.
With that sendoff and Saturday’s speedy finale, Highduch vaulted her name into the mix of fastest two-milers in county history.
Only Reagan Underwood, who clocked a 10:18.96 at the PIAA Championships in 2019, has run faster. Highduch heard stories about her when she was a young runner. Now she’s mentioned in the same breath.
“That means a lot,” Highduch said. “Obviously, I’m not a famous figure, but being an example for other girls in the county and being there for other girls who are running and having a place in history with all the other strong girls up there is just awesome.”
