Photography by Steve Buchanan
Kent Island High senior Sarah Van Ornum’s running career is just starting to blossom—bigtime. Van Ornum proved over and over she’s a championship-caliber runner. She’s captured a whopping 15 individual Bayside Conference, regional, and state championships since October in cross country, indoor track, and track and field.
Picking the highlights is easy. Van Ornum captured a Class 2A state title in the 3,200 meters in March, and three months later, won another state title in the same event. Now, she’s sharply focused on adding a third state crown, a championship in cross country this fall.
This state title competition will be the most challenging yet. Hereford High in North Baltimore County will host the state meet in November, and its 3.1-mile course might be the toughest in the state because of the hilly terrain. Runners typically post about a minute slower time compared to flatter courses.
“I think it (state cross country title) is possible,” says Van Ornum, who carries a weighted 3.76 grade-point average and wants to major in engineering in college. “To win a state meet will take a lot of hard work and training.”
It’s clear the 5-foot-5 Van Ornum, who is being recruited by Division I and II schools, is putting in the work. She is bent on achieving that lofty goal because she designed her summer workouts with the Hereford course in mind, and to a lesser degree, a few others.
Van Ornum says training on different areas of Kent Island wouldn’t work because the terrain is too flat, so has been making the trip across the Bay Bridge to train at the Naval Academy, where there’s a hill the Kent Island runner calls “Big Bertha” that meets her workout requirements.
In fact, she calls it the perfect place to work out. When she discusses her training, it’s with an abundance of enthusiasm. “I am running six days a week to build up my mileage for cross country, but also trying to maintain speed work,” she explains. “That’s what I have been trying to do—improve my speed work and it has helped a lot. I have the endurance. I’m building up my speed work, running a lot—35 to 40 miles.”
Van Ornum put together a solid 2021 cross country season. The 17-year-old won the Bayside Conference championship, the Class 2A East Region title, and The Spiked Shoe Invitational. The Spiked Shoe featured 87 runners and she ran it in 19:44. In the state championship, she placed 10th, while suffering from a severe cold. She still ran the course in 20:42.
Van Ornum says with the way she’s training this summer, she should be able to run under 20 minutes at states in November. Kent Island Cross Country Coach Kristin Park agrees.
“I will say this: no one is going to outwork her,” Park explains. “I tell these kids, ‘The championships are won in the summer months.’ She really wants it (a state title). It’s now or never. Top three in the state is realistic for her. Last year, she got that cold at the last minute, and it really tore her down.”
Once the cross country season is over, Van Ornum plans to compete in the Northeast Region of the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships in New York City in November. Then comes the 2023 indoor track and track and field seasons.
Kent Island has boasted its share of elite track athletes. Fiona Mulligan (pole vault) and Kyra Schulties (middle distance runner) won a few state titles.
“But she’s obtained (state titles) at a younger age,” Kent Island Indoor Track Coach Justin Holland says of Van Ornum. “What she has accomplished is close to what the others have accomplished, and they did it in four years. They didn’t have (canceled) Covid season. She has done it in three years and one of those years was Covid, so she’s only really had two years.”
Holland adds, “She already has two state championships. She could potentially win six more—four individuals and two relays.”
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