Vanessa Flaherty ‘16 started running like many other people do. As she entered her freshman year at LT, her parents wanted her to get involved and do something that would fill up her schedule. Little did they know that three years and hundreds of miles later, Flaherty would hold all of LT’s records for 800 meter races and be one of the best track runners in the entire state.

“My parents wanted my sister and brother to do a sport, and they picked running and I decided to follow along,” Flaherty said. “As time went on I improved greatly and worked my way up to the varsity level by the end of my freshman year.”

Flaherty has been competing at the varsity level for all of her high school career. She primarily runs 4×800 meters races where she is currently ranked seventh in the state with the time of 2:16.14, according to DyeStat.com (a website that ranks runners nationwide). She also runs the mile race and has qualified at state for both of these events for the past three years.

“Vanessa has an incredible work ethic which is what makes her such a successful runner,” Head Coach Joe Pontrelli said. “She puts forth 100% effort every day in practice, she wants to get better, and she is passionate about distance running.”

Flaherty’s times have also greatly improved over her high school career. Freshman year she was running a 5:25 for her one mile time. Now, Flaherty is running a 5:12 indoor mile and a 5:08 outdoor mile. Flaherty’s goal for the end of senior year season is to get her mile time under five minutes.

“On the team, she is a person who leads by example and always ensures none of us slack off at practice,” long time teammate Diana Kafkes ‘16 said. “Vanessa cares deeply about, not only her own goals, but also helping our team reach a level of excellence as well and is committed to seeing each and every one of us improve.”

This year has also marked a big change in Flaherty’s running career. The team was introduced to coach Pontrelli when former cross country coach Stetson Steele stepped down after coaching Flaherty for three years.

“At first the transition was a little rough because their coaching styles are so much different,” Flaherty said. “But I have adapted to coach Pontrelli’s coaching methods because I am a highly motivated runner myself.”

Although coach Pontrelli has only been coaching Flaherty for about three months, he has been coaching track and distance running for 10 years. He has seen Flaherty’s talent grow just within these past couples of months.

“Vanessa progressed very well, we still have a couple of things to work on to help her improve, but overall she’s exactly where she needs to be right now,” coach Pontrelli said. “By the end of the season, I think she is a state contender for the 800 meter run.”

Flaherty hopes to continue her running career at the collegiate level. Her plans are still unclear however, she is getting recruited by division one schools and is looking forward to improving even more.

“I can’t wait to see what’s in store for her because it is sure to be amazing,” Kafkes said.