Senior Spotlight: Pennridge’s Carroll made the hurdles her home

Kelly Carroll’s passion for track and field was greatly enriched when she began competing for Pennridge.
“It holds a special place in my heart because it is where I grew the most as a hurdler, and as an athlete,” she said. “Coach (Bill) Smith and coach O’Brien do an amazing job of training the team and also being there for support when we needed them.
“They are great examples of sportsmanship and what it means to be a runner.”
Carroll – like every other spring athlete – saw her final season wiped away, but she takes with her plenty of unique experiences.
“I really missed the girls on the team this season,” the Pennridge grad said. “By my senior year, we had built a really tight-knit team of amazing athletes, and amazing people who looked out for each other.”
Building together >> Track and field brings together many types of athletes.
“My favorite aspect is definitely the community we have on the team,” she said. “I so enjoyed spending time with my friends on the track and those practices where we got to goof around.”
Binge watching >> Finding places to run was tricky during the shutdown.
Finding hurdles, even tougher.
“My training during the shutdown can best be described as minimal,” Carroll said. “I didn’t expect that we would be returning to our season. I focused mostly on stretching and light runs to stay active.
“Since the shutdown, I have mostly been working more hours and catching up on my favorite Netflix shows. And although I couldn’t hang out with friends, it was great to still stay in touch.”
Finding her niche >> Carroll found her favorite event in middle school.
“I started out hurdling for the first time in seventh grade,” she remembers. “It was very scary at first, but middle school was a lot less competitive so I could really work on learning the ins and outs of hurdles, and that base really helped me throughout my high school track career.
“My goal coming into the spring season was to improve myself. I’ve never been very competitive in track, and I was just looking forward to improving my 100-meter hurdle time for myself this season.”
Carroll heads to West Chester University in the fall. She doesn’t have plans to run for the team, but looks forward to finding clubs and groups to continue running with.