Rinehardt's The Light-Speed Lady Lion
For her entire senior year at Tallwood, Octavia Rinehardt had spent a great deal of time in the cross country community's public eye.
She'd won every regular season race, helping her team to third in the Beach District. On Oct. 24, she'd become the individual female District champion, rushing away from the rest at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex.
But now, she wouldn't just be up against the city's best. She'd be facing the finest the entire Eastern Region had to offer.
Lacing up her cleats at Chesapeake's Bells Mill Park on Nov. 1, Rinehardt hoped that she wouldn't have a bad day at the worst time. She hoped she'd finally grab the regional title to which she'd come so close the year before, when she'd finished second to Great Bridge graduate Kristy Tobin.
"Anybody can come along and win it," she said of regionals. "With competition like this, you never know."
The Lady Lion and the rest of the 100-plus pack headed to the starting line, and the gun went off, sending them across over three miles of tall grass and dirt-covered hills.
Rinehardt was ahead in the group, but she couldn't know if she'd stay there for the next 18, 19, 20, or however many minutes it would take her to get through the course. Behind her, cleats dug into the ground and were pulled back out, and short, high grunts pierced the unusually warm November air.
On the sidelines, Tallwood parents, coaches, and teammates cheered her on.
"She's been great," said Coach Caitlin Stravin. She has a lot of maturity. You don't have to pump her up or sugarcoat with her. You can be honest and let her know how to get the job done."
As the time clock ticked past 11 minutes, Rinehardt was doing so; she had a big lead on the pack, but one pulled muscle, misplaced step, or recurrence of the foot injury that had hampered her during her junior year could change everything.
"My goal was to finish in the top five in all the races and Districts, and I just carried that over into today," she said of her prerace strategy. "I just thought to run my race and try to go for my best, not worry about what other people were doing."
Refusing to look back to check on her opponents, she finally saw the finish line.
"Just GO!" she told herself. "Just try to finish in as little time as possible!"
Seconds later, she did so, traipsing across the line in 18:18.10, five seconds ahead of her previous shortest time, and 25 seconds faster than second-place Kristina Woodard of Hampton.
But she wasn't quite finished; on Nov. 10 at Great Meadow, she shaved 13 more seconds off her best-ever time to set a new Eastern Region girls record at the state meet, where she took third overall.
"I feel really good," said Rinehardt. "It was the greatest feeling to have all the pressure leave. It feels great; with everything I had last year, to come all the way feels really good."
