Despite being located more than 300 miles away from Perryville, NCAA Division II Slippery Rock (Pa.) University had home-field advantage when it came to the recruitment of senior distance runner Kaylee Haberkam.
Panther track coaches Jake and Raissa Moore both competed on The Rock's track and field squad, and their love of the program and the chance to be coached by their mentor convinced Haberkam to sign a National Letter of Intent to continue her career in both cross country and track and field with the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference team.
“I figured their coach (John Papa) would be just like them, and he is,” Haberkam said. “They've taken a lot of things from coach Papa, so why not go to the same coaching? It's just going to be a little more intense.”
In addition to having the chance to train under a similar regimen, Haberkam also said she enjoyed the non-athletic side of Slippery Rock.
“I looked at a lot of PSAC schools, but I just loved Slippery Rock,” she said. “It had the perfect little town, I love the campus, they have my major and I just thought it was perfect.”
Haberkam helped Perryville claim the 1A North Region Championship in girls' track and field and UCBAC Championship in cross country in each of her four years. She finished seventh at the state cross country meet as both a junior and senior and placed in the Top 10 of the mile and two-mile at the state track and field meet in 2012 and 2013.
“Kaylee has all the quality attributes that a runner needs to have,” Jake Moore said. “She handles success modestly and with humility, she handles setbacks the way that every coach hopes, she's responsible and intrinsically motivated and I have all the faith in the world that she will succeed tremendously at the next level of competition.”
As someone accustomed to team success, she'll be joining a track and field program that has proved to be near the top of the conference for more than three decades. The Rock women's track and field squad has placed fourth or better in the 18-school PSAC every season since 1979, including a string of four consecutive titles from 2006-09.
For all her team accolades with the Panthers, perhaps the most memorable moment of Haberkam's high school career came as an individual when she finished second in the 1,600-meter run at outdoor track and field states in 2012.
Then a junior, she reeled in several runners with a blistering final lap, crossing the line in 5 minutes, 18.69 seconds – a mark that would have broken the school record if not for the fact that teammate Jordan Dodson edged her out by five seconds. It remains the second-fastest mile time in program history.
“She ran her own race and ignored the fact that other runners had different race plans than her,” Jake Moore said. “It paid off for her with a silver medal in what is, in my opinion, her greatest performance as a Perryville athlete.”
At Slippery Rock, Haberkam, who plans to major in biology, has an idea of what it will take to top her high school accolades.
“Before I finish college, I will run at Penn Relays – I will.”
Follow Ryan Ginn on Twitter: @Ryan_CecilWhig
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