ATLANTA, Ga. – Kennedy Rufener has continued to succeed throughout her career. Whether it being running to multiple records at Western Oregon University or helping add to the rich tradition of the Western Colorado University cross country/track programs, she has continued her path by coaching at fellow Great Northwest Athletic Conference school Western Washington University. Following her qualifying mark to compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials in the marathon, Rufener will look to see what she can do on an even bigger stage having already achieved at each level in her career.
Rufener still has her names all over the WOU record books having set five school marks and being named a two-time All-American after finishing fourth in the Outdoor Championships in the 10k and eighth in the Indoor Championships in the 5k. She then went on to help continue the tradition of the Western Colorado cross country program leading the team to a fourth-place finish after she took home All-American honors coming in 17th. If that wasn't enough, Rufener also finished 11th in the 3k and 10th in the 5k during the Indoor Championships that season to earn Second Team All-American honors.
While her collegiate running career is over, the next chapter of her career has begun in coaching which has made balancing the life of a coach, training, life and school even more of a challenge in trying to stay prepared for the Trials.
"My preparation has been just trying to stay as consistent as possible. I've been running as much as I can and swimming quite a bit. I'm hoping to hold onto as much fitness as possible," she said.
Sometimes reaching the Olympics and the trials is something that is a goal or dream from the beginning for most when they're young. While Rufener was able to come to the realization that it might be worth pursuing when she saw a teammate at Western Colorado qualify in the marathon and she was able to handle the fitness and running needed to compete at such a high level.
"This has not always been my goal! Honestly less than two years ago, I said I would never run a marathon. I thought it was kind of ridiculous. As I started increasing my mileage and running more, I thought it could be a possibility. I had a teammate at Western Colorado qualify and I thought it'd be really cool to do the same! It felt good to put a goal out there and try for something completely different than I'd even done before," she said.
Rufener fought through the struggle of getting her running career off the ground at first. After arriving at Western Oregon as a junior transferring from Clackamas Community College, there were a lot of adjustments in training that made her think it might not be possible to continue.
"I struggled for a whole year at WOU learning how to run workouts as it was a big challenge and there were many evenings after practice I thought about quitting because I felt incredibly slow," she said.
Rufener certainly found the next level needed to not just adjust, but becoming one of the best runners around. She also had the opportunity to learn and train in a few different programs, as she got to experience what it was like to be in another strong program like Western Colorado to give her altitude training and being around a group that is all used to long distance running.
"Western Colorado was a great experience in training at altitude and with a group of girls that ran longer distances. I felt like I got the opportunity to train at two very different, but successful programs. I learned so much throughout my years at WOU and my short time at WCU," she said.
Being able to balance the training while still serving as an assistant coach can certainly be a challenge, but Rufener has been able to use the time being a coach to help her focus on still pursuing her own goals.
"I definitely feel that being a coach has kept me wanting to pursue my own goals, but it's definitely a challenge. I've learned to really try and balance my time. I often train right in the morning, head to campus for practice, train again or work on grad school in the evening. I also work a part-time job Friday-Monday's when we're not traveling for a meet. I also have a dog, so between everything I make sure to run home and care for him and I have also been thankful for the help I've received from my friends! It provides a challenge at times that's for sure!"
Rufener ran a qualifying time of 2:44:17 at the California International Marathon in 2019 and is just two years removed from setting the WOU indoor school records in the 3k (9:41.54) and in the 5k (16:49.68) and is also part of the top-two times in the distance medley relay and is third in the mile (4:57.01). In terms of the outdoor marks, she holds the 5k time (17:08.51) and 10k time (35:05.91), while being fifth in the 1,500-meter (4:36.00).
Some recent times she has posted include a mark of 34:50 in the 10k and 16:39 in the 5k since leaving WOU. After the trials, Rufener will look to continue training and running.
"I plan to take some down time after the trials to heal up then maybe drop to some shorter events, but definitely stay mostly with the road racing scene," she said. I really enjoy it and I hope I can stay with it for a while. I'd love to run a fast half marathon. I'll build back up and hopefully run consistently around 90-100 miles a week into the end of spring/early summer."
The U.S. Olympic Trials will take place on Saturday, Feb. 29 and will be broadcasted on NBC starting at 9 a.m. (Pacific), with the women's race set to start after the men's race at 9:20 a.m.
