North Penn's Vlasic Commits to Run Track at Pitt

On Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016, North Penn senior Mikaela Vlasic was recognized for signing a letter of intent to continue her track career at the University of Pittsburgh. To view photos of the event, please visit the Photo Gallery.

Mikaela Vlasic – University of Pittsburgh (Track)

Major:  Undecided

Final list of colleges:  Pitt, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Princeton

Reasons for choosing Pitt: “I chose it because I really like the girls there, and my sister goes there.”

What was the progression that led you to competing in track at the collegiate level?  “I kind of knew I wanted to continue in college when my sister went and had a lot of success. In high school, track definitely kept me disciplined, so I want to carry that into college.”

Coach Jim Crawford Jr says:  “I first met Mikaela when she came to us as a ninth grader with her older sister Melanie. It was a great experience having both of them on the team at the same time because Melanie kept an eye on Mikaela and was like her personal coach, which worked out really well because she learned from one of our best. Overall, Mikaela has been very busy as far as running. She has earned four letters in cross country, and she’ll have four letters in winter track and four letters in spring track come this June. She will have earned the maximum 12 letters from her ninth through 12th grade experience. We’ve had a number of outstanding middle distance runners at North Penn over the years, but I would have to say Mikaela’s natural talent and ability is right at the very top, if not the top. She just has unbelievable strength, she has a lot of speed for a middle distance runner, and she has endurance being a distance runner. She just finished her most successful cross country season. She was one of the captains of our team and competed in the state championships.
“Mikaela is well known in Pennsylvania and the eastern part of the United States. She was the anchor leg on our Penn Relays team last spring in the 4x8 relay. She was also the anchor leg in the state championship 4x800 indoor team and also the anchor leg on the 4x800 outdoor championship team. She’s had a busy career at North Penn. It’s been an honor to be her coach. I think she made a good choice going to Pitt because Melanie can keep her in a good situation. They know they’re getting a top-notch runner, but I think she’s going to be even better than they think. I don’t think they know how good she really is. I keep telling her, ‘You’re good, you’re good,’ and she is. She just has to put it in her own mind that she’s one of the tops around.”

About Mikaela:
Favorite food: 
Chipotle
Favorite movie:  The Dark Knight
Favorite music:  Justin Bieber

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