Cross Country, Track
Favorite athlete: Sanya Richards
Favorite team: New York Jets
Favorite memory competing in sports: Last year at the Council Rock North dual meet when I jumped my best distance in triple jump. I shattered my old personal record by more than two feet. I remember my teammate Silken and I celebrating next to the sand pit. We couldn’t believe it!
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: During my sophomore year at one of the invitationals, I went to jump for long jump, but my foot caught the curb that surrounds the sand pit, and I face-planted into the sand while everyone was watching.
Music on iPod: A lot of Coldplay, John Mayer, Counting Crows and Ben Folds Five
Future plans: To become a world business leader
Words to live by: ‘Don’t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.’
One goal before turning 30: Backpack through Europe
One thing people don’t know about me: I always lose things.
By Alex Frazier
Everybody notices the runners at the head of the pack.
But it’s often those in the middle that make the difference.
“You need your middle of the pack people that push and work hard and don’t complain and want to get better and show up all the time,” said Pennsbury cross country coach Don Little.
People like Victoria Miskel.
“Winning is nice,” said Little, “but I’d take a team full of Miskels and be very satisfied.”
Miskel’s running career started in seventh grade when she went out for the track team with no prior experience.
Her father had run track, but she didn’t find that out until after she signed on. Her motivation to run came the year before.
“I remember taking the bus home as a sixth grader and watching the track team walking up to the track in their uniforms,” she said. “I just thought to myself that I wanted to be one of those people, so I tried out in seventh grade not knowing anything about the sport and fell in love with it.”
In seventh grade, she ran the 800 and high jumped. The next year she ran the 4X100, competed in high jump and added the long jump.
Before entering high school, Miskel briefly considered running cross country, but a few summer workouts convinced her otherwise.
“It was really intense and I was freaked out a little bit,” she recalled.
So as a freshman she ran indoor and outdoor track.
As a sophomore, she took up tennis in the fall.
“It was OK,” she said. “I didn’t like it that much. It was kind of boring being stuck on a court so long. I’m more energetic.”
When Little saw her run spring track, he saw potential and encouraged her to try cross country, which she finally did as a junior, ironically after she didn’t make the tennis team because she didn’t practice over the summer.
“She didn’t take a lot of convincing, but it wasn’t something she was inclined to do,” said Little. “Once we asked her to do it, she said, ‘Sure, I’ll do that,’ and when she did, she did it all the way.”
“I knew then I wanted to try it out because it was something different,” she said. “I was getting a little tired doing sprints and stuff like that. I figured I’d challenge myself and change it up a bit, and I stuck with it.”
It’s a credit to her character that she was willing to step out of her comfort zone in track to try something new. She was entering into the world of some elite runners like Ann Herman (third in the state) and Sara Sargent (seventh).
“I liked the challenge,” she said. “I tried really hard even though I knew it wasn’t my area of expertise. I’m a sprinter and jumper in the regular season.”
Herman and Sargent, among others, were big factors in her progress.
“I really look up to Ann, Sara and the rest of the varsity girls,” she said. “I try to take pointers and tips from them, like ways to attack hills and cut turns. When we run varsity and junior varsity together, I try to keep them in my eyesight for as long as I can.”
By pushing herself, she also helped set a higher team standard.
“She was a good role player/character girl,” said Little. “She was always positive and worked hard in the workouts. She wanted to become better at running distance even though she never originally looked at herself as a distance runner.”
Even though she’s only been running distance for two years, she has shown remarkable progress.
“I knew going into it I obviously wasn’t going to be at the top like I am for sprinting, but I figured I would try as hard as I can and try to work myself up as a high as I can,” she said.
She dropped almost two and a half minutes off her time from her first race on her home course until the last, which turned out to be her personal best (22.47).
“I figured it was the last one and I’ll never run here ever again, so I really picked it up and went for it,” she said.
That time would have placed her 247th out of 285 at states this year.
As Little explained it, “To be 10th on our team she could maybe be sixth or seventh on somebody else’s team.”
“It was more like personal goals for me in cross country,” said Miskel. “I wasn’t expecting to run in the state meet, but if I could just keep doing better every race and season, I was happy with that. I did better than I expected. Everyone was a little surprised I had it in me.”
When you consider that she is basically a sprinter, it’s even more amazing what she accomplished. The other girls on her 4X100 relay team are amazed that she even ran distance.
“All the girls on the relay said, ‘Why would you do that? I would never do that. I wouldn’t think twice about it,’” said Miskel. “I had nothing else to do in the fall so I decided to do it.”
Miskel is a very popular girl. “She has friends that come from all teams and cliques just because she’s a generally nice person,” said Little.
Though Miskel normally doesn’t run varsity, she challenges the sixth and seventh girls.
“Her persistence and drive force the varsity girls to push harder to maintain their positions,” said Little. “It is a vital and often overlooked runner on a cross country team.”
Especially a team as strong as Pennsbury was this year. The Falcons won the state championship by a whopping 87 points partly because there are runners like Miskel in the wings.
“She doesn’t complain, she’s always at practice, always communicates and gets along well with all of the girls,” said Little. “She’s very welcoming to the new girls.”
Miskel is more in “her element” on the track.
She has made varsity ever since she was a freshman. As a sophomore she qualified for districts in the long jump and 4X100 relay. In her junior year she qualified in the long and triple jumps along with the 4X100 relay. She also runs the 100.
Miskel’s work ethic also carries over to the classroom where she carries a 4.4 grade point average on a scale of five. She is a member of the National Honor Society and a chair for the Prom Committee, in charge of overseeing the decorating.
She is also secretary of the Pink Ribbon Club, which raises awareness for breast cancer research. She is involved in many fundraisers for that group.
For the past three summers she traveled to West Virginia for a week on a mission with her church, helping to rehab and build houses.
“I know how to frame walls and a floor now,” she said. “I really enjoy it. It’s something I like to do a lot.”
She has been recruited by Rider and Lafayette for track. She is also considering Bentley and Pitt. Her decision may end up being influenced by finances. She would love to go to Lafayette, but the Patriot League, like the Ivy League, doesn’t allow athletic scholarships.
“I really like it there but it’s really expensive,” said Miskel. “It’s a goal of mine, a dream. If things turn out to be not financially feasible, I’ll have to go somewhere else. I am going to college for an education first rather than to run track.”
If she ends up at a school like Bentley or Pitt, she would walk on for the track team.
She plans on majoring in economics.
“I do find it very interesting,” she said.
Meanwhile, she still has winter and spring track and she has set some lofty goals.
“I really would like to make it to states,” she said. “I’m getting closer and closer every year. Any kind of improvement in my personal records is a goal for me. I always want to keep doing better.”
