Writing HERstory: From City Streets to the Blacksburg Blue Ridge

Mary Kate McGranahan has a story unlike any other.

Growing up in the Big Apple, McGranahan had an upbringing that most kids couldn’t imagine from their suburban homes. Her runs often took her down famous avenues and by historic landmarks some only see on a television screen.

From the busy streets of Manhattan Island to Southwest Virginia sunsets, this is the story of how a former Division III athlete is making her mark (and scoring points) on Virginia Tech track and field and cross country.

A natural-born athlete, McGranahan grew up playing soccer and watching her parents compete in various triathlons throughout New York City, which initially sparked her interest in competitive running.

“Sometime around when I was 10 or 11, my parents started doing triathlons, and I looked at that and thought it was the coolest thing I've ever seen. So, they started putting me in these little kid triathlons, and I found that I just wanted to do the running."

McGranahan fully committed to competitive running when she was a freshman in high school. She found her love for cross country after various runs through the streets of New York City.

Every time I go home and run, it's full of views of Roosevelt Island, and it's just such a pretty place to run,” McGranahan said. “In high school, we all (New York City high schools) trained in Central Park. We would go out to our practice spot and start our run, and you would see four or five other teams in the city and everyone knew each other.”

McGranahan continued running throughout high school and eventually committed to run cross country and track and field at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Much like Virginia Tech, Amherst College is centered in a much quieter town than New York City. When asked how the transition was from the bustling streets to the backroads, Mgranahan recounted her desire to attend a school in a much more traditional college environment, having a unique fondness for the mountains and wide-open spaces.

“I’d gone to running camp in North Carolina before when I was a kid in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and so that's a decision I made for undergrad."

She attended all four years of her undergraduate career at Amherst College. Amherst is a small Division III institution with a student population of only 1,910. The graduate made history at Amherst College, leading her team to nationals for the first time in almost 6 years.

Her goals and work ethic took McGranahan incredibly far at her former institution, racking up accolades left and right. While at Amherst, McGranahan won the 2022 NESCAC Championships, earned 2022 USTFCCCA Division III All-American honors, and was named the 2022 NESCAC Most Outstanding Performer; the list goes on.

When asked what she’s most proud of, McGranahan remarked one you won’t find on her stats sheet.

In her final track season at Amherst, McGranahan struggled to get her track times to match her cross country success. Learning to race at such a high level proved challenging for the talented steeplechaser.

“All of a sudden, you're No. 22 on the list, and I'm thinking, ‘Am I going to get into this national championship?’” McGranahan said. “Fast forward, I got in as the last seed and was super excited to be there. I finally got to show that I belong where I will be going next year. Now I just want to go out there and enjoy it.”

Enjoy it, she did. McGranahan ran a personal best and beat her previous PR by 18 seconds, clocking in the second-fastest time in her prelim.

McGranahan committed to attend graduate school at Virginia Tech at the end of her senior cross country season at Amherst, knowing she would have something to prove in the track season, specifically in the steeplechase event.

“I was really asking our coaches to take a gamble on me because I didn't have the track times yet, but I had this super strong cross country season,” McGranahan said. “I was undefeated for cross country [when I reached out to them], and I asked them to buy into the promise that there’s more here. The great thing about Virginia Tech was that they believed in me immediately.”

More to McGranahan, there was.

In her first year at Virginia Tech, the graduate student not only performed well in cross country and immediately made an impact there but also scored points at the outdoor track and field ACC Championships, finishing seventh in steeplechase after a grueling race to the finish line.

The graduate student fought to the last stretch for her top-eight finish, picking off competitors in her last three laps and always focusing on the next person ahead of her.

“It just became a game of, ‘Who can I pick off?’” McGranahan said. “Once I started looking up and doing that, I got a lot of great momentum.”

Coming into her final year in the maroon and orange, McGranahan is working to continue dropping her time in the 6k and focusing on her growth in steeplechase going into the spring.

“I want to go to nationals and I don’t think it's an unrealistic goal,” McGranahan said. “I think if you're a good racer and you're in great shape, you can get there, and that would be the culmination of a great career to be able to do that.”

Writing HERstory Campaign 

Tech Athletics launched a multi-platform brand campaign celebrating the incredible achievements of its female student-athletes, both past and present, while inspiring the next generation of women who aspire to achieve their dreams through athletics. Tech will share stories of its past and current female student-athletes over the course of the calendar year. Ranging from podcast interviews to feature stories and more, the incredible moments and achievements by women over the years in Virginia Tech Athletics will be celebrated. To make an impact on female sports at Tech or to sign up for the monthly Writing HERstory newsletter.