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It's typical for jittery ninth-graders to be overwhelmed by those intimidating first days of high school.
But while others were fumbling over their locker combinations and getting lost en route to lunch, Abby Badura (pictured left by John Herzog) was revving up her engine.
Her second day at Clover Hill, she established herself as the new kid on the block in area cross country.
"I could tell people were looking at me and asking themselves, 'Who are you?'" she said.
If the newcomer's knees were wobbly, it didn't show.
On Sept. 5, she finished third (out of 117 runners) at Collegiate (in 20:58 for 3.1 miles) in a seven-school race featuring state champion Midlothian.
Since then, the Woodlake resident hasn't veered from the fast lane. Her fleet-feet feats include:
* Sixth out of 119 in 19:39 at the Maymont Festival.
* third out of 66 at Fork Union (18:47 for 4,800 meters).
* second (to Trinity's Barbara Strehler) out of 77 in a 77-girl event at Collegiate on Sept. 18, running a 19:57.
* fourth out of 73 in 19:02 at the Lee-Davis Invitational.
* first in 19:19 in Oct. 10 meet vs. James River and Cosby, beating two of the area's best - James River's Kristen Wolfe and Cosby's Jenna Moye.
* eighth out of 256 in a personal-best 18:54 at Great Meadows' Octoberfest.
"Coach Milestat.com": Assisting coach Jim Wahrman at Clover Hill is Brandon Miles, editor of Milestat.com.
"Abby's certainly one of the best freshmen around the state," Miles said.
In his on-line state poll, Miles has Badura ranked No. 13 in Group AAA.
"That's not just my opinion," Miles said. "That's based on coaches' votes from all over Virginia."
Background: It started when Badura began jogging in her neighborhood with her dad, Rory.
"I just wanted to get in shape for soccer," said Badura, who still plays midfield for the Richmond Kickers.
As an eighth-grader at Manchester Middle, she went out for cross country for the first time and finished fourth in the Chesterfield Middle School League meet.
Her unveiling continued this past summer, as she won the women's division of the Woodlake 5K in 21 minutes. She also ran a 41:35 at the Monument Ave 10K.
Multi-tasking: On several occasions this fall, Badura has run Saturday races for CH, then hustled to the soccer field for tournament play.
She plans to continue playing soccer at Clover Hill, while also running year-around. Joining Badura on a potent Cavaliers cross country roster are junior Morgan Denecke and senior Brittany Seaton.
Time limit: Badura is enrolled in Clover Hill's math-science specialty program. Between class, running and soccer, her calendar is brimming.
"Not much time for anything; I've got a ton of homework," she says, showing she's as normal off the trails as she is exceptional on them.