Way back in 1979, the VHSL began to allow and offer girls cross country as a sanctioned sport. In this first year it was only offered in the large school (AAA) division with the other two joining a year later.
Trailblazing that first year was Kempsville's Kendall Tata who beat out Janeen Hahn of Thomas Edison to become the first ever girls state champion. If the individual title was not enough, she was also a part of the winning team as Kempsville scored 47 points to beat out Fort Hunt who finished in second with 68.
This weekend though, Coach Tata got to do something very few coaches get to, let alone former champions get to do, and that was coaching a state champion. Tata, now the coach at William Monroe, coached sophomore Samantha Nitzsche to the Class 3 crown over very though competition.
Coach Tata has been honored by the VHSL, Kempsville, and numerous other organizations but we would venture to say that coaching an athlete to the same accomplishment you achieved is the sweetest thing of all.