Hawaii Tribune-Herald · Aug 21, 2016
Oahu runner does mom proud at Volcano; Barnett untouchable
VOLCANO – She was a dutiful daughter who tried to follow her mother’s directions, so when Katie O’Neal didn’t make her high school soccer team, she didn’t realize it was only a pause in her athletic pursuits.
“I kind of thought, ‘Oh well, that didn’t work,’ O’Neal said Saturday morning in a light drizzle at the end of the Volcano Rain Forest Half-Marathon, “but my mom was persistent. She wanted me to turn out for soccer to meet new friends and after that, she still had the idea that I needed to meet more people.”
At her mother’s urging, O’Neill turned out for cross-country, one thing led to another and she slowly became a runner.