Karns City graduate Becca Pennington is recognized as the female winner of the Asheville (N.C.) Half Marathon in March. Submitted photo

Winning is nothing new to Becca Pennington. Only the events and setting have changed.

A decorated cross country and distance runner at Karns City High School before graduating in 2018, Pennington moved to Kentucky in 2022 after earning an exercise science degree from Chatham University in Pittsburgh. Since then, she has competed in a number of 5K races and half marathons.

She placed first in her most recent two half marathons, in Asheville, N.C., in March and the Run the Bluegrass event in Lexington, Ky., two months later.

“I never enter an event that I think I can’t win, but it was still very exciting for me to come in first,” Pennington said.

Those events also served as preparation for her next challenge: Sunday’s Mad Marathon in Vermont, set for the central region of the state. It is dubbed “The World’s Most Beautiful Marathon.”

“For the last 12 weeks, I’ve been training for it,” Pennington said. “It’s my first marathon and I’m a little nervous, but I’ve been running between 50 and 70 miles per week to get ready for it.”

Aside from competing, Pennington remains involved in running as an assistant coach for Berea College (Ky.), a Division III school, in both cross country and track.

“It was during my senior year in college that I thought about coaching after graduation,” Pennington said. “I had a couple offers to do so, but Berea seemed to be the best for me. This will be my third year coming up, and it’s been a great experience for me.

“My main goal is to get the best out of all our athletes.”

Pennington puts in much of her training on two bike trails near her residence and often runs alongside Berea’s runners during practice. She serves several roles within the college’s Student Life department.

Describing herself as “always active as a kid,” Pennington was involved in gymnastics and basketball before joining the cross country team in seventh grade and the track team as a freshman.

“My dad (current Gremlins girls track and field coach Rob Pennington) ran at Karns City, and it was something I knew I’d get into,” she said.

Her high school accomplishments included twice being named Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference MVP in cross country and track, Butler County Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year in 2017 and qualifying for the state meet in both sports multiple times.

At Chatham, she became the first woman in school history to qualify for the NCAA Division III Cross County championship meet and was named conference MVP in both sports.

“It’s not just about running well enough to win events. I enjoy the training aspect of it, too,” she said.