FARMERSBURG, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — A senior attending North Central High School qualified and competed in the Junior Olympics earlier this year.

Kathryn Ison is a hurdler that had to go through a series a meets and trials to get to the Junior Olympics. She first had to finish in the top 12 at a state meet.

She then went on to the regionals where she had to finish top eight. She was then able to compete in the Junior Olympics at the University of Oregon Track Complex.

This region was one of the most competitive in the entire country. Which means getting out of it makes this journey even more impressive than it already is.

This was a complete team effort as with most success stories.

We spoke with her Stepfather, Shawn Drake, and he expressed how proud he was of her journey.

“To see someone work as hard as she did and to get to that point was gratifying to us as parents, and hopefully a good life lesson for her.”

He wanted to say that her journey is not yet done. She has a whole year of track left to improve.

“She wants to keep improving her times as she goes into to her senior year because she wants to continue her track journey to college. The improvements of these times will just continually improve her chances of that happening,” Drake added.

They also wanted to give a shout out to coach Larry Hines of the “Speed U” track club in Terre Haute for all of his time and effort.