KU Scholar Athlete of the Month: Michaela Reinhart

It’s not that senior Michaela Reinhart, 17, runs everything at Lexington Catholic High, it just seems that way.

Michaela, a straight-A student, is the student body president, chairperson of the Honor Council and co-chair of the Dance Blue committee. And for three straight years, she’s been selected her class’s Girl of the Year, an academic and character award.

And run is the key word with Michaela. She is the two-time State cross-country champ, and in track, she’s a two-time State 3,200 champ and runs the anchor leg on the two-time State championship 4×800 relay team.

In other words, she’s the epitome of a Scholar Athlete.

Along with a 4.0 GPA, Michaela has taken eight A.P. classes and scored 32 on the ACT.

She’s a member of the National Honor Society, the National Spanish Honor Society and the Beta Club. After playing piano up through her sophomore year, she now is a percussionist with the pep and concert bands.

As a junior, she won the A.P. biology and Life in Christ awards. She will run cross-country and study pre-med at Duke.

“Michaela is very thorough, self-motivated and detail oriented,” her mother, Colleen, said. “Whatever she does, she dives in with everything she’s got.”

When asked if she’s done with a project, Michaela invariably answers, “I’m close.”

“And then it’s two more hours of work,” her dad, Todd, said.

Michaela admits that she’s a perfectionist and competitive, but she also has a genuine love of learning.

“I like being in class and I love learning,” she said. “I appreciate the fact that I have the opportunity to learn. Not everyone does.”

She gained that perspective a year ago after an eight-day mission trip to Haiti.

When not excelling in the classroom, Michaela, all 5-foot-4, 105 pounds of her, is dominating the State’s long-distance competition.

She’s the school record-holder in cross-country and last year won the Dream Mile, an invitational for the 16 best high school distance runners.

As a sophomore she ran the last leg  of the 800 team that set the 2-A State record. She overcame a 10-meter gap on her leg to win the race.

Typically, for Michaela, it was more about the team than her.

“That was one of the funnest races,” she said. “The other girls had worked so hard.

“They were so deserving of such an honor.”