Mt. Lebanon harrier commits to North Carolina
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Logan St. John Kletter is all smiles as she reaches the finish line in first place during the 2022 WPIAL Class AAA girls’ cross country championship race. The Mt. Lebanon rising senior recently committed to North Carolina to continue her cross country and track career.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Logan St. John Kletter is out in front during the 1,600-meter race. The rising Mt. Lebanon senior won the race as well as the 3,200 this spring at the WPIAL Class AAA track and field championships. She also captured the gold at states in the 3,200 and silver in the 1,600. Recently, she committed to North Carolina to continue her athletic career.
Logan St. John Kletter pushes the limits in running at Mt. Lebanon High School. She plans to do the same at North Carolina University.
St. John Kletter said she connected with the Tar Heels and the campus. So, the rising senior promptly announced her college commitment.
“I knew this was going to be a place that I had the best opportunity to optimize my potential, academically and athletically,” she said. “I felt North Carolina had the perfect balance.”
St. John Kletter had a plethora of scholarship offers. She visited North Carolina before looking at Virginia and Furman. She also had plans to travel to Oregon last month but ultimately decided Chapel Hill was where she wanted to go.
“As I was going through the process, I narrowed things down to those schools. After my first visit, I felt like North Carolina set the bar and no one else matched that.”
Few have matched what St. John Kletter has already done in her scholastic athletic career. She is a state champion in the 3,200 meters and a silver medalist in the 1,600. Plus, she is the defending WPIAL winner and a PIAA medalist in cross country.
St. John Kletter will compete equally for the cross country and track teams at North Carolina.
“I have seen more success in track, but I am really hoping for a good cross country season in the fall,” she said. “I am gearing up to do cross country and track at North Carolina. I think I can be successful at both.”
St. John Kletter has modest goals for her freshman year as a Tar Heel. In the fall of 2024, she plans to be part of the varsity cross country roster although the Tar Heels finished fifth in the NCAA.
“They are such a good program. So it’s going to take a bit of work,” she said. “I’d love to be on the team, score points and eventually be on the podium in NCAAs.”
St. John Kletter also hopes to become a professional runner and perhaps participate in the Olympics one day.
“That’s the ultimate goal. Those are definitely dreams of mine,” she said. “I have dreamed of that for a long time but I will definitely be pushing a career. So it will be harder.”
At North Carolina, St. John Kletter plans to major in exercise science. She wants to become a physical therapist.
Currently, St. John Kletter is preparing for her senior year at Mt. Lebanon. She has begun her summer training with the expectations of defending her district title in cross country this fall. The WPIAL Championships are set for Oct. 26 at Roadman Park in California while the PIAA finals are Nov. 4 in Hershey.
“Things are going well,” she said.
After she finished runner-up in the 2021 district cross country championships and grabbing bronze and fourth-place medals in track, St. John Kletter suffered a debilitating injury. Eventually, she was diagnosed with Baxter’s nerve entrapment, which is characterized by chronic heel pain.
After months of recovery, she dominated the running scene.
In 2022, St. John Kletter won the Class 4A cross country title with a time of 18:22.3 in 2022. She helped the Blue Devils bring home the WPIAL runner-up team trophy. At states, she earned a spot on the podium with an eighth-place finish and 19:12.1 time while the Blue Devils finished 12th in the team standings.
This spring, she was a double-gold medalist at the WPIAL finals held at Slippery Rock University. She won the 3,200 in 10:34.49 and the 1,600 in 4:47.09. Her 1,600 time was a personal best and is No. 4 on the WPIAL all-time list.
During the state finals held at Shippensburg University, she blazed a record-setting pace.
After a disappointing showing in the 1,600, St. John Kletter broke the record in winning the 3,200. She clocked a 10:12.86 time. Not only was the mark two seconds ahead of silver medalist Natalie McLean from Pine-Richland, it it lowered the PIAA standard of 10:13.62 set by Mia Cochran. A Moon graduate, Cochran who also won the 800 and 1,600 at states in 2022, recently completed her freshman year at the University of Arkansas.
Currently, St. John Kletter has no plans to add the 800 to her arsenal and attempt to duplicate Cochran’s trifecta in the 2024 PIAA track and field championships.
“I’m not sure I would run it at WPIAL or states but it’s a possibility for getting my times down. It’s more challenging for me to run and with the competition, which is a lot faster than in the past, it is not as easy to do,” she explained. “The goal is to try and use every tool that I have to maximize recovery and my potential.”
St. John Kletter’s decision to attend North Carolina had the potential to cause discourse within the family. Her father, Todd, a PIAA gold medalist, and her mother, Erin, are Penn State graduates. St. John Kletter talked to the Nittany Lions coaches before making her commitment.
“(My parents) support me. They are fine with my decision,” she said. “I felt like I wanted to do my own thing and go my own way.”
Patrick Anderson also helped pave a path to Chapel Hill for St. John Kletter. The Mt. Lebanon graduate was a two-time PIAA cross country champion and Pennsylvania Gatorade Cross Country Runner-up of the Year, not to mention a regional winner and third-place national champion before heading to North Carolina in 2019.
“(Anderson) was a role model for me and still is,” St. John Kletter said. “I am always chasing to do the things he did. It is really cool that I am going to the same school as him just because he has been a huge inspiration.”
St. John Kletter is inspired by the options running affords. Today, there are professional contracts and NIL (name, image and likeness) deals are now being offered to high school students. While she has not been approached, she expects NIL possibilities at the collegiate level.
“The dream would be to represent Nike or maybe Hoka,” she enthused. “If that is a possibility, too, I would love to run professionally and compete at that high level.”
One day, too, St. John Kletter anticipates participating in a marathon. Boston, of course, is the Holy Grail.
“Definitely, in my lifetime, I would love to do one at some point,” she said. “I think running a marathon is really interesting, especially the training that goes into it.”