We’re blessed in our community to have a number of great colleges with sports programs, giving student-athletes a chance to excel at sports beyond the high school level. D-2 school Queens University of Charlotte is definitely one of those, with multiple sports like track & field, swimming, and lacrosse playing for, or even winning, national championships.

Our next guest on Running Around Charlotte is at the helm of the school’s successful running program. Jim Vahrenkamp is the Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at Queens-U, where teams racked up dozens of conference and regional cross-country and track & field championships, and Vahrenkamp has earned Southeast Region Coach of the Year honors nine times and South Atlantic Coach of the Year honors 10 times. Yeah he’s busy — and he also coaches the Queen City Track Club, which offers collegiate-level coaching for middle and high school students who want to reach the next level.