Kinnick’s Lauren Cabradilla went from being left off the team in 2023 to winning the Far East cross country race in October as a senior. (Jeunei Bodnar/Special to Star and Stripes)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Lauren Cabradilla experienced mixed feelings that day two-plus years ago when Nile C. Kinnick coach Luke Voth told her she wouldn’t compete in the 2023 Far East cross country meet.
“It was really a hard decision for all of us,” Cabradilla said of being left off a team that included distance stars Mia Bartram and Bree Withers. “We said it was OK, that they were all seniors. But I admit, I was a little disappointed because I strived to be all I could be.”
Voth, too, said he felt conflicted. “We had such a loaded team that season,” Voth said. “Our second team might have won Far East. It was a hard decision, to leave four kids like Lauren home.”
But it worked to both Kinnick’s and Cabradilla’s benefit, both in the long and short term.
Bartram and Withers led the Red Devils to the girls team title in that 2023 meet at Misawa Air Base, Japan, with Kinnick placing seven runners in the top 15.
As for Cabradilla, she behaved as though a fire had been lit under her feet.
“She is driven, passionate, determined,” Voth said of Cabradilla. “She’s all-around talented. It really did ignite her.”
It drove Cabradilla to a great senior season.
She went unbeaten in all six races she ran in the just-completed 2025 campaign, including the Far East meet last month at Ikego Heights Naval Housing Facility.
There, Cabradilla ran a personal best 19 minutes, 57.3 seconds, 10.9 seconds better than runner-up Chaitra Konda of Christian Academy Japan and 22.3 faster than Kinnick teammate Mya Shah.
Kinnick won the girls 5-kilometer team standings in runaway fashion over Guam High and came in a close second to the Panthers for the overall school banner.
Cabradilla credited her senior teammate Annabelle DuBose for helping push her to faster times.
“It motivated me and Annabelle,” Cabradilla said. “We both decided it was no longer time to fool around.”
That motivation has also led Cabradilla to being named Stars and Stripes Pacific girls cross country Athlete of the Year.
Cabradilla beat out a close-knit field featuring Konda, Shah, Humphreys’ Annelise Parker, Mia Clark and Allie Sims of Kadena and Naomi Spuler of Guam High.
Cabradilla admitted to a case of nerves leading up to the Far East 5-kilometer individual race, held on an unseasonably warm Friday.
“It’s natural to be nervous,” having been first in DODEA-Japan and the Kanto Plain, Cabradilla said. “But I decided to overcome that and not let it overtake me.”
Both Parker and Konda stayed close to Cabradilla, Parker in the early portion and Konda late.
“I could hear (Konda) breathing behind me,” Cabradilla said. “I told myself you can’t look back. Look forward and run your own race. You have to keep running. You have to win. You’ve been unbeaten all season.”
Now that cross country is over, Cabradilla hasn’t let up with her training, not with her final track and field season upcoming.
Beyond that, Cabradilla says she would like to run track and cross country at the college level but is also considering a career as a DODEA math teacher.
“I love Japan and if I’m able to stay, that’s better for me,” said Cabradilla, whose family has lived in Japan for many years. “If I could put my kids through that type of schooling. It’s something to think about.”
Year: Senior
Age: 17
Place of birth: Honolulu
Sports played besides cross country: Track and field, middle- and long-distance events.
Favorite school subject: Art, mathematics.
Least favorite school subject: History.
Favorite athlete: Caitlin Clark, A’ja Wilson
Favorite sport to watch: Basketball
Favorite form of entertainment: Singing, arts, crafting, acting.
