WATCH: KTA Super Stores Spotlight features University of Hawai‘i at Hilo cross-country standout Kathleen Raab

If a pair of boots can be made specifically for walkin’ — “and that’s just what they’ll do” — like the famous song says, then there’s no doubt Auburn, Wash., native Kathleen Raab was born to run.

“I’ve always been a runner,” said the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo women’s cross-country first-year red-shirt sophomore, who added, “I was good at other sports because I was constantly running all the time.”

Raab hit the course running when she arrived on the Hilo campus this year, too, racing to the top of the team as a standout because of her fast footwork.

Her accomplishments have been more than impressive; one of them even historic.

That’s why local family-owned grocery chain KTA Super Stores — still committed after more than 100 years to its founder’s philosophy to humbly serve the people of their community — chose her as one of its two Spotlight features this week.

KTA Super Stores Spotlight honors outstanding performances and feats of University of Hawai‘i at Hilo student-athletes who showed out during the prior week of competition.

The 5-foot-4 Raab started last week with a No. 1 finish Sept. 20 in the Chaminade Invitational 5K. She was able to edge out Chaminade’s own Nikiji Dayse in the final stretch of the 5K — which is equal to 3.1 miles — with a time of 19:21.3.

She followed up that victory Sept. 27 with a second back-to-back No. 1 finish at the Hawai‘i Pacific University Sharks Invitational 6K, this time besting all runners from the three Hawai‘i Division II schools competing.

She conquered the Hawai‘i Pacific University 6K — equal to 3.7 miles — with a time of 22:37.8, an entire 1:24.7 faster than runner-up and fellow Vulcan Sequoia Gonzales, who came in second place.

The red-shirt sophomore also made history during that meet as she is thought to be the first runner in since University of Hawai‘i at Hilo women’s cross-country was founded to claim the individual victory. Records, however, only go back to the mid-2000s.

Raab is a 2023 graduate of Holy Names Academy in Washington and spent her first year of college at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., running a season of cross-country under coach Laura Harmon before making the move to Hilo.

It wasn’t an easy choice how to move forward after high school, especially following a successful four seasons of varsity cross-country, including being 2019 Class 3A state championship runner-up.

Raab didn’t want to stop running, and she wasn’t keen on making a major move to keep her feet moving.

“I kind of was having this negative attitude about giving up running or stopping my running career when it comes down to collegiately,” she said. “I talked to schools previously and I didn’t really want to go way too far out across the entire country just to run.”

So she decided on Washington State in Pullman. But there were some drawbacks that made themselves apparent rather quickly.

While she was still close enough to visit her parents and three brothers, as well as partake in outdoor hobbies such as hiking and camping that are well-suited for home sweet home, along with being in the same state as her favorite sports team — GO SEAHAWKS!! — the Pullman area just isn’t that conducive to running all the time.

Raab’s hometown of Auburn is closer to the West Coast, at a lower elevation, where as Pullman is nearly 270 miles slightly southeast and up — in the Rocky Mountains.

“Pullman is definitely not the place you enjoy running all the time,” Raab said. “It’s full of snow and ice, and the wind is not your friend when it’s negative 10 degrees. I wouldn’t say it was enjoyable at all.”

The kinesiology and exercise sciences major always knew she wanted to go farther though, so once she was comfortable with being more independent, Raab decided after her freshman year in Pullman that it was time to make a change.

She just wasn’t sure if it would be to a Division I or Division II school. But it was going to be a Division II school, she wanted it to be somewhere she would enjoy running all the time.

Raab also knew she wanted to go somewhere warmer — somewhere she could enjoy the outdoors while not ending up resenting her choice to transfer.

Hawai‘i and warmer? Check. Hawai‘i and enjoying the outdoors — including those hobbies; you know, hiking and camping, oh, and there’s scuba diving, volleyball and wakeboarding, too — without resenting transferring? Check.

Can she still watch her favorite movie “Point Break”? Yes. Check. And listening to Rhianna and Sza, those are musts. Absolutely. Check.

Finding a new learning and athletic base with a “good sense of community.” It’s perhaps one of the main reasons Raab chose University of Hawai‘i at Hilo.

Hawai‘i isn’t what everyone expects, Raab said. Her friends fawned over her coming to paradise for school and having “the best life ever”; “it’s gonna be perfect,” they told her.

But she thinks it’s so different than the image everyone has in their brain.

“To me, it’s for the better. I kind of underestimated it,” she said about the Aloha State and specifically the Big Island. “I thought, OK, I won’t fantasize this island in the middle of the Pacific. But I definitely think there’s more beauty than I expected; just like in the casual things.”

Even if it’s waking up for 6 to 8 a.m. practice and seeing the sunrise everyday — she doesn’t think she’ll ever get used to the surises here, “which is really nice.”

The entire transition has been pretty simple. And the people of the island — the community cheering her and her teammates on while supporting them and lifting them up — are a big reason why.

“The people here are really welcoming,” Raab said. “I don’t feel the need to be somebody I’m not.”