Nashua PAL’S 2022 Runner of the Year is Laura White

The nonprofit Nashua PAL (Police Athletic League), announced that its 2022 PAL Girls Runner of the Year is 15-year-old Laura White. Laura, along with PAL’s athletes of the year in football, basketball, boxing, cheerleading and boys cross country – as well as youth and adult awardees in coaching, volunteering, and policing – will be honored at the 2022 Night of Champions on September 15th at Nashua’s Holman Stadium.

Formerly known as the “PAL Sports Dinner” at Conway Arena, this year’s event has been relocated to Holman Stadium. Tickets and sponsorship opportunities for the PAL Night of Champions support PAL’s educational, athletic, and enrichment programs for Nashua’s at-risk youth. They are available at nashuapal.com/events; call 603-594-3733; or email Jen@nashuapal.com. For more information on Nashua PAL, go to www.nashuapal.com.

Laura — a repeat honoree, also the 2021 Runner of the Year — discovered her love of running through the PAL Elementary School Cross Country program where she ran for the Charlotte Avenue squad. She joined the PAL Gate City Striders in 2015 at the age of 8. Since then, the PAL Striders have provided her opportunities to compete in many Junior Olympic National races sponsored by USA Track and Field all over the country in New Mexico, Alabama, Florida, Nevada, Kentucky and Wisconsin. These “Nationals” competitions pitted her against the best youth distance runners in the United States, where she made new friends — including a runner from Massachusetts white who she’ll attend Nike Running Camp this summer — and experienced different communities (and cross country courses!) all over the US.

Her 2021 season personal beat race was the USATF Region 1 Junior Olympic Championship at Highland Park in Attleboro, MA, where she covered the 4K course 14:59. Weeks later, she earned All-American status - a goal she had pursued for years - at the USATF Junior Olympic Championships in Paris, Kentucky.

Laura is a natural leader both on and off the course. She's self-motivated, goal oriented, dedicated, selfless, and that teammate that always has your back for support. The PAL coaching staff says she “has a heart of gold and helps paint the picture of what teamwork truly is. She is a stand-up young lady that not only sets the performance bar high, but possesses a glow that helps foster a powerful team dynamic. She's welcoming, kind hearted and an all around team player that used this season to really dig deep and find the even more competitive level we all saw in her.”