By Kyle Coppola
Mount Dora High senior chases academic and athletic success.
Noelle Vu
Mount Dora High School (MDHS) senior runner Noelle Vu holds four school records, but her world doesn’t begin and end with only cross country and track and field.
Beyond being one of the best athletes to attend MDHS, Noelle is also a scholar with a 4.7 weighted GPA, solidifying her position as a well-rounded student-athlete. Intent on pursuing pre-med after high school, Noelle, who has been running since sixth grade, holds school records in the 800-meter, 1600-meter, 3200-meter and 4×800 relay race.
Noelle says she loves MDHS and is proud to represent the Hurricanes.
“I have had a ton of fun building up the girl’s program with our great team at Mount Dora High School and it’s been such an amazing part of my life,” Noelle says.
She says she’s also thankful to her coach Cody Adkinson for supporting and training her over the years and takes great pride in her team’s accomplishments.
“We have grown so much in such a short period of time, and it makes me so happy that our success has encouraged other young girls to get into the sport of running,” Noelle continues. “I have so many memories and I have enjoyed every moment of it.”
She’s coming off a banner year, too. In 2023, Noelle won an individual district championship in the 3200-meter race and was district and regional champion in the 1600-meter.
Noelle attributes her drive to succeed to her father, Chuong Vu, mother, Melissa Vu, and her three younger sisters Lilliana, Emma and Bella.
“I love the support of my parents and I want to show my younger sisters what is possible,” Noelle says. “That’s why I push myself to be the best I can be every day. They mean the world to me.”
Noelle also stresses the importance of hydration and calorie intake to her success. And she enjoys a treat after a feat.
“Everyone is different, but for me, I try and drink lots of water 24 to 48 hours before a race,” she says. “During race day I try not to eat too much and drink just enough to hydrate so that I am at peak performance. Then after the race I like to chow down on something yummy.”
With that, Noelle likes to remind runners getting into the sport that “running is hard at first,” but they should never give up.
“I want young runners to know that you don’t need an accomplished program to be successful in track and field or cross country. A lot of it is up to the individual to train and treat their bodies appropriately to have success,” Noelle says. “It’s a mind-over-matter thing, but if you stay motivated and stay consistent with training and the effort you put in, you will see results.”
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
