Quotes from Katie
What were your expectations heading into New York?
I knew that there would be a really competitive field for the race. I had heard that the top five runners would be there if not more, which meant that I had to run a smart race. I expected that the race would be very close and that it would all come down to the last 200 meters. I had also expected to be in the back for the first couple of laps so it wasn't a surprise to come through in fifth place with two laps to go. At that time, I knew I had to make a move in order to stay in the race because everyone obviously had some speed.
What was it like to be at the Armory for the first time, and how did it feel to run against top-ranked girls?
It was definitely overwhelming and exciting at the same time. When I first walked in I saw hundreds of college runners preparing for their races. This was a completely different atmosphere from any of the meets that I have been to. I think running in New York City at the Armory made me more nervous before the race because I had never been to a major indoor track meet with the exception of Virginia Tech, but I think the adrenaline helped me. Last weekend was my first experience running with such a small, elite field. Unlike most races that I've run in, the seed times were probably within five seconds of each other.
What were your original goals for the season?
At the beginning of the season we wrote down goals, and I remember one of them being to break five minutes in the 1600. I had never run a one thousand before so I also wrote down that I wanted to run a "good 1000." I didn't even know what good times were for the 1000 at the time, but I wrote down an 800 time that could possibly be converted. I have not run a sub-5:00 mile yet but hopefully I will have a chance in the near future to do so.
Have your goals changed now that you have run so well?
In some ways they have and in some ways they haven't. Running in the low 4:50s for the mile is still one of my goals, and I hope that I can continue to improve my 1000 time. Earlier in the season some of my goals were more of a stretch and as I have improved (thanks in a large part to coaching) my goals have become more realistic and obtainable. Another one of my goals is to qualify for Penn Relays [in the championship mile] and the Nike Outdoor Championships.
What other big meets are you planning to run in � Nike Indoor, Arcadia, Penn Relays, Nike Outdoors, Junior Nationals?
I plan on running at the Nike Indoor Championships, although I am unsure as to what event I will be running. Hopefully I will get the opportunity to run at Penn Relays and Nike Outdoors this spring.
What other interests do you have and what other activities are you involved in?
As a freshman and sophomore I played varsity basketball at my school, and at the beginning of this year I decided to focus more on cross country and track because I enjoyed running more than playing basketball. I did run indoor track in eighth grade, but I had forgotten how much fun it is. At my school I am involved in French Club, Model UN, and FOCUS [Fellowship of Christians in Universities and Schools]. I keep pretty busy with running though.
Coach Ben Ackerly
Katie's coach was a track writer at the Richmond Times Dispatch in 2001 and covered Alan Webb's spectacular senior year at South Lakes Reston VA. Now, he says he is concentrating on raising a family and coaching at St. Catherine's School.
What's your background in the sport and when did you start coaching?
I was a quarter-miler in high school and ran briefly in college. After an almost 10-year hiatus from the sport, I started working as an assistant on the St. Catherine's track team in 1997 � my sister was a senior on the team at the time -- and I took over as head coach last year.
How did you find Katie and what was the plan?
Katie has been a standout cross-country runner since middle school, so I knew she was a very strong runner when I first started working with her personally last spring. However, her outdoor PRs at the time -- 11:08 for 3200, 5:07 for 1600, 2:30+ for 800 and 65+ for 400 � did not suggest to me that she was especially fast. Furthermore, she'd lost a good bit of running fitness playing basketball over the winter, and she was going through quite a growth spurt. I was mostly preoccupied with keeping her healthy and figured her immediate future on the track might be pretty frustrating. I encouraged her to spend as much time as she wanted working on the pole vault. Then about a week after I left her off our Penn Relays 4x400 team, she split a 59.9 4x400 anchor in a dual meet, her first time under sixty- five seconds. And this was less than an hour after winning the 800 by 20 seconds at 2:20, her first time under 2:30. That was the day I went home and dug out all my training manuals. But the big decision really was to give up basketball, and that was hers entirely. Once Katie decided to run in the winter instead of playing point guard it wasn't hard to imagine her enjoying a great deal of success on the track, and it certainly made plotting out a training schedule a lot easier.
Has she already exceeded expectations or did you know she was this good?
After last spring and summer I knew Katie was very good and would get considerably better. But it wasn't until she ran her first race of the indoor season, when in a dual meet she hit 3:04 in the 1000 on the little indoor track here in Richmond , that I knew we had a very inadequate meet schedule. It wasn't the time so much as the way she got there. All of a sudden she'd figured it out. I doubt many people who saw her run that day or have seen her run since are all that surprised by where she is now. She makes it look very easy when she runs. Of course the key to this whole operation is Katie's fantastic drive and commitment. This is a young woman who has been blessed with a lot, on and off the track, and from what I can tell she's doing everything she can to get the most out of her gifts. If she keeps it up, she'll go a long way.
What's next?
Katie's next race will be in our league meet, the League of Independent Schools Championship, on February 19 th at Woodberry Forest School near Orange , VA. She'll probably go for a good mark in the 1600. She hasn't had a chance to run that in a while, and all her training up to this point has been geared towards running the mile at the Nike Indoor Championships. I had hoped to get her in the mile in the Eastern States Championship at the Armory in late February, but the sanctioning problem has shut us out of that meet. So we'll go with what we've got. If USA Track & Field will give her a shot in the 800 at the U.S. Indoor National Championships in Boston at the end of the month, based on her performance in the 1000 this past weekend, she'd love to run there. I have no idea if that's a possibility, but I think she'd make a very respectable showing, and it might generate some additional excitement for the meet at this level. Plus, the truth is I still don't know how fast she is.
Katie Doswell's bio
Katie Doswell, junior (turns 17 on Feb. 9), St. Catherine’s School, Richmond, VA
Running history -- Katie has been involved with the school cross country and track programs since 6th grade. She’s also played basketball, both AAU and for the school, and she was the starting point guard on the St. Catherine’s varsity basketball team as a freshman and sophomore. She did not run indoor track either of those years. This fall she decided to give up basketball and concentrate on running solely, and this is her first indoor season since 8th grade. Also should be noted that she’s grown about a foot since 8th grade.
As a runner, she has primarily been viewed (and trained) as a distance runner, and she’s been one of the better ones in the Richmond area since middle school. But she got a late start to the track season as a sophomore last spring – not joining the team until the end of March – and consequently wasn’t running much mileage. At this point it was discovered that Katie had much greater raw speed than previously believed – her PRs at 800 and 400 meters entering last spring were 2:30+ and 65+. By the end of April she had run 2:20.0 and split 59.9. At the Adidas Outdoor meet in Raleigh, running the second leg on the St. Catherine’s 4x800, she split 2:12.6. She competed in the Junior Olympics over the summer, and at the National Championships in Eugene she placed 3rd in the 800 at 2:15.64 and 8th in the 1500 at 4:45.31 (4:43.35 in the prelims).
This past fall, under long-time St. Catherine’s cross-country coach Dave Bloor, who also coached Katie on the track through her freshman year, Katie won the state private school cross country title, and she finished 33rd at the Footlocker South Regional in Charlotte (18:36).
Since stepping on the track this winter she’s suddenly gone to another level, however. She’s been unbeatable, and she’s run a PR in every race. She is seemingly able to run as fast as she wants to, whatever it takes to win. Her one loss this season has come in the pole vault, though she has cleared 10-0 five times. Because of the sanctioning problem, however, she has had limited opportunities to compete in top meets.
Indoor PRs
500 – 1:15.04 (Va. Tech, 1/29/05)
1000 – 1:47.10 (Armory Collegiate Inv., 2/5/05)
1600 – 5:03.05 (CNU Inv., 1/8/05)
3200 – 11:09.5 (FUMA Inv., 1/15/05)
Outdoor PRs
800 – 2:15.64 (Junior Olympics, 7/31/04)
1500 – 4:43.35 (Junior Olympics, 7/30/04)
1600 – 5:07.01 (Virginia Independent Schools State Meet, 5/17/03)
3200 – 11:08.99 (Lee-Davis Inv., 4/19/03)
Cross Country PR
5K – 18:15.70 (Greensboro Inv., 9/25/04) |
