Coming off a successful first high school soccer season, freshman Kate Littler joined the indoor track team, hoping to stay in shape for soccer and expecting to move on to the girls’ lacrosse team in the spring. But after her phenomenal 2021-2022 winter season, the star student-athlete is relentlessly running, choosing track for spring sports, and the inevitable success she’ll see over the next few years is just one of the reasons why we sat down to interview her.

The ECC and Class M 600m champion says that she “like[s] to run and it has always come naturally” to her, regarding her decision to join the track team. She also “ran cross country at the middle school before the pandemic and enjoyed it,” and for her, joining track “sounded fun and a great way to stay in shape for soccer, but it ended up being much more than that.” At the beginning of the indoor track season, Kate “always thought [she’d] perform best in distance events, so [she] picked the mile,” but Coach Tetlow thought she’d be best in middle distance- specifically the 1000m and her claim to fame, the 600m. Over the course of the season, Kate transitioned to running the 600m, the 4x800m relay, and the 4x400m relay, resulting in one of the best freshman careers Ledyard High School has seen! She won both ECCs and the Class M state championships for the 600m and placed 6th for the event in the state open championships and 12th in the New England championships. Together with her teammates Avery Widlicka, Tori Schweitzer, and Ella Stephenson, the 4x800m relay won both ECCs and Class M state championships. Kate credits the 600m for being her favorite event but says that it “might be because it’s the one I perform best in.” For her, that 4x800m relay comes in a close second, which she says is because she’s “part of a special, closer team of girls.”

For other athletes that want to win or place well in events, games, or meets at the ECC, state, and New England level like she did, Kate says that “it’s normal to be nervous; no matter the race, I’m always nervous. Everyone can tell you that there isn’t anything to worry about, and that you’re going to do great, but you can’t take away all the nerves. Sometimes when I’m running, I think about how easy it would be to just give up, or stop running because you feel like there’s nothing left in you to give, but you definitely have to dig deep, and give it everything you have left inside of you.”

Looking to the future, Kate originally had no plans to play sports in college, but now she’s “definitely considering track,” and any college would definitely be lucky to have he r- not just for her athletic ability, but for how well-rounded she is both in and out of school. Kate’s the freshman class president and part of Key Club and the spring musical, Newsies, but she also tries “to spend time with [her] friends or family” and to “go to sports games or other school events.” As for her freshman year, she says her favorite part so far has been “all the opportunities [she’s] had and that [she] get[s] to enjoy them with [her] friends. Going to sports games, going to track meets and soccer games with teammates, and going to other events like coffee houses.” There’s no doubt that Kate is an amazing athlete, student, and person, and we can’t wait to see the success she’ll have in the years to come!

Alex Martinez-Garcia, Editor-in-Chief of The Colonel Newsmagazine and Horizons Yearbook

Senior Alex Martinez-Garcia is an Editor-in-Chief for the 2021-2022 Colonel Newsmagazine and Horizons yearbook. If she’s not in a swimming pool, she’s probably hanging out with her friends or brothers, playing lacrosse, indulging in a good book, or living her dream life vicariously through Pinterest and Netflix shows.