Records are made to be broken, but rarely does one person shatter them all. As a captain and sprinter on the indoor and outdoor track teams, senior Katie Wolf has made an annual traditional of breaking school records in every event she competes in.
“Even in her freshman year, [Wolf] broke every sprinting record we had,” track coach Scott Silverstein said. “Since her freshman year, she’s broken the 400 meter record by more than four seconds, which is unfathomable.”
Wolf has a total of five records on the leader board at Shepherd Stadium, and her achievements can be attributed as much to her work ethic as her natural talent.
“She does the workouts and then goes in the weight room,” Silverstein said. “Her weightlifting is what differentiates her from others on the team.”
Like many other runners, Wolf took up running after discovering that other sports were not the right fit. She began running competitively in the summer before high school as a member of a club team known as the Maryland Titans, which she continues to run with during the summer.
“I’d always been fast, and I tried a lot of other sports, but I wasn’t really good at them, so I decided to try [out running instead],” Wolf said.
Coaches were impressed by Wolf’s performance before high school, and she immediately made the varsity track team in her freshman year.
“We knew who she was before she started at [CHS],” Silverstein said. “When you’ve got an athlete that talented, you know what you are getting.”
During the indoor track season, Wolf competes in the 55 meter and 300 meter dash. In the outdoor track season, she competes in the 100 meter, 200 meter, and 400 meter dash. Wolf’s favorite event is the 200 meter dash, which she has had particular success in. Last season, she set the school record of 24.54 seconds, only to break her own record this past summer with a time of 24.18. The latter was the second best time in the country, earning her All-American status—a feat she has accomplished four times in her high school career.
Wolf has improved as a runner in every season and looks to raise the bar to new levels in her senior year.
“So far the season is looking good,” Wolf said. “I’ve done a lot of [longer distance training], and I’m looking to break a lot of times, like seven seconds in the 55 meter and 40 seconds in the 300 meter.”
Although individual statistics are emphasized so heavily in track, Wolf’s impact on the entire team goes without question.
“Whenever we are on a workout and [struggling to go on], she is always pushing us and encouraging us to do the best we can,” junior Serenah Polite said. “I’ve been running with her for five years, and without her, I probably wouldn’t be where I am right now.”
Next year, Wolf will be taking her game to the college level after committing to Pennsylvania State University earlier this month. While college athletics will present new challenges, Silverstein believes Wolf can handle any obstacle thrown at her.
“She is one of the rare kids who is mentally tough and doesn’t over think the races,” Silverstein said. “A kid who isn’t as smart as she is might not come back from a bad race, and she might be angry, but she will come back and perform at a high level.”
