Final thoughts: ECAC 10,000, Katie Messina

ECAC Championships

Friday, May 10, 2013

Princeton University

Princeton, NJ

10,000-meter run

16-Katie Messina 37:20.37

89, 2:56 (87), 4:22 (86), 5:51 (89)

7:19 (88), 8:48 (89), 10:16 (88), 11:45 (89)

13:14 (89), 14:43 (89), 16:13 (90), 17:42 (89)

19:11 (89), 20:41 (90), 22:11 (90), 23:40 (89)

25:12 (92), 26:43 (91), 28:14 (91), 29:46 (92)

31:17 (91), 32:50 (93), 34:23 (93), 35:54 (91)

37:20.37 (86.37)

5km split: 18:25

Final thoughts: Every team needs about a dozen Katie Messinas. She trains hard. She trains smart. She is durable. She is loyal. She is an incredible teammate. She is a great friend. She is an exemplary student. In short, she is everything – every, single thing – you want of a student-athlete. Katie is the classic long-distance runner. Dial her into a pace, and she can and will run it, literally all night long. In her PR and ECAC qualifying effort at 10,000 meters last month at Bucknell, I got the sense that if the officials said, “hey ladies, you gotta keep going, we’re running 15k tonight!” … Katie would have been just fine with that, thank you very much. And she wouldn’t have slowed down. She locks into a pace, and she goes, and goes, and goes. Because of this, it is my humble belief that Katie’s best running may well be ahead of her as a post-graduate road racer. But for now, for today, we can look back at a two-time All-MAAC XC runner, a rock-solid long distance specialist, and a great person on top of it all.