You'll Blink, And It'll Be Over: Katie Dammer On A Busy October

2017 PTXC Journal Series

Oct 31, 2017

One minute and 24 seconds.

That was the gap between Katie Dammer and the next closest finisher at Lakeland High School last week. For a second straight year, Dammer rolled to the individual AAA win at the PIAA District 2 Championships. It's only a stepping stone for the Abington Heights senior, who hopes for even bigger things at this week's PIAA State Championships. She caught up with us in her latest PTXC journal.

Dammer reflects on her final league and district races, and gives her thoughts on the recruiting process, including why she chose to become a Georgetown Hoya. Check out her latest journal entry and read her previous entries here.

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Happy states week!

I had my District 2 championships this Wednesday at Lakeland High School. My team and I were all very excited in the time leading up to the meet, especially because we've had some very solid dual meet performances and workouts in the past few weeks. On Wednesday, the weather was nearly perfect. In the smaller field than we are used to, my team did a great job of racing competitively and we had all of our top five within the top twelve to take the win. This was our third district championship in a row, (second in a row in AAA; my sophomore year we were AA and then moved up) which was very meaningful for me as a senior. We also have two senior boys on my team going to compete as individuals. I always have a ton of fun with my team at Hershey and I'm sure this year will be no exception!

I took the individual win for the second year in a row and I am looking forward to a competitive race at states

I ran my last league dual meet recently and it was bittersweet. I always have lots of fun at dual meets, especially this year, and I'm really going to miss the bus rides with my team every Tuesday and racing with the boys who I train with every day. We use a cluster system in our league, so it creates a lot of camaraderie between the teams in the area which makes seeing other runners very fun at district and state meets. We have a great group of runners and teams who qualified out of our district and I'm pumped to see how everyone does in Hershey.

Since my last post, I have committed to Georgetown University to run track and cross country next year! After my four official visits I decided on Georgetown for a few reasons. I am so excited to work with Coach Culley and Coach Palmer, I have always liked Georgetown as a top-ranked academic institution before I even knew that I'd have the opportunity to run there, they have a great history as a distance program, and the idea of going to school in Washington, D.C. is very appealing to me.

I'm very excited to see who else comes in with the rest of my recruiting class because we already are putting together an awesome group in addition to the runners already on the team, who I met on my official and I'm looking forward to being teammates with. I'm glad that I made my college decision, especially one that I'm so excited and certain about, but I am looking forward to enjoying the rest of my senior year first.

For any junior or senior who is either starting or in the midst of the recruiting process: enjoy this experience. It is a very unique period of your life and you will have the opportunity to meet many interesting, successful people and travel to places you may never go to again. You'll blink, and it'll be over.

See you in Hershey!