Taking a deep breath, Katherine Monroe ’23 positions herself on the block. As the pistol fires, she pushes off with force, gaining momentum with every stride she takes. Her eyes are centered on the finish line.

Having been with the track team since sophomore year, Monroe has had time to get settled in, and become a main contributor of the team. While many people think that track and field is an individual sport, Monroe believes that team bonding and group races are just as important as individual ones. Monroe takes to heart that a positive and supportive team environment is crucial to their success.

“We all like to listen to music together on the bus [to the New York City Armory Stadium],” said Monroe. “In the past, we liked to get off at rest stops and get food. Everyone's super supportive of each other, taking videos of other peoples races and getting pictures together.”

This continued hard work has also rewarded Monroe on a personal level. A couple of weeks ago, she recorded a 55 meter hurdle in 8.81 seconds, a new school record. To beat the school record, Katherine practiced extensively with Thomas Harrington, an accomplished coach who has won 31 championships. Track is a game measured in milliseconds, so every aspect of her game had to be analyzed, everything from her push off the starting block to her stride length.

“Breaking the school record was such an exciting achievement and I’m really proud to see my work pay off,” said Monroe. “My coaches deserve so much credit for their help and support too.”

Head Track Coach Benjamin Samara, has been coach since 2012 and seen many great players come through the high school track team. For him, Monroe is up there with the best.

“Kathrine is not only an amazing leader, but an amazing athlete, and one of the hardest working people we have on our team,” Samara said. “You know that if you give Katherine something [to do], she's gonna do it to the best of her ability.”

Looking forward to the high school track nationals in the spring, Monroe has remained focused on doing well at the meet. The highest competitions require the highest levels of concentration, and with this being her second time at Nationals, Coach Samara feels she knows what she needs to do.

“You have to go confident, and not be scared at Nationals, because it's the best of the best,” said Samara. “It's really just about focusing on your lane and not worrying about the people around you.”

For this year's National qualifications for relay racing, Monroe and the team were able to beat the time by 2 whole seconds, with everyone on the team running record times. With this time, the relay team was able to qualify for the track and field national competition.

Ishaq Inayat ‘25, who specializes in long jumping, recognizes the impact that Monroe has had on the squad.

“Katherine is a great captain,” said Inayat. “[she] leads by example through her running.”

Monroe feels blessed to have spent 3 years working with her teammates and coaches. With Nationals on the horizon, Monroe knows there are still more records to be broken.

“I’m really glad that I get to cap off my senior year with such a great group of people,” Monroe said. “Hopefully there will be more personal records and memorable times to come!”