Katie has pushed her better-known teammate to new heights, but has finished ahead of most opponents herself.
A lot of things had to come together to create the dramatic rise of the West Carteret distance program over the last two years. They have two home-grown talents in Blake Dodge and John Crossley, plus a coaching staff that has the right mix of experience, knowledge, and enthusiasm. One of the final pieces to the puzzle, though, was the arrival of Katie Cease from Utah during the fall of 2011. Although her move interrupted her cross country season that year, she has done nothing but improve steadily since then, and has helped accelerate the performances of the other girls on the team. Now that Katie has settled on a state of residence (she was in Kentucky prior to the move to Utah), I would expect that stability, coupled with her work ethic and positive attitude, to lead to even further development as a runner. She has a unique take on the process of choosing where to go to school, both when she moved to North Carolina and when she chose her college; check out the interview to see the interesting thought process behind those decisions.
Katie Cease's Athlete Profile