Kate Putman Travels To N. Carolina To Capture Adidas Silver

Kyle Brazeil


You could call it the first meet abroad of senior year, or a homecoming for a future North Carolina resident. Kate Putman (Cicero-North Syracuse) traveled down to the TarHeel State to get a feel for a course she would soon call home. WakeMed Soccer Complex is the home course for the NC State Wolfpack, the reigning D1 NCAA National Champions for Cross Country, and Putman's future college. She committed early last week.

The adidas XC Challenge is one of many major invitationals that have been held on the relatively flat course, that makes up for the lack of elevation with the typical southern hot conditions. The College portion of the meet was held on Friday, and saw the Wolfpack score an impressive 17-points to win the meet, while holding out most of their Top 7, including New York alumnus like Katelyn Tuohy and Kelsey Chmiel. NC State is currently ranked as the Number 1 team in the nation in the NCAA this year, and were lead at the meet by Sam Bush, who won in 16:14.5.

On Saturday, it was the High Schoolers turn. The race went out hard, with Leah Stephens of Maryland taking the overall win. Putman found herself in traffic at midway, but ultimately crossed the line in second, with a 17:42.9 performance, garnering a 137 Speed Rating. She had run 139 a week prior at VVS. It was the ninth fastest time by a New Yorker on the course. Katelyn Tuohy still holds the course record at 16:22.80.


Putman had signed with NC State on September 12th, joining Jolena Quarzo of PA in an already loaded commitment class. Many New Yorkers have joined the NY->NC pipeline in recent years, making the Wolfpack one of the most competitive Top 7 squads to make in the Country. Putman recently finished second at the Pre-State Invitational, only behind Emily Bush of Saratoga, the reigning National Championship team, also making her the second highest rated in the State so far. She team continues their season at the Baldwinsville Invite this weekend, back home in Syracuse.