By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
PIEDMONT – Piedmont track and field coach Patrick Walker said he recently came across a photo of senior Katie Brown’s first year on the Bulldog track and field team.
Walker recalled Brown being in seventh grade then. She was small in stature, but through the years she grew into a big-time talent for the Bulldogs.
“Coach Grace Cantrell was the one who got her out for track. She kind of recruited the middle school for us,” Walker said. “Just to watch her grow up and succeed, do everything she’s been asked to do, if every athlete was like her, it would be the most enjoyable job in the world.
“She’s a great student. She does everything right. She just does everything you wished everybody would do. She’s pretty hard-nosed.”
Being that hard-nosed hurdler, runner and jumper has served Brown and the Bulldog program well through the years. Now it’s led to Brown signing a scholarship with Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss. She’ll join former Bulldog Claudia Dempsey on the Majors’ track and field team.
“I’ve been doing this since seventh grade, and then all of a sudden, my senior year hit,” Brown said. “Indoor ended and outdoor started getting toward the end, and I was like ‘I cannot stop running.’”
Brown decided to apply to Millsaps College after talking with Dempsey. Dempsey helped get her in touch with Millsaps men’s and women’s cross country and track and field head coach Brandon Becket, and the rest was history.
“Claudia graduated from Piedmont last year. She was on the relay teams with me. She went down there and ran this year, and she told their coach about me. He was like ‘She sounds great’ so I went down there for a visit and stayed with Claudia. I went to their practices. Their coach really wanted me. I’m super excited to go there because I love running and hurdling and jumping. I’ve wanted to do this for a while now.”
Brown won a gold medal in the 300-meter hurdles at the Class 3A, Section 3 meet two weeks ago in Lincoln. Her time was 52.66 seconds. She also placed third in the high jump (4-10.00) and was part of the Lady Bulldog 4×100, 4×400 and 4×800 meter relay teams.
“People don’t realize she’s really fast. She was the anchor leg on our 4×1 team,” Walker said. “She hasn’t run a lot of sprints for me because I always needed her to jump, but she’s always done everything she’s been asked to do. It’s gratifying to see her go on (to college).”
Brown gave thanks to her Piedmont track and field coaches, especially Walker, for believing in her.
“Our coaches are always pushing us to run to the best of our abilities,” she said. “At the end of the day, I don’t think I could do this without Coach Walker. He believes in me. He’s put me in events I say I don’t think I can do, but he puts me in them because he knows I can. He’s the reason why I’m good at hurdles.
“I was like ‘No way am I going to do hurdles’ but he was like ‘Just go and practice them.’ Ever since then I’ve been doing good at them.”
Better than just good, Walker said.
“Track doesn’t come easy to a lot of people. I won’t say it came easy for her, but she was willing to sacrifice and work hard to get it. I think she’s got a lot of upside when she goes down there (to Millsaps). If she continues to do the things she’s done. There’s no telling what she can accomplish. I know she’ll go off and make our school and our community proud. She’ll represent us with a lot of class.”
Brown said she’s up for the challenge.
“It’s a hard sport. It’s an individual sport. You’ve got to push yourself, but that’s why I like track,” she said. “I think it’s pretty cool I can sign and go somewhere for it. I can find myself there, find what I’m going to do with my life and run at the same time. It’s bittersweet to leave here, but I’m excited for it.”
