By Alex Frazier
Katie Gorman has some big shoes to fill.
Her own.
A year ago in her first year running cross country,
the Plymouth Whitemarsh junior, won the American Conference championship, placed 15th at districts and finished 40th at states.
She was honored as the Times Herald’s Runner of the Year.
All that with just one season of track in her repertoire and virtually no endurance base in distance running.
“She’s a coach’s dream,” said PW coach Ryan Buterbaugh.
So how did a former softball player end up running?
Gorman wasn’t into organized athletics much as a young child. It wasn’t until sixth grade she started softball. She continued through ninth grade with little success.
“I wasn’t very good at it,” she admitted
In her sophomore year when it was apparent she probably wouldn’t even make the jayvee team, several friends convinced her to try track.
She experimented with various distances until it became apparent she was best suited for middle and long distance races.
“I decided to run for fun at first and then I got into the 800 and the 4x800,” she said.
When Buterbaugh and the other track coaches saw her immediate success in track, they convinced her to run cross country the following fall.
“They told me I was going to run cross country,” said Gorman. “And I fell in love with that too.”
Entering her junior year, she had trained maybe two or three times a week over the summer.
“I didn’t know what I was in for,” she said. “Pre-season was a slap in the face. But once I started running every day, it got easier and easier.”
Gorman recalls her very first race at Germantown Academy. Surprisingly, she finished second, by a mere two seconds, to her own teammate.
“I don’t think I was running as hard as I could have been,” she said. “I didn’t realize, ‘Wow! I should be hurting the entire time,’ so at the end of the race when I felt I had a lot left, I picked it up a lot.”
Her time in that race was 22.19. Her PR for the season was 18.56.
“She didn’t know anything about pace,” said Buterbaugh. “It took her a few races until later in September until she got the hang of it. She got better each week.”
After the GA race, Gorman’s confidence soared.
“At one of the first meetings, they showed us all of the records,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh gosh, I wish I could be one of them someday,’ and then finishing second in my first race made me feel that I could be good at this. If I keep working at it, my name could be on one of those lists.”
What was the secret to her success?
“She has a few things going for her,” said Buterbaugh. “First, she has a positive attitude. She has a gigantic heart. She refuses to quit. She’s a workaholic, and she’s blessed with athletic ability.”
And a highly competitive nature.
“As soon as the gun goes off, I have the eyes of a tiger,” she said. “I say I’m not going to, but I definitely start picking (off) people. I definitely
do get competitive, sometimes even in practice.”
A petite girl at five feet, Gorman overcame her stature, which could have been a disadvantage against bigger stronger girls.
“As long as I can out-work someone I don’t see size as a threat to me,” she said. “Even if their stride is longer, I think I have a pretty good shot. I don’t realize how tall people are until I see pictures of me with other people. I just think I’m the same size as everybody else.”
Buterbaugh thinks her size might, in fact, be an attribute.
“Sometimes when girls are taller and heavier, it’s difficult with building the mileage up,” he said. “Being older as a junior, her body was able to withstand the mileage. She did phenomenal.”
After a season PR at the district meet last year in which she finished 15th, she had a slight setback at states. The course was a lot hillier than she had been used to and her time of 19.50 reflected that.
“It was such a shock,” she said. “It was hard for me to make myself work up those hills after tapering two weeks before that.”
Her success in cross country carried over to her second year in track, where she finished sixth in the state in the 3200.
Gorman enters this season of cross country, not as an unknown, but as someone to beat.
“A lot of people are anticipating her having a wonderful season,” said Buterbaugh.
A little pressure?
“I don’t think I’ve hit my peak already,” she said. “I’m definitely going to keep improving. A little bit of pressure, yeah, a little bit.”
This year she is much better prepared. She ran an average of five times a week over the summer and entered several 5K races. In the long-standing Tex-Mex Race in North Wales, which had over 1,000 runners, she was the second fastest female.
She’s also running more hills.
“Now I know what states is like,” she said. “I’m trying to strengthen muscles that I didn’t last year and get ahead of the game.”
Now that Gorman has found her sport, she plans to pursue it in college. She is still looking for a good fit, probably in the South. She is also undecided about a major.
All that will come, but first is cross country.
Asked what her goals are for this season, Gorman didn’t hesitate to mention even before her own personal goals, that she wanted the team to make it to states.
“A lot of our girls have improved since last year,” she said. “It would be nice if our whole team can make it.”
“She feels it’s her responsibility to do it for the team,” said Buterbaugh.
Personally, she wants to make it back to states and medal and continue to drop time throughout the season.
“If she runs healthy all season, I feel strongly she will be a state placewinner (top 20) this year,” said Buterbaugh.
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