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Katie Wasserman, who starred at Sptoswood High School, ran the race of her life, and the fastest 5,000-meter race in Notre Dame history to place second at the NCAA Division 1 Championships on Saturday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
Wasserman, a graduate student at Notre Dame, crossed the line in 15:28.68, just behind North Carolina State senior Elly Henes, who finished first in 15:28.05.
Wasserman, who had a previous PR of 15:33.35 and qualified for the NCAA Championships by placing third in the East Regional in 15:48.13, earned First Team All-American honors, took down the Notre Dame women's school record of 15:32.55 that was set by the legendary Molly Huddle at the 2004 Mount SAC Relays. Huddle, a two-time Olympian, won the 5K and 10K at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials, and holds several U.S. records.
During her career at Spotswood, Wasserman was a soccer star, so never ran cross-country. On the track, she ran high school PR's of 2:15.03 in the 800 when she was second at the 2015 Group 2 Championships, and 4:55.68 in the 1,600 when she was seventh at the 2014 Meet of Champions. She was also a soccer star, so she never ran cross-country until she got to college.
After graduating high school in 2016, Wasserman went to star at Columbia University where she ran her PR in the mile of 4:40.29 to qualify for the 2020 Indoor NCAA Championships, was the No. 3 runner when Columbia won the 2018 Northeast Regional XC Championships, placed 75th at the 2019 NCAA XC National Championships, and was a multiple All-Ivy League selection.
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