By River Mitchell
@rivermitchell27
Track and field athlete Katherine DeFosse has been competing in the sport since she was in eighth grade. DeFosse, originally a soccer player, gathered attention from various people due to the sheer speed they saw from her on the field.
On Jan. 20 during her meet at Springfield as a part of the Massasoit Classic, DeFosse put that speed to good use. As a first-year student, she broke the schoolโs previous record of 9.22 seconds in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 9.04 seconds in her preliminary heat.
โWhen my [time of] 9.04 came up, emotions hit me immediately,โ DeFosse said. โI was jumping up and down at the finish line [and] I knew right there that I did [it]. My whole team was screaming at the finish line and everyone was there to congratulate me.โ
Coming into the start of the season, DeFosse was already close to breaking the schoolโs record in the 60 meter. DeFosse got a 9.29 in the preliminary round in the Springfield College season opener at home, and had a time of 9.26 seconds in the Tufts Jumbo Invitational.
โThe first meet that we had, it was on my mind that I was close to the school record,โ DeFosse said. โThe first meet coming in I ran and I was obviously discouraged that I didnโt break it.โ
Flash forward to the Tufts Jumbo Invitational, DeFosse had her sights set on breaking it while at the meet coming back from break. When she wasnโt able to snag the hardware on the road, DeFosse leaned on her coaches for words of encouragement and her thoughts immediately shifted to getting the record at home.
โComing into the Tufts meet I wanted to break it there, but I didnโt and I was really discouraged,โ DeFosse said. โI ended up talking to my coaches and they talked me through [it] like โYou have time, youโre only a freshman, you have four years to do this.โโ
โI was in my head the whole week about [being home thinking], โWeโre home, it would be amazing to do this at home.โโ
Having her name in the Springfield College record book wouldnโt be an easy task at all, and would not come smoothly either. After a rough practice the Friday before the meet, DeFosse felt that she was in her head too much. Turning to her coach again, he told her to do something that would evidently assist her in breaking the schoolโs record.
โI told my coach Iโm in my head and Iโm overthinking,โ DeFosse said. โHe was like, โGive me a dad joke tomorrow morning and before you run Iโll be asking you what your dad joke is on the line.โโ
This gave DeFosse another thing to think about the night before the meet, which helped take her mind off of the record which was looming over her head for quite some time.
โIt wasnโt even on my mind at that meet which is something that was weird to me because the past two meets, it was,โ DeFosse said. โI got in my box and I just told myself [to] relax. I took a deep breath and I felt like I was flying. Having that dad joke in my head [helped] getting my mind off everything else.โ
Photoย courtesy of Springfield Athletics