Katie Rice: Ingersoll's Shining Cross-Country Star

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Thursday, 20 October 2022 16:04

By Brad Kraemer

In the final race of the season before provincials, Rice finally overcame the hurdle of beating her fiercest competitor.

INGERSOLL - A Fanshawe College student from Ingersoll is headed to provincials after winning the Centennial Cross-Country Invitational.

Katie Rice is still relatively new to long-distance running. She has always been an athlete, mostly playing hockey, until she started running on her treadmill during the pandemic to pass the time.

After Rice arrived at Fanshawe for the Police Foundations program last year, she decided to go to the cross-country team try-out just to meet people. Her low expectations at the try-out turned out to be a display of wonderful potential.

Despite never running competitively, Rice didn't just make the team, she earned multiple top 10 finishes on the province's best collegiate cross-country team. With the men's team also winning provincial gold, Rice gives her thoughts on why the Fanshawe program is so strong.

"I feel like a big part is that we're pretty much a family. We're not just a team. We do a lot of stuff outside [of running] for team building. It's a sport that we're all passionate about and we can connect with each other. All of us get along really well."

After an extremely successful year finishing fifth as a team nationally, a new head coach stepped in to replace Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Coach of the Year Ashley VanderVecht. Coach John Stevenson immediately set the goal for the women.

"Literally the first day I met him, he said the women's goal was to win nationals. Last year I didn't really know what nationals was and how important it is."

Going into the first meet of the year with a season under her belt and an offseason to become stronger, Rice immediately stood out, finishing in second place. She settled for second again at Fanshawe's host event behind the same woman, but in the final race of the season before the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) tournament, Rice finally overcame the hurdle this past weekend on October 15 and beat her fiercest competitor with a brilliant race plan.

"I could tell every race I was getting closer and closer to her and I could tell she was starting to panic a bit. She's not used to someone that is on her. For the majority of last year, she ran by herself and no one could keep up with her, so I felt that if I got closer to her, she'd crack under pressure."

The OCAA Varsity Cross Country Championships take place in Thunder Bay on October 29, and Rice says she's hoping for a podium finish, although the terrain is expected to be grueling.

"Each [course] is different. We base our workouts on which kind of race course it is and I think provincials is pretty hilly, so that's why were focusing on hills right now.

If Rice finds more success in Thunder Bay, she will represent Fanshawe and Ingersoll and the national championships in Medicine Hat, Alberta on November 12.