Head up. Eyes forward. Lungs pulling in the sweet air and pushing it back out. Arms pumping. Quick feet. These are the actions that can make or break a person in a running race, and they are the actions that keep seventeen-year-old Katie Pickford moving. The La Porte native has been passionate about running since eighth grade, and she has made fantastic strides, both literally and figuratively, over the last three years.
Born and raised in La Porte, Pickford began running for more than a mere hobby when she joined the Boston Middle School track team in eighth grade. She then began running on the cross country and track teams for La Porte High School her freshman year.
“When I joined the cross country team,” she shared,” I realized that I loved the way running could make me feel, and I loved the people I was meeting and running with every day.”
Now a junior, Pickford is currently well into her third season of cross country at La Porte High School, and she has high hopes for the rest of the season. She has become an important leader for the team, and she uses her positivity and leadership skills to help and cheer on the other girls.
“My favorite thing about running is that it can take you so many places,” she said,” and I love the friends that I have made. I have learned that the best way to pass the time while running is to talk to my teammates. They always keep me motivated, and I want to be able to keep up with them and help them out as well.”
Pickford has now competed at the state level three times—two with the cross country team and one with the track team. She is also the 2015 Duneland Athletic Conference champion and Chesterton Sectional champion for the 800-meter race for track and field.
“Going to state is always a memorable experience," she remembered. “The day we leave is always filled with so much excitement and nervousness. Our friends and family give us a send-off, and then we take the mini bus down to either Terre Haute or Bloomington. It is so much fun to see so many amazing athletes.”
Pickford loves a lot of things about La Porte, like the way that people in the community reach out to help each other and the perfect mix of a quiet location that is not too far from Lake Michigan and Chicago. Her favorite thing, however, would have to be her parents and older sister—the most important cheerleaders in her life.
She stated, “Growing up, I have started to realize that I am very lucky to live the way that I do, with an open and caring environment where my family loves and supports me.”
Another person who she really thanks for getting her interested in running and always supporting her is fellow runner and family friend Elena Lancioni, as well as the entire Lancioni family.
“Meeting the Lancioni family has really impacted my life, and Elena Lancioni inspires me to always look for a positive way to say something,” Pickford said. “She is so great at running, and she is the nicest person I know. She has inspired me to me who I am.”
In school, Pickford is a junior editor in her yearbook class, an active member of the Student Athletic Council, and an intelligent student taking a number of challenging classes.
As far as college, Pickford has not looked into it too much, but she plans to explore her options this year. She would like to attend a small- or medium-sized school, and she is thinking of studying something that has to do with nutrition or food science.
She admitted, “My future goal in life is to be happy and find something that I love doing. If I am going to do it for the rest of my life, I need to love doing it. Also, I want to keep in touch with the friends that I have now. If I didn't have them through high school I am not sure what I would do. My life would be very boring.”
No matter what this girl ends up doing, her future is bright. She is hard-working and determined, kind and creative, positive and outgoing. The door to her future is wide open, and there is no stopping her from taking it on with a running start.