March 17, 2010

Marshfield Mariner

When Haley Catarius steps out onto the track minutes before a race, all eyes focus on the University of Massachusetts Lowell senior. The former Marshfield High School state champion in the 600 meters and 300-meter hurdles, Catarius has taken her speed and stamina to a whole other level at UMass Lowell. She not only runs the 800, she flies around the track. It's no wonder the 2006 MHS grad earned All-American honors for the sixth time, the most recent coming last week in Albuquerque, N.M. after Catarius finished eighth in the 800 with a time of 2 minutes, 13.28 seconds at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championship.

This was the first time Catarius was named an All-American for indoor track as an individual. Catarius not only ran the 800 at the NCAA Championships, she made up one-fourth of the 4x400 relay team that placed ninth with a time of 3:52.53. Catarius ran a 57.90 split.

"It's definitely rewarding, especially being my last indoor NCAA Track and Field Championship," Catarius said of her eighth-place finish and of being named an All-American. "I was really happy. I was just happy to be there."

In the preliminary round of last Friday's NCAA Championship's, Catarius placed eighth with a time of 2:14.79. She placed in the same spot in the finals, but with a better time than in the prelims.

"Even though I'm a senior, I'm still nervous knowing that there's really good competition," she said. "But I was excited. My goal is to always improve from previous years, and I did that."

Prior to this season, Catarius' best time in the 800 was 2:13. She set a personal best this winter, logging a time of 2:11.

"I think I had a pretty good indoors (season)," she said. "It helps me even more for outdoors."

Catarius' first All-American honor came in her freshman year as part of the distance medley team that placed seventh at the NCAA indoor championship. As a sophomore, Catarius was an All-American for both the 800 outdoors (2:12.07) and the indoor distance medley relay team that took eighth place. Last year as a junior, Catarius earned All-American status for both the indoor distance medley (sixth place) and outdoor 800 meters (seventh place, 2:15.70).

After having a phenomenal high school track career, Catarius came to the UMass-Lowell campus with high expectations for herself in the 300 and 600 hurdles.

"I assumed I'd be running the 400 hurdles (in college), but I didn't have the speed," she said. "Sophomore year, I decided to do the 800. It was the turning point of my career."

Catarius said it didn't come easy improving her times in the 800, but she kept at it, chipping away at her personal best each year.

"The motivation part is hard, but this is my fourth year as a college athlete, and you have to keep in mind that this could be your last college race," she said. "My team helped me. They motivated me to do by best. It's a lot of work, but it definitely pays off in the end."

Catarius looks back to her high school career and how her coach and current MHS girls track coach Ed Ryan helped prepare her for running at the next level.

"He was fantastic," Catarius said of Ryan. "He knew how to coach me. It's definitely a huge difference from high school to college workouts. I think he helped prepare me pretty well for that. He didn't burn me out in high school, and that's huge."