Oct. 9, 2003
A junior from Schaumburg, IL., and a member of the UI’s women’s cross country and track squads, Katie Donlon is the lastest addition to the 2003-04 McLeodUSA StarHawks team.
During the 2003 indoor track season, Donlon led the team in the 3,000 meters, placed second in the mile at the Hawkeye Invitational and won the 3,000 meter run at the Gold Country Classic.
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“Katie is a well-rounded, outstanding individual. You never have to worry about her because you know she will do what she needs to do to improve. As a result, I know that Katie is right at the door ready to step through to even bigger things.”
Head Coach Layne Anderson
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Outdoors, she led the team in the 3,000 and 10,000 meters and placed ninth in the 10,000 at the Big Ten Championships with a personal-best time of 37:17.28, which ranks sixth on Iowa’s all-time best performance list. She also won two races at the Texas Southern Relays and was runner-up in the 5,000 meter at the Arlington Invitational.
“Katie is one of our top runners,” said Layne Anderson, head coach of Iowa’s women’s cross country team. “She’s very consistent, and we can count on her for a top three or four finish week in and week out.”
An English major, Donlon is leaning toward a teaching career, according to Coach Anderson. “Katie will make an excellent teacher. She’s not only very patient, but she leads through words and actions, which is a great way to bring the younger runners along,” he said.
Donlon is a member of the Iowa Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a group of student-athletes from each of the UI’s varsity sports who help to shape UI Athletic Department policies and procedure and to initiate department-wide outreach efforts.
“Katie is a well-rounded, outstanding individual,” Anderson said. “You never have to worry about her because you know she will do what she needs to do to improve. As a result, I know that Katie is right at the door ready to step through to even bigger things.”
The StarHawks program is an initiative funded in part by McLeodUSA, a leading telecommunications company with corporate headquarters in Cedar Rapids and a long-time member of the UI’s Partners in Excellence corporate sponsorship program. The StarHawks team is a collection of student-athletes at the University of Iowa who truly represent the very best the intercollegiate athletics program at the UI has to offer. StarHawks typically excel athletically and academically, and also are active in community or leadership activities.