June Named USAT 2009 Junior Duathlete of the Year

The annual edition of USAT/Garmin's Age Group Athletes of the Year was recently released, and The Sport Factory is thrilled to announce that Katie June, 17, received the Junior Duathlete of the Year honor. Katie earned this award as a recent of winning the Junior National Duathlon Championship and finishing 8th in her category at the Duathlon World Championship in 2009.

Her coach, Holly Marzetti,while very happy, was not surprised that Katie won the award. Marzetti added, "She worked really hard leading up to Nationals. I added more run to bike workouts as the race grew closer and continued with the “typical brick” of bike to run since she was racing triathlons throughout the season. Then most of those were workouts were at tempo to get her race ready. The race at Nationals was a non-draft race but once Katie committed to Worlds we had a change of game plan. Worlds was a draft legal race for the Juniors so there were a few changes made to the bike and to training. She showed the discipline of training Thurs. night with the Bike Roswell group. This is something Katie has always enjoyed and I know helped her in being able to hold a wheel, push to stay on that wheel, and the bike handling skills to ride in a pack. Racing with ITU standards was something new to me. So it really was an athlete/coach/parent learning experience. Katie is quite deserving of this award. Her hard work, dedication to the sport, and her willingness to learn and grow as an athlete is why being named USAT Duathlete of the Year was no surprise!"

This young athlete has quietly moved up the ranks locally and now nationally as well as internationally. Not only is she a talented athlete, but she is just as bright and driven in the classroom. We took a moment to sit down with Katie and ask her a few questions.

Why duathlons? If you had asked me five years ago if I would ever race a duathlon, the answer would’ve been no. Since I was a swimmer before I started racing triathlons, the swim was always my favorite part of the race, and I just tried to survive the bike and run. After I quit swimming and started to focus more on the biking and running, those sports became my strength. This year was the first year I could qualify for any world championship race, because the age limit is 16, and since the Duathlon World Championship was being held in the United States , I decided I would try to qualify. I raced in Richmond for Duathlon Nationals because that was the only guaranteed way to get a spot. So I’ve really only done two duathlons ever.

I think duathlons are a lot more challenging than triathlons, which is part of why I enjoyed training for them this past year. The world championship race was draft-legal, so it was really high-intensity and involved a lot of race tactics.

Did you have any expectations going into the race? I was expecting to place on the podium at nationals, because my training had been going really well. I was in the middle of track season, too, so I was prepared to run fast, despite having some IT band problems in the weeks before the race. It was almost 100 degrees when we raced, so that also helped because most of the other girls weren’t prepared to race in the heat.

I was expecting to place higher at the world championship. I had looked at results from previous years, and figured that I could be in the mix for the podium. I was definitely wrong! When the race started, I was at the front for the first 400m or so, and then I never saw that pack again. I guess I learned that racing on an international level is much tougher than racing on a local level, and the girls in my age group are really fast.

How do you balance training for multisport events while still competing in high school sports? My cross country and track coaches are really understanding about my training schedule. In previous years I practiced with the team four days a week and took one practice day off to do a bike workout, then Sundays I would do a long bike or brick. I would always get tired at the end of the season. This year, because I was racing the world championship in September, I only practiced with the team twice a week, and I would bike or swim on all the other days. I think it helped in terms of duathlon/triathlon, but it hurt my cross country running a lot, because I missed a lot of the speedwork days.

Tell us about your coach, Holly. How long have you been working with her and what is that relationship like?
A couple years ago, when I first started racing, there was a youth triathlon team that trained and raced together and had different triathlon clinics. Holly was one of the coaches for that team, and my mom asked her if she knew anyone who would be willing to work with me to improve my biking. She volunteered, and now she’s stuck with me (and my mom)! At first she was my unofficial coach, and we worked on things like getting a water bottle out of its cage on a bike. I think I was 14 years old then. After that, when I joined The Sport Factory, she became my official coach. I’m really grateful for everything that she’s done for me, and she deserves a lot of credit for everything that I’ve accomplished so far. I always call her after my races and big workouts to tell her how they went. And I think she keeps me from getting ahead of myself in triathlon.

What are your racing goals for this year? This year I’m going to be racing more Olympic-distance races than in previous years. I hope to win a few races, because last year I got second and fourth place at pretty much every race.

What are your future goals after high school? I’m not sure where I want to go to college yet, but I’m planning on studying either nursing or physical therapy, since I want to join Doctors without Borders. I’m also unsure as to whether or not I’ll be running cross country in college yet, because I don’t think I can do everything I want to at once. I plan on racing an Ironman after I graduate from college, maybe when I’m 23 or 24. I hope that I’ll eventually qualify for my pro card at some point, but I’m pretty sure I won’t race as a full-time pro athlete.

Whether you know it or not, you are a role model to a lot of younger junior athletes just getting into the sport. What advice would you give to someone a few years younger who wants to be competitive in the sport? I think the key to being competitive at a young age in triathlon is balance. There has to be a balance between your training, academics, and social life, and you can’t let one aspect consume all the others.

Anyone else you'd like to thank? Whenever I get annoyed with my parents I tell them I’m going to school in California or Arizona and never coming home again. But in reality, I’m really grateful for everything that they’ve done for me, and all the time and effort they’ve put into my racing. There are some days when I’ll have a long workout and they’ll sit for two hours while they wait for me to finish, and that says a lot, because they put things aside so that I can achieve my successes. So I guess I might still go to school in California or Arizona , but I’ll at least call them every once in awhile!

Katie's parents have been particularly integral in her success. We enjoyed Whitney June's perspective on her daughter's "team," her drive, and her role in parenting a junior athlete:
For me personally, the fact that Holly came with us to Charlotte was such a blessing and we felt so lucky to have her calming presence. Holly has become a part of our family and not just a coach. We also feel that Matt Russ and Sport Factory teammates have been incredible sources of guidance and encouragement. “Team Katie” has involved many SF professionals – Matt for his amazing insight into young athletes and the proper way to develop them, Amy Kloner for the cycling classes that have been so vital to Katie’s gains in cycling strength, Lisa Marshall for helping us to find a good swim program, Ilana Katz as nutritionist, and the list goes on. I credit SF entirely that Katie has stayed healthy and injury free despite her rigorous training. Also, Katie is thinking about majoring in athletic training and then physical therapy. Jen Henry has been a big influence in getting Katie involved in Kool Kidz – she helps to coach the adaptive swim team at Swim Atlanta Johns Creek .

As the parent of a junior athlete, there is also a lot I could say about how having Sport Factory on-board has allowed Bill and I to PARENT instead of COACH. We have been able to focus on building Katie’s strength of character and supporting and loving her no matter what. My mom quote is “I care more who you are when you cross the finish line than where you are when you cross it.”