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MARY KATHARINE "KATIE" HUSTON

Mary Katharine “Katie or Kate” Huston is a five-time state-wide track and field champion for Alabama. Huston won gold medals in the Alabama High School Athletic Association cross country competition, twice in the high jump, and once in the 3200-meter.

Early Years

Born in Nashville, Tenn., on March 9, 1992, Huston is the youngest child and only daughter born to the union of William Huston, Sr., and Dr. Dorothy Williams Huston, retired educators and entrepreneurs. Her father is a retired principal, while her mother served for decades as a research administrator in the higher education sector and currently heads TMT Group, Inc., a defense contracting firm in Huntsville, Ala.

After her family moved to Huntsville in 1995, she received the benefits of having parents heavily involved in the community and public education at all levels. She was involved in sports, piano, chorus, modeling and enjoyed a plethora of church and community activities. Huston attended and graduated Top 10 from Sparkman High School in [|Harvest, Ala.], a suburb northwest of [|Huntsville, Ala].

She also was a member of the All-State Choir, Madison County Advanced Choir, the Rosetta James Foundation Youth Council, and the National Honor Society.

Training

Katie Huston was reared in Huntsville, Ala., where she excelled academically and was coached in track and field by legendary Coach Joe Henderson, the coach of Olympians [|Jearl Miles Clark], [|Dannette Young Stone] and [|Grace Jackson Small], to name a few.

Henderson was the internationally known coach of Alabama A&M University's women's track team, which began competing in the NCAA in 1982. His women's teams won 16 straight Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) outdoor championships, 11 consecutive SIAC cross-country titles, three straight NCAA Division II championships and one NCAA Division II indoor championship. Thus, Huston received the expertise of a man whose teams produced more than 200 NCAA All-Americans, 57 NCAA gold medal winners and won 15 first places out of 20 possible events in the NCAA National Championships.

Career Wins

During Huston’s high school years at Sparkman, she amassed such honors as two-time Alabama State XC Champion; two-time Alabama High Jump State Champion; winner, the 3200 State Championship as a freshman; Recorded a 5:01 personal best in the mile; 10:41 personal best in the 2 mile; 17:58 personal best in the 5K; and a personal best height of 5'6" in the high jump.

Huston went on to place first in the 3K, second in the 1500-meter, and second in the high jump at the Junior Olympics, and she also finished first in the 5K at the 2009 National XC AAU.

During her first season as a Mississippi State Bulldog in 2011, Huston ran a 5K season best of 18:55:24 and a 6K season best of 22:30.94. In 2012, she secured a 6K personal best with a time of 21:46.47 during the SEC Championship; achieved a personal best in a 5K at the Notre Dame Invite, earning a 17:41 mark; and finished second at the Charlotte Cross Country Invitational in a field of 206 women (21:27.60 – 6K).

By her 2013 season, Huston had broken her personal best with a time of 17:34.48 in the Crimson Classic 5K. She achieved a new personal best in the 6K, running 21:27.53 in the NCAA Championship; finished sixth in the Memphis Twilight 5K with a time of 18:02.89; placed second with a time of 17:33.47 at the Commodore Classic 5K; earned a second-place finish with a time of 21:27.60 in the Charlotte Invitational 6K; and took home the title at the Crimson Classic 5K with a time of 17:34.84, her first career race won.

On March 1, 2014, Kate Huston, Rhianwedd Price Weimer, Ocian Archer Neilon and Erica Bougard (from right to left) placed third in the Women’s Indoor Track & Field Distance Medley Relay at the SEC Championship. During the same season, this women’s team broke an 11-year-old school record (previously 11:18.04) with a time of 11:15.34, and were ahead of Southeastern Conference foes Arkansas, LSU, Missouri, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Their speed will likely rank the foursome Top 15 in the nation.

Collegiate Years

Although Katie Huston was an honor student, a proven track and field champion at the state level, as well as a winner of many gold, silver and bronze medals as a Junior Olympian, Mississippi State University was the only SEC university that actively recruited her.

In her senior year in high school, Huston had been invited for a weekend for recruits at Mississippi State by Coach Al Schmidt in January 2010. As she collected victories in junior high and secondary school, she conjured dreams of running track in the northern or eastern region. Following the MSU visit, however, Huston was sold.

“Katie” entered Mississippi State University in fall 2010 on a track scholarship and an academic scholarship. She was SEC All Academic 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Huston fulfilled a Graduate Teaching Assistantship in the Math Department, as well as a Graduate Research Assistantship for MSU’s National Strategic Planning & Analysis Research Center. She earned the Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics in 2014 and a master’s degree in mathematics from MSU in 2016. She is currently a Ph.D. degree candidate in Instructional Systems & Workforce Development.

Volunteerism

Huston has a long history of volunteerism extending back to her childhood. She served on the Youth Council of the Rosetta James Foundation throughout high school and until her entry into Mississippi State in 2010. She volunteered at Christina World Missions and provided free tutoring to many stuents throughout college. On December 12, 2014, she addressed a group of boys and girls at the racially diverse Whitesburg School (P-8) in Huntsville about academic achievement and track and field, both at the K-12 and collegiate levels.

Present

Huston served as a mathematics instructor at East Mississippi Community College in Mayhew, Miss., until 2020. She is now the owner of Loving Spaces and creator of Latest Face Online Modeling.

References

1. https://www.ahsaa.com/ 2. https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-huston-b97168125 3. https://hailstate.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=602 4. https://www.msstate.edu/state-spotlight/2018/01/bundled/ 5. https://xc.tfrrs.org/athletes/3264100.html 6. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/katie-huston-and-andrea-keklak-lead-the-pack-in-the-college-news-photo/578708472?adppopup=true

She was SEC All Academic 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014

7. https://al.milesplit.com/athletes/pro/23884/stats 8. https://issuu.com/hailstate/docs/2014_msu_track___field_media_guide/46 9. https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-huston-b97168125/de 10. https://hailstate.com/news/2014/2/16/209408150.aspx?fbclid=IwAR1ZOOhf9aqGAr1QxJ2VkNZKKS8w-nCyloLL182ysyfzrT61H-4MQE_MLQc 11. Swann, Allie. December 19, 2014. “P.A.W.S.-Partners in Action at Whitesburg School.” The Valley Weekly. Huntsville, Ala. Volume 1, No. 16. P. 1.