Kiski Area grad Tatiana Holt settles into middle distance role, helps Slippery Rock claim titles
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There’s a good chance Tatiana Holt won’t be listening to Taylor Swift on anymore training runs.
Holt, a Kiski Area grad and freshman runner at Slippery Rock, was a little over a mile into a workout during the early stages of cross country season. She was listening to Swift on her ear buds and admitted she got caught up in the music. As she rounded a corner “I tripped over my own feet.”
Holt went down, hitting her chin on the street. The impact jarred her head, and she had to spend a week in concussion protocol before resuming her training.
Eventually, she was able to … um … shake it off and begin running again. At the PSAC championships, Holt, The Rock’s No. 6 runner, placed 30th overall — out of 157 competitors — to earn second-team all-conference honors. The team, meanwhile, successfully defended its conference title.
Holt played a bit part in helping the women’s cross country team win the title. She played a much bigger role in the indoor track and field team’s defense of its conference title March 1-2.
She ran the third leg (800 meters) of The Rock’s winning distance medley relay team, which never trailed in taking the gold medal.
Junior Jenn Cichra (Butler) got Slippery Rock the lead in the opening (1,200) leg of the race. Sophomore Annasophia Stauffer maintained the lead with her 400 leg. Then the baton went to Holt for the 800.
“I took it out really hard,” Holt said. “There was a lot of adrenaline going on, just with the nerves and the lead we had. I saw it was close. I was just holding on for dear life, trying to fight them off as long as I could until I gave (the baton) to Anna (Igims).”
Igims (Avonworth) is one of the PSAC’s most accomplished distance runners of the past five years, and Holt knew if she could give her the baton with the lead, there was little chance the opposition would catch her.
They didn’t. Igims, running the closing 1,600 leg, pulled away, crossing the finish line more than 8 seconds ahead of Kutztown anchor runner Deandra Young.
Another A-K Valley athlete, Cassidy Davis (Highlands), contributed to SRU’s effort, tying for fourth in the high jump.
Holt — along with Stauffer — was new to the distance medley relay team this season. The fact that she was part of the team wasn’t as surprising as the distance she ran: the 800. When she was recruited by coach Bobby Over, he saw her as a longer-distance specialist.
“We really thought she was going to be more of a mile, 3,000-meter runner,” said Over, the former cross country coach at Seton Hill. “She just dealt with a little bit of injury early on in January that kind of slowed down our training coming off cross country season.
“With that, we kept her in some shorter races. I knew that she always had the turnover and the foot speed to excel in those shorter races. She just kind of stayed in the shorter races as we got her legs under her.”
Nagging injuries dogged Holt throughout cross country and indoor track. She said a lot of her training, particularly for indoor season, focused on staying healthy as much as honing her racing skills.
The shorter distances seemed to suit her in the end. In addition to running the 800 leg on the DMR team, she also qualified for the PSAC championships in the open 800, where she placed 13th.
Her split during the DMR was more than 2 seconds faster than her time in the open 800.
“I just had to learn how to race the 800,” she said. “I ran a lot of middle distance in high school. Maybe it wasn’t my best area, but my coach always threw me in the 4-by-8, the 4-by-4, the mile.
“I would always kind of settle too early (in the 800) when I was in high school and going into the first races here. But once I learned how to race an 800, especially at the college level, it was a lot better.”
Having the likes of Igims and Cichra as role models helped Holt adapt. Cichra, Holt said, was her “workout buddy” throughout cross country season. Igims, meanwhile, led by her example.
In addition to winning the individual title at the PSAC cross country championships in the fall — the first SRU woman to do so — Igims ended her indoor track and field career a perfect 7 for 7, taking gold medals in each of her past seven events. She enters outdoor track and field season as the reigning conference athlete of the year.
“She’s really an inspiration,” Holt said. “She makes me want to be a better runner just looking at her success, how she trains, how dedicated she is to the sport.
“She wasn’t the craziest (runner) early on. She really worked for what she has. I really look up to that. It makes me feel like I have a shot to be as good as her someday.”
First, there is her first outdoor track season to tackle. Over said he likely will keep her in the shorter races but is convinced she still has a bright future in longer races.
Whatever the distance, Holt is confident she can build a solid reputation over the next three-plus years. She just won’t be listening to Swift’s “Reputation” album while doing it.
“I feel like I’m really just getting healthy, and I’m really excited for how outdoor season is going to go,” she said. “I would say my biggest goal is to qualify for PSACs again. Other than that, I don’t have too much pressure on myself.
“I still have a lot of years left here, so I’m really excited to see how those go, too.”