Junior Carey Celata made the transition from the squash courts to the track this year and so far in the indoor track season, she has dropped blazing times in the mid-distance disciplines.
Some people fear knowing their limits. Carey Celata welcomes them.
In her second season on the women’s track and field team and her first since leaving the women’s squash program, the junior has had a wildly successful indoor season. With her focus set solely on running for Penn for the first time in her college career, the Philadelphia native has excelled for the Quakers.
Last weekend, Celata posted a time in the 800-meter that is the fourth-best in the Ivy League and 69th-best in the NCAA. Earlier in the month, she also came through with a 1000-meter clip that is the second-best indoor time in school history.
Originally recruited by the Red and Blue to play squash, Celata has taken an unusual path towards becoming a star runner for the Quakers. She ran track for coach Rob Hewitt at Germantown Friends School while also playing squash.
“She ran cross-country her junior and senior years for us, ran spring track all four years in high school,” Hewitt said of Celata’s time in high school. “And towards the later stages of her high school career, she did her best to stay fit during squash.”
While two-sport athletes are rare at Penn, Celata approached track and cross country head coach Steve Dolan and assistant coach Robin Martin about walking onto the track team when she was a freshman. Given that she wasn’t fast enough and could only dedicate three months to track per year, the two coaches declined.
“In the events that we do, to train for [only] two-and-a-half months, it just wouldn’t work,” Martin said.
“For some reason, it really hit me hard, a surprising amount,” Celata said of her rejection. “I hadn’t expected to miss running so much when I came to college, but I definitely did, and I was taken aback at not being able to run.”
Celata turned back to Hewitt and the coaching staff at Germantown Friends who trained her, in hopes of improving her times so she could walk onto the team as a sophomore.
By the time she returned for her second year at Penn, Celata was fast enough for Dolan and Martin. She received an invitation to join the team, participating in both squash and outdoor track in 2013-14.
Based on the success she had during what she described as an “amazing track season,” Celata then faced the difficult decision of whether to continue to participate in both sports or to dedicate herself to running.
“[Squash] was a big part of her life, and it was really, really difficult,” Martin said. “We were prepared to go another two seasons with her doing squash and track ... but she just chose track.”
“I spent all summer debating [could] I keep doing both,” Celata said. “And I think I would have been upset with myself if I hadn’t taken the chance to see where this could have gone.”
Celata elected to drop squash for the 2014-15 season, allowing her to focus on running. Squash training did not share much overlap with track training because it mostly focused on technique. So far, Celata has seen her dedication to track pay dividends.
“I’m surprised ... I’ve really developed aerobically as a runner,” Celata said.
Celata continues to post impressive times this season, such as her 2:09.05 in the 800-meter at the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Feb. 14.
“She doesn’t have a traditional ascent,” Hewitt said. “There’s a newness to it for her. She was a good half-miler in high school, but certainly not at the level she is at right now.
“There’s a joy [with which] she goes about doing things. She loves to work hard and challenge herself. The cool thing is, she stepped into being a leader and [is] rallying kids up.”
Martin agrees that Celata has exceptional racing instincts, and is consistent in all of her races.
“She works unbelievably hard in practice, is super encouraging, and the entire team loves her,” Martin said. “And those are the kinds of athletes you dream about coaching.
“She has a positive attitude that she brings every day, and that’s difficult to do, but she gets excited at the idea of finding out how good she is. And I think for most athletes, that’s a pretty scary thought.”
Celata tends to agree. Like her coaches, she understands the value of the hard work that ended up getting her on the track team in the first place.
“I like to think the fact that I worked so hard to get onto the team in the first place speaks for itself and how much I want to put into this, and the fact that I would want to dedicate myself to it,” she said. “It wasn’t about me not wanting to play squash anymore, it was just about wanting to see where I could go with running.”
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