By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Katie Alden is a rarity in this day and age.
The senior will graduate from Princeton Day School this year as a four-year varsity performer in three sports; the lone girl to do that in her graduating class.
”I’m really happy that I came to PDS and got the opportunity to be on such great teams,” Alden said. “I have been able to play with great people all four years here. I really enjoy all of my sports. Each team has a very different dynamic with different kids on each team. I also like helping the younger kids out and making sure they are going to have a team here the following year and beyond like I had my four years.”
Alden was a captain and goalie in the fall with the field hockey team and earned first team All-Prep B honors. She was also a captain and played the same position in the winter with the ice hockey team, where she earned WIHLMA All-Academic honors.
This spring she has been the captain of the softball team. In fact, she had a great deal to do with the Panthers being able to keep moving forward with the softball program by recruiting several of her ice hockey teammates to join the softball team.
”I have been playing softball since I was 5 and I didn’t want to end that and not take the last opportunity to play a game I love and represent the school at PDS,” said Alden, who will attend Bucknell University, where she plans to play club field hockey and ice hockey. “I helped bring in five new hockey players to play softball and also two kids from my advisory. I really wanted to see it survive and thrive.
”A team like this one and the team we had in field hockey, maybe we were not the most skilled in the area. But you want to have fun with it and remember it is a game and we want to have fun. We’ve been good teams.”
Alden has been a big reason those teams have been enjoyable to play on. She brings the same attitude to softball that she brought to her other sports.
”Kate has been involved in this program all four years,” PDS softball coach Paul Lano said. “She was always playing in the shadow of four other upperclassmen and they were strong personalities and very good players. I believed that really helped Katie and dragged her along. She always knew there were four other good players that would be here.
”What is interesting to me is now that they are gone I wondered what would motivate Katie. She became a Mother Hen. She really took over. Back in January when we had our first team meetings she helped run the show and get everyone involved. She did recruiting and we have half a roster of hockey girls who have never played softball before and that is due to Katie. She was the first hockey player to come out here and do this and now they all love it.”
Alden is glad she stuck with all three of her sports. In an era where specialization has become the norm, she is a throwback to the days of an athlete who enjoys competing in different arenas.
”I really like the competitive environment of sports and I also like making friends,” said Alden, a Princeton resident. “That is another thing that sports has brought me at PDS, which is a chance to make a great bunch of friends. I think that is why some of them were so willing to come over and play softball.”
The Panthers fell to 2-8 with a 10-0 loss to Villa Victoria last Wednesday. But the atmosphere around the team was upbeat as they celebrated Senior Day for their lone senior.
”Katie has really shined in a leadership role this year,” Lano said. “I could not be more proud of her. It has been a pleasant surprise how well she has handled all of this. The team leans toward her and they know she has all the experience. All the rookies that we have look up to her.”
And what they’ve looked up to is the rare athlete who has stuck with all four of her sports over her high school career. And that doesn’t happen often any longer.
