By Kerry Dunning

May 29, 2019

JACKSONVILLE – Katia Seymour lives in a world where one one-hundredth of a second is a measure of success.

Ka'tia Seymour

A sprinter must explode out of the starting block, transition to a very controlled running position, and have enough left to finish fast. The runner’s energy or the push of a competitor keeps moving a personal best by fractions of a second.

If all goes well, it means championships. Seymour spent three days at the NCAA Eastern Regionals earning a trip to Nationals. It hasn’t been a one-time accomplishment.

The Florida State sophomore put together one of the finest prep careers in Florida history, helping anchor a Palatka High to back-to-back Florida 2A titles. She was the 2016 Gatorade Girls Track Athlete of the Year.

Seymour parlayed her success into a scholarship to Florida State. “It’s pretty awesome to be a Nole. I always wanted to be a Nole,” she said. “I always wanted to be able to run in college and go professional, so hopefully my next step is going pro.”

Oh yeah, written into those childhood dreams is now a possibility of an Olympics. Seymour smiles at the thought. Actually her quietly gregarious personality show off her smile quite often.

In her freshman season in Tallahassee, Seymour broke an FSU 32-year-old 100-meter dash record (11.13) on her way to the best FSU freshman sprint season in Florida State history. In 2018 she was an NCAA Indoor Championships qualifier in the 60- and 200-meter dashes. After her sixth in the 200 final (23.01), Seymour was named first-team all-American. She finished the Outdoor season as an NCAA championships qualifier in three events (100, 200, and 4x100 relay). She ran a personal best 22.74, the third best in FSU history, earning second-team all-American honors. She was also named ACC Freshman of the year.

No sophomore jinx has slowed her up. She captured a third in the 60-meter dash running 7.19 in the NCAA final. That time matched a record set by former NCAA champion and Olympian Michelle Finn. At the ACC, Seymour was named MVP for the second consecutive year after winning the 60- and 200-meter titles.

In the Outdoor ACC championships, she was named MVP again after winning the 100 and 200 and contributing to the 4x100 relay that finished second – by a split second. All three events led to Seymour qualifying for the NCAA Eastern Regionals this weekend.

“It is very mentally tough, mostly because running against these girls, because we’d really never really raced like that, we’d never seen each other, so it was weird just going against them in the competition,” said Seymour. “But it also helped me mentally and physically because I was able to relax and just concentrate on myself and execute my race.”

It’s not an easy schedule. The 100 had one round scheduled Thursday, followed by the nationals qualifying round on Friday. About an hour and a half later, Seymour was on the track again, for the first 200 heat.

Seymour summed it up saying, “The 100 was mostly focusing on the start and getting out and doing what I usually do to finish my race. The 200, it wasn’t as good as it was supposed to be, but it will be correct tomorrow.

Saturday she did just that, qualifying for nationals in the 200.

“I am super happy mostly because the 100 is my dominant race and I’m really happy to go back to nationals again, and to being able to get another chance at winning the championship. Mostly with the 200, I’m just trying to get better at it honestly.”

She waited a bit, then run the second leg of the 4x100 relay – that squad also qualifying for nationals.

Back to that one one-hundredth difference in being in the top three in the country or missing out, the tiny changes a sprinter makes are not seen by the naked eye – unless you are the sprinter or her coach. So what comes next?

“I just need to work mostly transitioning because I have my top end speed and know how to finish, she said. “The key to the 200 is getting out of the blocks, riding the curve the way I need to, and once I ride that correctly, it should slingshot me off the curve, and I should be able to finish as strong as possible,” said Seymour.

Two weeks until FSU leaves for Austin. Seymour knows what she must do.