Ellingson featured in New York Road Runners News Service article

by Sam Grotewold, NYRR News Service

Even before she could walk, Catie Ellingson was going to be a runner; it was in her blood. Her father, Keith, was a sub-2:30 marathoner and NCAA cross-country and track coach for 20 years, and her mother, Kristi, was an avid recreational runner.

After a solid-but-not-spectacular high school career (she was fifth in the state championships 800 meters as a senior), Ellingson elected to remain in her hometown of Indianola, Iowa—a 15,000-resident suburb of Des Moines—and attend Simpson College, a school best known in track circles for producing 2000 Olympic decathlete Kip Janvrin. Ellingson immediately made an impact for the Storm, winning two conference titles and making NCAA indoor All-American as a freshman in 2008.

On May 25 of that year, the weekend of the NCAA Division III outdoor championships, the family received the devastating news that Kristi Ellingson had developed stage 3 ovarian cancer.

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