Kate Douglass is a normal Pelham teenager. She comes to school for her 1st period class at 8:15 and leaves by 2:51. However, most PMHS students don’t also have the highest world rankings (for their event) and none except Douglass have qualified for the National Junior Team to represent the United States of America in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Douglass’ accomplishments do not fall short of amazing for a high school senior. Committed to swim at the University of Virginia for the fall of 2019, Douglass holds the 15-16 National Age Group Record in the 50-meter free with a time of 22.04 seconds. She also holds NY state records in various events. Douglass is ranked 1st in the state for swimming and was in the top 10 of commits for the class of 2019.

Douglass, 16, has been swimming with the National Junior Team in the 200 IM since the spring of 2017. Before competing in Argentina, she spent her summer in Indiana at the Junior World Championships.  In Indiana, she earned a silver medal as a part of the 4×100 freestyle relay.

On Oct. 11 in Argentina, she came 6th in the women’s 50-meter free with a time of 25.57 seconds. On a team of eight girls and boys, Kate said that most kids had taken a month off during August and started practice in September so there wasn’t an intense level of expectation for everyone to achieve their best times.

“This was not my first time representing the US at an international meet, so I definitely felt more comfortable in front of such a big crowd,” said Douglass.

Given Douglass was competing at the Youth Olympics, there were a variety of sports and athletes present and Douglass stayed in the Olympic Village built specifically for the competition. She describes the volunteers as speaking limited English and the dining hall food as low quality.

“We were all craving American good by the end of the trip,” said Douglass.

Douglass said she won’t be eligible to compete on the National Junior Team after she turns 18 but has ambitions of making the National Team within the next several years.