Larkin Makes Waves at Marist College
Former Huntington High School swimming great Katie Larkin is making waves at Marist College. Larkin, who owns a share of the Suffolk girls’ record in the 200-yard breaststroke, walked away with three medals at last weekend’s Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships.
Larkin blew away her opponents in winning the MAAC 200-yard breaststroke title, touching out in a time of 2:18.72, just off the conference record of 2:17.29. She also took second in the 100-yard breaststroke, a mere .73 seconds behind the first place finisher and third in the 200-yard individual medley, just 1.28 seconds off the winning time.
The site for Larkin’s heroics was the sold-out Mangione Aquatic Center on the campus of Loyola University in Maryland. Marist easily won its 11th MAAC women’s team crown, and sixth title in seven years, scoring 921 points, far ahead of runner-up Rider (596.5) and the rest of the 10-team field.
Adapting to college life and athletics has featured a few bumps in the road for Larkin, one of the greatest swimmers in Blue Devil history. Last summer she struggled through a bout of mononucleosis and torn ankle ligaments, which curtailed her ability to train. She then had to deal with an entirely different practice philosophy at Marist that emphasized distance. “We swim 8,000 yards a day,” she said during an interview this week.
“I got off to a hard start here,” Larkin acknowledged about her first semester at Marist, although she did well academically, earning 15 credits. “I called home every day and did a lot of crying. But, I stuck with it and eventually started to like going to practice. Now I’m having a great time with the team and with everyone on it.”
Marist is a team-oriented program, rather than one that emphasizes individuals. Larkin said she practices Monday through Saturday, with double sessions on Tuesday and Thursday when she rises at 5:20 a.m., gets dressed, walks down to the athletic complex and trains from 6-7:30 a.m. and then again from 2-4:30 p.m.
This spring the Huntington grad is again enrolled in 15 credits. “I like all of my professors,” she said. “I’m taking a lot of business courses and plan on getting some type of business degree.”
As a Marist freshman, Larkin’s presence has immediately been felt in the line-up and she has proven to be a tough competitor. One highlights of the season has to be a 10-day training trip to Puerto Rico earlier this winter that included two pool sessions each day.
Larkin swam on the Blue Devil varsity for six years after getting the call-up as a seventh grader. She was the team MVP Award winner all six years, won four Suffolk titles and earned All-State honors as a junior and senior. She was a Long Island champ twice and has been swimming competitively since the age of eight.
Yet even with all of her high school and club experience and a solid academic resume, the transition to NCAA Division I and different classroom expectations has required a period of adjustment. “College is very different than high school,” Larkin said.
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