Sophomore Catarina Ferreira broke Ludlow High School’s record in the 600 meter race on January 6.

”I was surprised because I didn’t expect to make this accomplishment in my sophomore year.”

The record previously belonged to sophomore Alexis Trikas who ran the race last year in two minutes, one second. Ferreira blew this time away by finishing the race in only one minute, 57 seconds.

“I loved the feel of the pace and it reminded me of the 400 meter,” Ferreira says about her new favorite race.

As an athlete who usually runs the 400 meter, she adjusted well to the slower pace of this new race. In the first 200 meters, Ferreira ran slower than usual. Then, she gradually built up speed so she could sprint to the finish line in the final lap.

“I’m very impressed, but I think there is always room for improvement,” said sprinting coach Eric Nascin.

Nascin expects Ferreira to qualify for Western Mass by the end of the season because she came 0.6 seconds away from doing so at the last meet. Ferreira plans to practice hard this week so she can reach his expectations in the next meet Friday, Jan 13.

In the future, Nascin would like to see Ferreira run the race in one minute, 45 seconds. This correlates with Ferreira’s goal to qualify for the State Championship, which requires a time of one minute, 44 seconds.

Ferreira is unsure how she will achieve her goal.

“I just know that if I set my mind to it, then I will accomplish something,” she says.