She's only a freshman. But Kaddel Howard is already rewriting the record books.
Soft-spoken, mild-mannered, and humble, she is, in many ways, a typical freshman. But Kaddel Howard’s life is about to change.
Howard is a sprinter on the Cedar Crest girls’ track and field team, and a few months into her varsity career she’s already achieved things most female student-athletes never will. Things that bode very well for her future, both short-term and long-term.
Because times don’t lie, Howard appears destined for greatness.
“So far, things are going great,” Howard said. “I’ve broken some records and I’ve PR'd. I thought I’d just have a regular season. I came in out of shape and not practicing much, so I didn’t expect to come this far. The people around me are so positive, and I have good coaches.”
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The times that Howard has posted this spring are fast, really fast – 11.8 in the 100-meter dash, 24.01 in the 200 dash and 54.9 in the 400. Those times in the 200 and 400 are faster than any female athlete from the Lancaster-Lebanon League has ever run, and Howard set (24.34), then broke, her own 200 record.
But the truest tests for Howard, The Competitor, are just appearing on the horizon. The Lancaster-Lebanon League Track and Field Championships will be contested at Hempfield on May 12-13, followed by the District 3 Meet at Shippensburg University on May 19-20 and then finally the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shipp’s Seth Grove Stadium on May 26-27.
“Obviously, she’s a talent,” said Cedar Crest head coach Rob Bare. “With that being said, she’s so humble and kind and caring. You’d never know she’s one of the fastest sprinters in the United States. As long as she remains healthy, the sky’s the limit for her.”
In February, Howard raised more than a few eyebrows, as she burst onto the scholastic scene at the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association’s Indoor State Championships at Penn State. There, she struck gold in the 400-meter dash and finished second in the 200.
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Bare said that competition at the state indoor meet is just as stiff as it is at the outdoor championships.
“Those girls were really tall, and I was like the smallest girl,” Howard said. “I was kind of scared. I didn’t think I’d be first, but it just happened.
“Oh yeah, it has created expectations,” added Howard. “I expect to also do well outdoors, just like I did indoors, and run even faster and bring my times down.”
Bare has coached four individual boys’ state champions in his illustrious career at Cedar Crest, as well as a PIAA gold medal-winning relay squad. But the only Falcon girl to ever capture a state track and field championship is current coach Wendy Nelson Barrett.
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“I don’t think the comparison is unfair,” said Bare of Howard. “She has every bit of the tools that they had. She’s amazing. We knew she was going to be good. Then we saw how she was going to compete under the bright lights, and we knew she was going to be extra special.”
“When I was 7, I was running with my friends, we were outside playing,” said Howard said. “Then my neighbor saw me, and because she had already done track, I guess she saw something in me. It all started from there.”
This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Cedar Crest freshman Kaddel Howard is already setting records
