Katie Cozzens
Graduating class: 1995
Inducted into Hall of Fame: 2016
Hall of Fame Category: Athlete
Katie Cozzens began running competitively at Hastings Middle School where she finished first in the mile. As a freshman, she posted the fifth fastest time ever by a girl on the Fairhaven course and finished first in the freshman division of both the Brown and Peter Jewell Invitational. She was eighth against all competitors in the South Coast Conference meet and ninth in the Freshman-Sophomore division of the State coaches Meet. Katie capped her first season by finishing 14th in Division 3 of the Eastern Massachusetts meet and was the only freshman on both the Standard Times and South Coast Conference All-star teams. Among the highlights of her winter track season was a fifth place finish in the mile in the Auerbach meet in Boston. At the South Coast Conference spring meet, Katie was second in the mile. As a freshman, Katie had the opportunity to attend and participate in the 1992 TAC Junior Olympics in Walnut, California. Cozzens competed in the 800-meter and although did not qualify, she came back with a wealth of experience.
Katie’s first Olympic competition was in the New England Regionals in Taunton where she won the 800-meter event with a time of 2:28.0. She then traveled to New York for the East Regionals and finished second with a time of 2:27.0, 3 seconds shy of first! In her sophomore year, Katie won the Freshman-Sophomore mile in 5:29.6 and rallied the Blue Devils to a victory in the 2-mile relay at Greater New Bedford VocTech Invitational. Her winning mile time shattered the meet records by almost 12 seconds. Within an hour of this first victory, she ran the anchor leg for Fairhaven’s 2-mile relay team where she made up a half-lap deficit on ORR. The Devil’s winning time of 10:24.9 broke the meet record of 10:32 set by New Bedford in 1991. These two victories earned her the Perfection Player of the week in 1993.
At the time she stated that she prepared for her races by listening to “Eye of the Tiger” and “Rocky” and she always kept a lucky charm with her – a track foot fastened to her running shorts given to her by a friend! As the senior captain, she won five of seven dual meets for the Blue Devils. Katie’s best time was a 15:03 on the Fairhaven course in Cross Country and she placed second in the Apponequet Invitational. In her High School career, Katie listed her biggest athletic thrill as “breaking school records” during her senior year in the 800, 600, 4x400 and 4x800, she was the anchor leg of both relays and also being part of the 1994 and 1995 Indoor track team that won the SSC Championship those two years consecutively, a great team effort!
Katie went on to graduate from UMass Dartmouth, Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management. She considers her biggest accomplishment being the “Mom” to her two sons, Tanner and Tucker.