Katelyn Hutchison Won’t Apologize

By Patrick Bohn, December 18, 2025

Former track star’s unconventional style made her a rising star in track and field reporting.

Katelyn Hutchison has spent several years covering some of the biggest events in track and field. (Photo submitted)

Katelyn Hutchison ’22 still remembers the moment everything changed for her as a journalist.

Standing in the mixed zone—the area of the track where athletes talk to reporters immediately following a race—during the 2022 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Hutchison, just a few weeks removed from competing in the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the Bombers, found herself swept up in the intensity and emotion of the competition.

“I was hugging the athletes after they were finished, I was cheering, I was being loud and boisterous,” she said.

At the time, Hutchison was working for CITIUS MAG, a digital media company focused on track and field. CITIUS was not your typical media outlet; the ‘About’ section on their website lists a goal to make it “way more fun” to be a track fan as part of their mission.

Sometimes though, amping up the fun means breaking away from tradition. So even though Hutchison’s behavior was outside of journalistic norms and drew some criticism from other outlets, her ability to connect genuinely with the athletes made her subsequent interviews a hit.

“My bosses got some calls from other people asking them to tell me to tone it down,” Hutchison said. “But they said to me ‘the athletes are telling us they love it, the interviews are doing great on our social media, keep doing what you’re doing.’”

Sticking to her own style has served her well. Hutchison currently works for the media arm of Athlos, a professional women's-only track and field competition started by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Helping to shape the organization’s social media voice, she has amassed a sizeable social media following.

“Once I realized I didn’t need to separate myself as a journalist and a fan, that’s when I thrived. Stay true to yourself and go all in on what works best for you.”

Katelyn Hutchison ’22

Hutchison has spent several years covering some of the biggest track and field events in the United States for a variety of media outlets. In the process, she’s sprinted away from the traditional interviewing style and drawn praise from both fans and athletes alike.

At the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hutchison, still reporting for CITIUS, went viral for a moment during a post-race press conference when she praised sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, who had just won her first world title, before asking her a question.

Hutchison (second from right) has developed a laid-back, fan-forward approach to interviews, which has made her a hit with athletes, including Laulauga Tausaga (far left), who Hutchison interviewed after Tausaga won the discus event at the 2023 World Athletics Outdoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

(Photo submitted)

Richardson’s response reciprocated praise at Hutchison for “giving me that loving right there”, proving once again that the young reporter’s style resonated with athletes.

Ignoring criticisms from other journalists and fans who questioned if she was a “fangirl,” she continued doing things her own way and later that year appeared on the cover of Runner's World magazine while being named to the outlet’s “Runners of the Year” list.

Through it all, she hasn’t lost her own voice.

“I think as long as I’ve been alive, I’ve been told that I was too loud and I talk too much, but it’s wild to see how all those things that weren’t in my favor growing up are now in my favor today,” she said.

Hutchison's interviewing chops and track acumen led to her appearance on the cover of Runner's World magazine while being named to the outlet’s “Runners of the Year” list.

Hutchison’s style shouldn’t surprise anyone who knew her at Ithaca. Hailing from Chicago, she came to the South Hill after applying to be a Park Scholar on the advice of Alan Krashesky ’82, a longtime Chicago news anchor who graduated from Ithaca. Recruited to be a sprinter on the women’s track and field team, she was bursting with confidence.

“I remember being in the Athletics and Events Center for practice as a 17-year-old saying, ‘I’m going to qualify for the NCAA Championships, and we’re going to compete for the team title,’” Hutchison recalled. “All the upperclassmen are looking at me and I’m like ‘What? Why can’t we?’”

Call it confidence or prophecy, but Hutchison was right. In 2020, the Bombers were ranked #2 in the country heading into the NCAA Indoor Championships, while Hutchison’s school-record 400-meter time of 56.30 also had her ranked second nationally. But when the team was less than 24 hours away from kicking off their title run, everything changed. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the NCAA to cancel the championships.

“It was like whiplash,” said Hutchison, who later wrote about the experience on the Ithaca College Athletics website.

“My four years at Ithaca were a rollercoaster, but I loved it,” she said. “This was the team I was supposed to be on.”

After graduating with degrees in sports media and business administration, Hutchison later received her master's degree while running for the University of Kentucky.

Though her dreams of a title were dashed, she, like all the student-athletes, persevered. When athletics returned to college campuses, Hutchison continued to excel, eventually earning All-American honors at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships, helping the team finish fourth.

“Investigative journalism was my favorite course. That’s where I really learned how to pay attention and how to find out things about interview subjects. Now, when I talk to athletes, they’re surprised about some of the things I’ve learned about them.”

Katelyn Hutchison ’22

With her track career behind her, Hutchison now focusses on journalism. And for that, she draws on her classes at Ithaca.

“Investigative journalism was my favorite course,” she said. “That’s where I really learned how to pay attention and how to find out things about interview subjects. Now, when I talk to athletes, they’re surprised about some of the things I’ve learned about them.”

But like all good journalists, one of Hutchison’s greatest assets is that she’s as willing to listen as she is to talk.

“I remember seeing [track athlete] Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at an event I was working, and wanting to go up to her, but thinking, ‘What am I going to talk to her about?’” Hutchison recalled. “And I took a deep breath and remembered what I learned at Ithaca. I’m just going to have a discussion with her and just let the answers guide me. That’s what I did, and the interview went great.”

As she looks ahead, Hutchison continues to embrace her own style, and she encourages aspiring journalists to do the same.

“Once I realized I didn’t need to separate myself as a journalist and a fan, that’s when I thrived,” she said. “Stay true to yourself and go all in on what works best for you.”

Off and Running

Interested in kickstarting your own career in sports media? Explore the program page to learn more.

If you’re a prospective student-athlete interested in being the next Bomber All-American, our athletics page has all the information you need, regardless of your sport.