‘She goes out and takes control.’ LexCath runner named state’s top track athlete

Caroline Beiting has been one of Lexington Catholic High School’s most decorated multi-sport athletes for years.

This week, she received statewide recognition to go along with her many championships and record performances when she was named the 2024-25 Gatorade Kentucky Girls Track and Field Player of the Year.

Gatorade names athletes of the year in numerous high school sports annually based on their efforts on the field, in the classroom and in the community.

Beiting joins a list of girls track and field winners of the award that includes Olympic gold medalist and former University of Kentucky standout Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone among numerous other prominent champions.

Beiting won the 800- and 1,600-meter runs at this year’s Class 2A state championships also was part of the Knights’ winning 4-by-800 and 4-by-400-meter relay teams. She helped lead LexCath’s girls to their third consecutive state team title.

She leaves Lexington Catholic as a four-time state champion in the 1,600-meter run and a three-time champion in the 800, 4-by-400 relay and 4-by-800 relay. In the two seasons that the KHSAA has sponsored indoor track and field, she earned four golds. Last fall, she won the Class 2A cross country title.

Beiting also won multiple medals competing for the Knights’ swimming team.

She finished eighth in the elite mile race at the national HOKA Festival of Miles, and her time of 4:47.69 ranked No. 42 nationally among girls prep competitors this spring. Her personal-best clocking of 4:37.07 in the 1,500-meter run ranked No. 65 nationally and her season-best 4:48.66 mark in the 1,600 ranked No. 67.

“Caroline has had a phenomenal season this spring,” Mike Wicker, head coach of Calloway County High School, said in Gatorade’s news release announcing the award.

“She is, without a doubt, one of the best distance runners the state has seen in a really long time. What really makes her special is how she goes out and takes control of her races early on. Whether she is going for a record-breaking run or another state title, she always seems to be in control of what her plan is.”

A member of her school’s chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Beiting has donated her time to benefit the DanceBlue Hematology/Oncology Clinic at Kentucky Children’s Hospital. She has also volunteered locally at a food bank and homeless shelter and as a teacher for a middle school Bible study group.

Beiting, who will compete collegiately at the University of Michigan, has maintained a weighted 4.51 GPA in the classroom and graduated as her class valedictorian.