On Friday, September 2, recent graduate and six-time Olympic medalist Katie Ledecky surprised students at Stone Ridge with a visit.
Ledecky, a graduate of the Stone Ridge Class of 2015, gave a short speech before opening up the floor for questions. Students and faculty asked Ledecky about everything from her time as a Stone Ridge girl to her Olympic experiences.
“I’m most proud of teammates and everything they did,” Ledecky noted when asked about her favorite part of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
After the questions, Ledecky’s offer to take pictures with students prompted a stampede of students trying to get to the front of the photo. Paired with the photo-op was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students to feel the gold and silver medals Ledecky wore around her neck.
When asked how she put her medals on, Ledecky replied, “I put them on, one by one, and try give it some symmetry.” Ledecky noted that the medals “weigh about one and a half pounds each.”
At the Rio Olympics, Ledecky earned four gold medals and one silver medal, which she added to her 2012 Olympic gold medal in the 800 meter freestyle.
In addition to her medals, Ledecky beat her own world records in both the 400 meter freestyle and the 800 meter freestyle. Ledecky currently holds the world records for 400 meter, 800 meter, and 1500 meter freestyle. She is the American record holder for the 500 yard and 1650 yard freestyle races as well.
Ledecky decided to take a gap year between graduating from Stone Ridge and transitioning to college at Stanford University in California. She feels that this gap year “helped [her] adjust to her new coaches and become more comfortable.” She says that the gap year also allowed her to meet and become friendly with many of her teammates.
This fall, Ledecky finally started as a freshman at Stanford. “I love everything about Stanford,” Ledecky says. “This swim team is amazing, and we’ve got seven freshmen on the team, so that’s been great.”
Ledecky says that her favorite class is a sociology class about religious beliefs.
“It’s a small seminar class with only about fifteen students,” she says. “It reminds me a lot of my classes at Stone Ridge.”
Ledecky says she did not know who her roommate was until move-in day. Stanford is one of the only schools in the U.S. that assigns roommates completely at random. Because of swim practices, Ledecky moved in a few days before her roommate and other freshmen. “It was great meeting her,” Ledecky says. “We were both super excited to finally find out who our roommates were.”
Ledecky, like most other Stanford students, bikes around campus to get from classes to her dorm, the pool and the gym.
“The campus is pretty big, but its manageable with a bike,” Ledecky says.
Ledecky says that her time at Stone Ridge prepared her well for her classes at Stanford.
“I do feel like I am well prepared. I learned to manage my time well during high school and that carried on into my classes now,” she says.
During her time at Stone Ridge, Ledecky led the Campus Ministry Board and attended Bikes for the World as her Social Action site. She was also a member of the SCG Help2O.
One thing that has changed since high school is her schedule.
“I have a lot more free time now. I’m not in classes for seven hours straight, so that has helped a lot,” Ledecky says. “I have practices at 6:30 in the morning three times a week and afternoon practices every day.”
Ledecky noted that 6:30 practices are a nice opportunity for her to sleep in, compared to her 4 a.m. practices from high school.
“All my friends who aren’t athletes ask me how I get up so early, but honestly it seems late to me,” Ledecky joked about her practice times.
Ledecky’s practice schedule at school is lighter than her practice schedule from her training for Rio. In the months leading up to Rio, Ledecky practiced in the pool from 5 to 6:30 a.m., six days a week. On those afternoons, she would get back in the pool for practice between 3:30 and 6.
Between these two practices, she would swim anywhere from 13,000 and 14,500 yards.
In addition to her water practices, Ledecky would have dry land practices three days a week.
Ledecky shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. She continues to be tremendously successful in school and in the pool, and hopes everyone at Stone Ridge is doing well.
Staff writers Amanda Heckler and Kathryn Maloney contributed to this story.