It was quite a senior year for Christopher’s Caitlynn Holt. In the fall of 2023, she scored 27 goals to help lead the Cougars field hockey team to a 17-2-2 mark, a league title and the playoffs. In the spring of 2024, she closed fast in the Central Coast Section 300 hurdles final to finish in third place and earn a ticket to the CIF State meet.
In between, Holt signed a National Letter of Intent to continue her athletic career in college by committing to Nevada in track.
“I had three goals,” said Holt, after the CCS Finals race. “Get recruited to college, compete at the Arcadia meet and qualify for state. I am so excited. You have to put it all out there. Push when you get tired.”
Holt accomplished all three, and the last one was particularly challenging. To nail a CIF State bid, she needed to finish in the top three in the CCS Finals race at Gilroy on May 18. Coming off the final turn, she was in fifth place.
Down the stretch, Holt overtook two opponents to finish third in 44.41, ahead of Menlo-Atherton’s Sara Nordlund in 44.46 and Burlingame’s Arah Reichow in 44.68. The time was a personal best and she needed every fraction of a second. The next week, she competed in the CIF State Finals in Clovis.
“CIF State Finals was a surreal moment, and I felt so accomplished to even be competing there,” Holt said. “At that point in the season, there’s nothing more to do—state is the final destination. I had an amazing time at State, and I am proud of the way I finished my season.”
In field hockey, Holt tallied 60 goals over three years as Christopher racked up a 51-11-11 ledger, including 23-4-3 in league play. In the three seasons of post-season play, the Cougars reached a quarterfinal, a semifinal and a final.
Holt had 50 scores in the final two years. In 2023, the offense often went through Katie Garrison and Holt. In the deciding match for the Blossom Valley Athletic League, Mt. Hamilton Division championship, Holt scored on a rebound with just 1:10 remaining in overtime for a 1-0 victory over rival Gilroy.
“Caitlynn is a natural athlete but with that natural ability she works so hard,” said CHS coach Dani Hemeon, during Holt’s junior year. “She’s by far one of the fastest athletes out there and she can just run past defenders.
“But what I’m most proud of is her decision-making has improved tremendously. She knows when to try to beat a player, when to stop and drop it back, when to go here, when to go there.”
Garrison, named first team All-West by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association, committed to the University of New Hampshire to play field hockey. Holt chose track.
“When I decided on track and field, I set my expectations high with the hopes of D1 or D2, and aimed to stay within five hours of my home,” Holt said. “The (Nevada) staff has been nothing short of amazing to me.
“When it came down to choosing a school, I was really sold on the hurdle crew the UNR team has, the deep coaching staff, the high positives for student athletes at UNR, and so many more things about the campus and location.”
The journey began back in elementary school, with encouragement from parents Mike and Olivia Holt. At school, she would run mile competitions and pushed herself to be faster than the others. Later, she joined track clubs and did summer camps and clinics.
“I love racing, I love the competitive aspect, but I think the most attractive aspect of track and field is that it’s an individual sport—my race only truly affects me,” Holt said. “Falling on a hurdle in my race doesn’t affect my other teammates’ races, or interfere with their qualifying. This makes for a unique team experience, where I’ve found that everyone becomes highly supportive and motivating.”
Holt’s father Mike Holt, who played football in school and coached at Andrew Hill High in San Jose, has coached Caitlynn since the beginning. Along with school coaches, Caitlynn Holt also cited superb assistance from southern California-based Richard Holmes, an elite hurdles-specific coach.
During the 2023 season, Holmes began coaching Holt in coordination with the Christopher track coaches. Holt quickly dropped her 300 hurdles time by four seconds and set a 2024 goal to qualify for the CIF State meet.
Holmes worked with Christopher coaches and Holt’s parents on weekly workouts, video calls and some in-person technique coaching.
“We worked as a fine-oiled machine—Caitlynn, her parents and myself,” Holmes said. “She accomplished her goal of making it to the California State Track and Field Championships, signed with Nevada-Reno.”
Holt also fulfilled her target of competing at the prestigious Arcadia meet, where she won her heat. In 2024, the meet attracted 793 schools, including 363 out-of-state athletes, with more than 12,000 spectators.
She also ran at the Stanford Invitational, finishing third in the 400 hurdles, a collegiate event. Holt said that running on the beautiful and fast Stanford track was a motivator toward pursuing track and field in college.
“Caitlynn’s drive to be her very best is what drove her,” Holmes said. “She is all smiles, with a light-hearted humor. But when she lines up, it’s all about the business of winning. Caitlynn is a wonderful young lady and a true pleasure to work with. She will have great success at the D-1 college level! She has an amazing set of parents who sacrificed for their daughter’s success and I am extremely grateful for them allowing me to work with their daughter.”
Now it’s on to NCAA D1 competition at Nevada. The Wolf Pack compete in the Mountain West Conference. In last year’s league finals, the Nevada women’s team finished fourth out of 11 schools.
“Caitlynn had a breakout senior year in the 300 meter hurdles, and she is just tapping the surface of her potential, especially as a 400 meter hurdler,” Nevada head coach Shantel Twiggs said. “We are so excited to add Caitlynn to the program and the next few years will be incredibly fun to watch.”
