Allison Reid is nice at lion.
She might have been on Hofstra College’s monitor and cross nation staff, however it’s been Reid’s sworn secret that’s actually stored the 22-year-old on her toes the previous 4 years.
The East Northport runner lived a covert double life as the varsity’s mascot, Kate the Lioness, and was the primary student-athlete to take action in a long time — if ever.
“My suitemates didn’t know, teammates didn’t know, and my coach didn’t know,” Reid advised The Publish days after commencement.
“No person on campus knew.”
The train physiology main stole the present days forward of getting her diploma when she dramatically revealed herself to be queen of the jungle on a viral video.
“I received a cellphone name from my staff on FaceTime, and I picked up, and so they’re screaming, ‘That was you?!’ ” mentioned Reid, who mentioned working a 5K in below 18 minutes was a crowning achievement.
“Fibbing to my teammates was the toughest half. They’d go to a few of these video games and occasions, and I must say why I couldn’t go.”
Reid crossed the tutorial end line and wore Kate’s large plush sneakers as she walked at commencement to thunderous applause from college students and their households.
“I decked out my cap with ‘4 years, one secret,’ ’’ she mentioned. “Then I did somewhat dance on stage.”
The mane occasion
Though accidents restricted the D-I athlete’s time on the monitor, Reid by no means allow them to have an effect on her faculty spirit.
She took nice pleasure in being Kate, who, alongside together with her counterpart, Willie, is known as for Hofstra’s founders.
Reid would smile in images although nobody might see her precise face, and he or she realized the dance staff’s strikes by watching them on the basketball baseline to sync up with the squad.
Hofstra’s most devoted — she has collaborated with the Islanders’ Sparky the Dragon and Mr. and Mrs. Met — even downloaded TikTok solely to be taught antics for when elementary faculty college students would come to basketball video games.
“The pep band even gave me a tambourine to start out enjoying with them,” she mentioned.
Reid was thrilled to see the boys’s staff play in March Insanity for the primary time in 25 years, however couldn’t journey to the match web site in Florida for the Satisfaction’s recreation vs. Alabama as a consequence of conflicts with monitor.
Shut calls grew to become the norm, and Reid rapidly adjusted to life as each the proverbial Spider-Man and Peter Parker, dashing from class to occasions and apply with no trace of suspicion.
She even pulled the wool, or moderately, fur, over the boys’s lacrosse staff’s eyes whereas working as their intern.
“I might travel between being their scholar athletic coach and Kate,” recalled Reid, who will subsequent get a graduate diploma at Hofstra to grow to be a coach.
“I might go to a few of their video games, assist arrange, after which I might be like, ‘Oh, I can’t keep for the complete recreation,’ depart, and go costume up. Being Kate was simply the most effective.”
Kate destiny
Sarcastically, Reid wasn’t bursting with faculty spirit throughout her days at Northport Excessive, however as a substitute discovered her main function by future throughout her first semester.
“I used to be in search of a job on campus — nothing too large. This was the very last thing I assumed I might do,” she mentioned.
“They mentioned they weren’t hiring on the time, and they’d get again to me in the event that they wanted somebody.”
Per week later, the college got here calling, and Reid grew to become hooked on the happiness she dropped at Hempstead Turnpike.
“I like doing it a lot, and I get pleasure from placing smiles on individuals’s faces,” she mentioned. “I might have carried out it even with out pay.”
As if the celebs didn’t align sufficient, Reid was torn between working at Hofstra and Stony Brook College out of highschool. She solely realized later that making an attempt to be Wolfie the Seawolf would have been a wash.
“Stony Brook has a peak requirement,” mentioned the 5-foot-5 Reid. “After I began as Kate, I used to be blissful I got here to Hofstra. This wasn’t within the plan once I was selecting a college.”
And, being Hofstra’s greatest cheerleader ended up as one other full-circle second for all the Reid household.
“My mother was selecting between two names — it was Allison and Katelyn,” she mentioned.
“So I received to dwell out Kate as properly, which is fairly cool.”
