Over the seven years of this website, we’ve covered elite athletes at Cedar Ridge and Orange High Schools.
Each one that carved out a unique place in history had distinct physical characteristics. It became their trademark, a symbol that became theirs alone, accomplishing feats so special that finding a duplicate in the future would be fruitless.
Because there would never be another.
With Bryse Wilson, it was his right arm. He threw a perfect game with it against Eastern Wayne in the 2017 State Playoffs. He has taken it all the way to the National League Championship Series, where he beat Clayton Kershaw.
With Payton Wilson, it was his broad shoulders. It made the force of his tackles fierce, if not frightening, as well as a state champion wrestler and a solid lacrosse midfielder on face-offs.
With Mia Davidson, it was her wrists that could turn on a softball in an instant. She is the all-time home run hitter in Southeastern Conference history.
With Takiya Nichols, it was her hands. Her combination of power and speed led North Carolina Central softball to the NCAA Tournament for the first time last year.
With Trenton Gill, it was his right leg. You can now find him punting for the Chicago Bears on Sundays.
Throughout the past week, I’ve wondered what Katie Belle Sikes’ trademark will be?
Will it be her lungs? Was that how she could swim so fast, and for so long, in the water without popping up for air?
How else to explain her final lap as an Orange Panther, where she swam the anchor leg for Orange’s 200 freestyle relay team in the 3A State Championships at the Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary last Thursday? Trailing Carrboro by roughly two-tenths-of-a-second, Sikes took the relay from Ainsley Rasinske and went nearly 20 yards underwater before she popped up for air. By that point, Sikes had surged two strides ahead of Carrboro’s Avery Shuping. Seconds later, she touched the wall for the last time as an Orange Panther with a final state title.
In retrospect, that lap was foreshadowed from her adolescence. When she was three years old, Sikes was at her grandparents pool when, against her parents orders, she jumped off the diving board into the deep end. As her parents starting scrambling in horror, her head bobbed out of the water and she safely reached her brother on the other end without any aid.
Sikes put Orange women’s swimming on the map. She won five individual state championships and swam the anchor leg for the relay team of Rasinske, Riley White and Piper White that won the 200 yard freestyle state championship twice. Sikes, White, Zoe Jones and White claimed the 200 yard medley relay state title for the first time last week, as well.
She was named Most Outstanding Swimmer of the 3A State Championships twice and earned automatic All-American status in two events last week. Her 100 meter time of 48.76 seconds set a new 3A State record and was the 25th fastest time ever recorded by a high school athlete.
Now, her swimming career at Orange is over.
But part of her legacy is what she leaves behind for the future of Orange swimming.
Molly Kruse, the younger sister of Orange men’s lacrosse midfielder Connor Kruse, starting swimming this year for Orange because of Sikes’ influence.
“Katie Belle inspired me and so many others to join the swim team,” Kruse said. “It was such an amazing experience. Growing up, many days were spent going to watch her meets and cheering her on. So being able to swim with her was unforgettable. Katie Belle is one of my biggest role models, both athletically, academically and I am so grateful for all of the time we had together on the swim team.”
Sikes had individual success early in her career. As a sophomore, she became the first Orange female swimmer to win an individual state championship in the 50 yard freestyle.
This year, her success carried through to the entire team. The Orange women won the Central Conference championship, and finished as a runner-up in the Central Regionals (to Carrboro) and the State Championships (to Lake Norman Charter). It was their best-ever showing in the state championships.
“Our numbers were up on the team this year,” Geib said. “Part of that was because of Katie Belle. A lot of it had to do with kids bringing other kids in. She helped put swimming on the map for Orange. If you aren’t football, if you aren’t basketball, if you’re not baseball, sometimes people forget there’s other sports out there. Katie Belle makes it look easy, but it’s not.”
Katie Belle is moving on to the University of Georgia, which has won seven NCAA National Championships in women’s swimming. She vows that she will still keep up with Orange swimming while she’s in Athens while her former Orange teammates likely will badger her for football tickets on autumn weekends.
Katie Belle says that swimming is a less covered sport. But the swimmers aren’t lesser people, and anyone who saw her perform over the last four years understands that.
Because there’s only one Katie Belle Sikes.
And there will never be another.