Christa Prasertsintanah ’23, from Bangkok, Thailand is a freshman track and field runner at Amherst College.
When asked if it was always a dream of hers to run at a collegiate level, Prasertsintanah said, “I think Hotchkiss is the reason I am running in college. The coaches, especially DK [Richard Kirby] and Coach [Nate] Seidenburg, and my teammates were really supportive.”
When asked about her favorite memories from her time at Hotchkiss, Prasertsintanah said, “The 4x400m races Senior year—we had such a good team. The energy was always great. Everyone would always line up around the track and cheer for us.”
Prasertsintanah’s former teammate, Julia Widen ’24, co-captain of Varsity Track and Field, said, “Christa was a very lead by example person. Seeing how hard she worked day in and day out and the success she found from that motivated people to work hard. She was always organized and prepared, which set a good tone for the team.”
Prasertsintanah’s goal since her first season running track at Hotchkiss was to break the school’s 400m record.
At the beginning of her Senior season, Prasertsintanah was three seconds behind her eventual time of 57.8 seconds, which broke the previous Founder’s League Championship record held by Danielle Henry ’14.
Prasertsintanah said, “[Breaking the record] felt great. That was my goal since I started running track at Hotchkiss. It just felt like all of my hard work had finally paid off.”
Prasertsintanah was also named All-NEPSAC for placing 2nd in the 400m, 4th in the 200m, 5th in the 4x100m relay, and 3rd in the 4x400m relay.
Prasertsintanah committed to Amherst College during the fall of her Senior year, after some overnight visits and many talks with coaches.
She said, “I wanted to go to a small school and to stay on the East Coast. I really liked the coach when I talked to him, and loved the campus. I think it was a great decision.”
Prasertsintanah’s first winter indoor track season at Amherst recently ended. During the season, Prasertsintanah ran a personal best of 57.61 seconds in the 400m race. The Amherst Women’s Track and Field Team placed 32nd out of 100 schools in the 2024 NCAA Indoor Championships.
When asked what her favorite memory has been at Amherst, Prasertsintanah said, “It was probably the meet, where I ran my PR. When we had the 4x400m after that, the energy felt amazing.”
When asked what her goals were for the upcoming outdoor track season, Prasertsintanah simply said, “I just want a personal record.”
