Hancock County Girls Track Athletes of the Year: Greenfield-Central’s Kayana Maroska.
Tom Russo | The Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — When Kayana Maroska wrapped up her running career at the 2022 IHSAA Girls Track and Field State Finals it was an emotional time for the Greenfield-Central senior.
“I feel awesome. I feel ecstatic. I feel blessed. I feel a lot of things,” she said shortly after picking up a state medal for the second straight year at the final high school meet of the season, held at Indiana University in June.
The G-C standout is not continuing her track and field career in college. She’s going to IUPUI to study Radiology.
With over a month gone by since she competed for the last time, Maroska has added another emotion when thinking about her prestigious career wearing the Cougars’ blue and gold.
“I’m kind of sad about it,” Maroska admitted. “I’m just grateful to have the opportunity to run track and be able to make it to state and experience all of that. It makes me grateful to have the opportunity and the capability to do all of that. But, I miss it already.”
Maroska placed ninth in the 200-meter dash. She qualified for both the 200 and 400 races. As a junior, she placed eighth in the 400.
The 2022 Daily Reporter Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year was the sectional champion in the 400, Hoosier Heritage Conference champion in the 200 and 100 hurdles, and won Hancock County titles in the 200, 100 hurdles and 400 relay.
It is the second straight year she has been named the county’s top girls track and field athlete.
She accomplished a lot in her final season, but she wasn’t sure how it would pan out.
Maroska had goals of getting back to the state meet, but between her junior and senior year the Cougars had a head coaching change. Mike Foster was named to replace Reuben McCracken, who had been the coach for Maroska’s entire high school career.
The all-state runner had been accustomed to the former coach’s style of training. She had to learn how to do things a different way.
“We didn’t run that much and were focusing more on mechanics,” Maroska said. “For the first few weeks (of the season), I was like, ‘What are we doing? Why aren’t we running? Why aren’t we building up endurance?’”
Maroska said she eventually realized learning the mechanics of running would make her better. It was something she had not focused on much before.
“Knowing the mechanics of running definitely helped me run well,” she said. “It obviously did something. I went to the state in two events, not just one. (The new way we trained) was probably the hardest thing for me.”
“I appreciate (coach Foster) being so patient and allowing me to see for myself that what he is doing is working. He knows what he’s doing.”
Foster has been a track and field coach for 14 years. It was his first year at the high school level. He had coached in Franklin Township and at Greenfield-Central Junior High, where he instructed Maroska in cross country, but not track and field.
“I know she was nervous going into the season,” Foster said. “The coach that she was used to for the last three years stepped away to spend more time with his family. She was going into her senior year and she didn’t know what to expect.”
Maroska said there was more focus on techniques, running form and getting out of the starting blocks.
The new way of doing things couldn’t have worked out much better for the Greenfield-Central champion. She added an event to her state finals agenda and was able to share it with a teammate. Sophomore Savannah Lake qualified for the 100-meter dash.
Sharing experiences and mentoring teammates is important to her.
“I think I grew not only as a runner, but as a person,” Maroska said. “I had a lot more experience and felt during the season I could help more people. Before, I would have been scared to do that. Having that experience makes you feel more comfortable helping people.”
Foster saw that leadership quality, too. He knew Maroska was a great runner, but he got to see a different side of her as the head coach.
“She had an excellent season and was a great leader on the team,” Foster said. “She was always supportive of other athletes. We’re talking about an all-star varsity athlete who volunteers to hold starting blocks for freshman junior varsity runners. That’s the kind of girl she is. She wants to see everyone succeed and tries to help them do that.”
It’s the reason Maroska has so much emotion when it comes to the sport. The future IUPUI student has all those emotions — blessed, grateful, ecstatic — when it comes to looking back at her track and field career.
“I want my teammates to enjoy track and love track as much as I did during high school,” she said. “I loved it so much and I hope they feel the same way.”
