The Heritage Christian Academy Ladie's squad
From left to right: Braelyn Spell, Kaylee Collier, and Abby Collier
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In her first few years of cross country competition, Kaylee Collier of Heritage Christian Academy achieved great success.
She placed 3rd at state in the MAIS 1A division in 2018 and 4th at state in 2019. She entered both the 2019 and 2020 cross country seasons ranked as the top returning female MAIS 1A runner. Her coach, John Stricker, knew she was on track to become a state champion.
Then Collier's life took a harrowing turn.
She began having seizures at practice and was diagnosed with epilepsy. Due to this, Collier was put on medication which, according to Stricker, "severely hampered her physical abilities but it did not stop her from driving forward and striving to continue to run even though she was extremely weak."
Over the course of her eighth-grade season, Collier continued to train and compete although her times were drastically slower than they had been her previous two years. As the coach of a small team, Stricker was dedicated to helping Collier continue to train and fight through this challenge. Having never coached a student with epilepsy before, he had to learn to navigate when to ease up on Collier's training while still trying to help her continue to improve.
At the MAIS state meet in 2020, Collier placed nearly dead last, a disheartening contrast to the previous two years. Yet even this finish showed her remarkable determination. "I wanted to pull her off because she was struggling so bad," Stricker recalled, "but she was going to have none of that. She was going to finish her race."
Collier, nicknamed "the Gizmo" by her teammates, continued to compete in track and field and cross country in 2021. In her 2021 cross country season, the freshman improved on her 5k times in comparison to last season, although she is still not back to the level she was at prior to her epilepsy. She placed 13th at the 2021 MAIS state meet in the 2A race.
According to Stricker, Collier is continuing to train. Although she is not nearly at the level she would like to be at, her determination is admirable as she fights through weakness, muscle aches, and other side effects of her medication. With her doctors considering increasing her medication, Collier faces the possibility of increased weakness and challenges ahead. Yet no matter what, this dedicated runner is sure to continue to fight through adversity and run to the best of her ability, whether that looks like competing for state champion or simply pushing through to finish a race.
