Kaylee Volner
After powering through lost seasons,Volner sees it all pay off with long-sought state gold
Bobby Grossman has coached winners of the girls 3,000-meter run at the Island Movers/HHSAA state track meet 10 times in his illustrious career.
Never, however, has the scene been as emotional for Grossman as it was when he met 2022 winner Kaylee Volner just past the finish line last month.
“It was pretty emotional, probably one of my more emotional moments,” said Grossman, the veteran Seabury Hall cross country/track and field coach. “It was more just COVID and her sticking with it and us working hard together — she stuck it out and got herself a victory. It was big.”
Volner, a recent Seabury Hall graduate who is headed to Santa Clara University to compete in the fall, was the state runnerup in cross country in 2019 and 2021 and was second again in the 1,500 meters at the state track meet in May — by just more than a second — less than an hour before she would toe the line in her final prep race.
This time, there would be no second place, no doubt about it.
Volner rolled to a 32-second victory in the 3,000, finishing in 10 minutes, 17.93 seconds, the fastest time that any of Grossman’s 3K state winners had ever recorded.
Volner was one of the guiding lights for Maui Interscholastic League athletes throughout the pandemic that cost her two track seasons and her junior cross country season.
Because of that grit and determination, today, she is The Maui News MIL Girl Athlete of the Year.
“I am so shocked right now,” Volner said via phone Wednesday from Reno, Nev., where she is watching her younger brother play in a baseball tournament. “I am so ecstatic, this is such an amazing honor and I’m just so happy and grateful to be getting this honor right now.”
Volner led a team of just five runners — all had to count in the scoring column at every meet — to the MIL cross country girls team title last fall. She was often the only runner who would show up for workouts with Grossman during the down times of the pandemic.
“It wasn’t just the seconds because she’s had a few seconds, but she actually hasn’t had a lot of opportunity here, as much as others have had because of track being only two years for her, while others had four,” Grossman said. “So, she did all the club stuff and all those things that we were doing, just trying to manage things and keep engaged (during COVID).
“She stuck it out and continued to work hard, doing things on her own. She never wavered.”
Volner is somewhat amazed that she is done at Seabury Hall, but she leaves the Olinda campus with a smile on her face.
“I think I went out with a bang, but I definitely wish I still had some more time because with COVID and everything I missed a couple seasons and I wish I could relive those moments one more time,” Volner said.