ALDEN, NY-- The state championships for high school track and field are this weekend in Cicero, and Hailey Rospierski will be there once again.
The Alden senior won the Division-II Section VI Championship for pentathlon last week and is now in search of a third straight state title in track.
Hailey's path to this point has not been void of obstacles. It's only tough to notice because she runs, leaps or flips over them.
***
"I've been coaching for 20 years. I've never ran across an athlete like this."
For Hailey, memory lane is for anything but walking.
"We used to joke because she's so energetic, her mode of transportation was cartwheels and summersaults," says Hailey's father, Jeff Rospierski.
So, it comes as no surprise Hailey started gymnastics when she was two.
"They had to land on their hands and flop over," recalls Hailey's mother, Jodi Rospierski. "Well, she ran into the mat, crashed head first into the mat and fell on the floor. That was it."
Hailey got back up.
Over the next 16 years, she transformed into one of the top gymnasts in the country.
This Spring, Hailey made it to Nationals. In the final routine of her career, she finished fifth in vault.
"I've been coaching for 20 years. I've never ran across an athlete like this that is so multi-talented, that can do so many events and perform at such a high level," says Ed Carll, the track coach at Alden High School.
Carll was there the day Hailey competed in her first ever high school track event: the pentathlon.
The freshman finished in first place.
"I think it's amazing how good she is. But with gymnastics and the training she's done in track, I think they coincide with one another. They actually help her out."
"I don't get nervous while I'm doing it," admits Hailey. "Whereas in gymnastics, say I'm competing beam or something, I'm nervous throughout the whole routine."
The anxiety and pressure to perform in gymnastics can be daunting.
But those 16 years competing on bars, beam and vault created a mental fortitude in Hailey that comes out on the track.
"I feel it's less stressful and it's more fun. You just go out and do it. It's easier I think."
Hailey makes it look easy.
As a sophomore, she won the state championship for high jump.
But in the fall of her junior year, Hailey's athletic career faced its first hurdle.
***
"She can overcome anything. Any obstacle. Anything she has in her way."
Hailey was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
"We went into the hospital and they checked her blood sugar and it was well over 900, when the normal range is 70-120," Jodi remembers. "They said they were actually pretty surprised that she walked in there on her own free will. That she probably should have been passed out by that point."
"It hasn't really affected me," Hailey says. "Yeah, I have to test my blood sugar and monitor it and make sure my levels are okay, but I still can do just as well as I did without it, so it doesn't really affect me."
In the span of two weeks, Hailey had lost 15-20 pounds.
But through fitness and nutrition, she transformed her 5'7" 130-pound frame into a 150-pound lean, mean hurdling machine.
"She would come home at 5. Cook herself a meal. Any by quarter of 6, she's out the door to the gym. And she's at the gym from 6-9," says Jeff, detailing Hailey's routine
"We took that weight that she put on and turned it into muscle," says Carll. "She started coming to the gym in the wintertime, working out with me and we turned that into speed."
Seven months after being diagnosed with diabetes, Hailey won another state championship - this time for hurdles.
"She can overcome anything. Any obstacle. Anything she has in her way," Carll proclaims.
Now a senior, Hailey sets her sights on a third state championship before heading off to Central Connecticut State in the fall to continue her track career.
As Jeff and Jodi put it, "She doesn't brag about it, but we do."