Senior Ian Kaffenberger started running as a sport in seventh grade. His love for running and perseverance as a hard worker formed him into the athlete he is today.
Kaffenberger was a part of the PV men’s cross country had one of the team’s most successful seasons in school history. After conquering both a Mississippi Athletic Conference (MAC) title and a district title, the team went on to take a runner-up trophy at the state meet. Later at the Nike Regional, the team took a ninth-place finish in one of the nation’s most competitive meets.
Kaffenberger was an integral part of this team and contributed in more ways than one. “Not only is he great runner, but he’s a leader and a good teammate to be around,” Senior teammate Max Murphy said.
However, Kaffenberger’s senior season featured adversity in the form of injuries. “After weeks of discomfort and excruciating pain in my skin, I went to the doctors to get an MRI. On my tibia I had a grade four stress fracture and a grade two stress reaction,” he said (“Grade 4” is the worst on a scale from 1-4).
Kaffenberger took weeks off from running with his teammates in practice in hopes of a quick recovery. During this break away from the team, Kaffenberger worked with a physical therapist and ran using a zero-gravity treadmill or biked to remain in shape.
Kaffenberger recalled this past season as a true test of his patience and perseverance. “I was able to overcome this obstacle because of my teammates and coaches. They knew it was going to be tough, but we needed everyone to run to have the best chances at state,” he said, “Overcoming this injury actually taught me a lot about being an athlete. It really pushed me to persevere and overcome the adversity I faced.”
Kaffenberger is keen on continuing his athletic career at the collegiate level. At the moment, the 2018 Division Two National Champions Grand Valley University and the University of Northern Iowa are two of the schools Kaffenberger is in recruitment talks with.
