Kendra will be missed; Katey we can't forget

BY TIM DEVANEY
Your Sports editor

Kendra Ross left more than one fingerprint on the Cornerstone community when she died in a car accident a year ago.

Handfuls of her fingerprints have poured down all around campus even after her death, and it was never more evident than on the one year anniversary of her death when the community flooded into the gymnasium for a chapel in her memory on Friday, Jan. 23.

This time it wasn’t about the chapel credit, or waking up early to get there. It wasn’t about the music, or the special speaker. It was about Kendra. It was about a young woman who left a greater impact on the Cornerstone family than she ever would have imagined.

It’s been a long time since the CU community has fully gathered together so vibrantly. The crowd was completely mesmerized, and each face was awestruck.

But the sad thing is that it shouldn’t take a death to bring us together. We shouldn’t wait for something tragic to happen to embrace what we have. We should celebrate life while we still have a chance with each breath God gives us.

This semester we mourn a terrible death. But we also witness a miracle.

Kendra Ross wasn’t alone in the car accident. Katey Kingsbury was sitting right next to her with just as little a chance to survive. The two track teammates had run their last race as far as doctors were concerned, and even as Kingsbury amazingly pulled through, few expected her to make a return to the team.

But here she is. And on the anniversary of the accident she made one of the most amazing comebacks in Cornerstone sports history when she competed in the 800-meter race at the Robert Eubanks Open at Grand Valley State University.

"It feels awesome to be back,” Kingsbury said. “I’m so glad to be back in school and with my track girls. I hoped and prayed that I would race again. That’s been my goal since therapy in Mary Free Bed. Apparently in the schedule they gave me I wrote ‘Track Starts’ in the March calendar. The dream of getting back to track really kept me going through physical therapy and rehab. I’ve always wanted to run college track, and I love the girls I run with.”

Her goal was to finish the race in three minutes, but she surpassed that time with a finish of 2:50.05 on the first race back. And during her second race eight days later she ran 2:54.49.

While Kingsbury has outrun the accident, she hasn’t out run the loss of a teammate.

“The emotional struggles of grieving and running without Kendra on the team [has been the most difficult part],” she said. “It was, and still is, really hard to show up to practice every day without her there.”

The courage Kingsbury has shown, not only physically recovering to run again, but in returning to a sport that is undoubtedly full of memories of Ross is touching.

And with unmatched determination you can expect to see her among the leaders on the Golden Eagle track team for years to come.

“The journey hasn’t ended yet, even though I’m able to compete, I’m still not at the level I want to be at yet,” Kingsbury said.

We will never forget Kendra Ross, but we cannot forget to celebrate the miracle God has blessed our campus with in Katey Kingsbury.

This column was published in The Herald during the spring of 2009.