'Let's try everything.' Heritage Christian's Kya Crooke City Female Athlete of the Year

Indianapolis Star

27-05-2025

To say the high jump comes easy to Kya Crooke would not be fair. To do so would discredit the hours and hours of work Crooke put into becoming one of the best high jumpers in the country, with legitimate goals of reaching the 2028 Olympic Games.
To say Crooke is a natural at the high jump is more accurate. Because, well, Crooke is a natural at about everything she tries. She was riding a two-wheel bicycle before she was 2 years old (no training wheels). She broke her mother's high jump school record the first meet of her freshman year (it would have been in middle school if those meets counted). She could have played soccer in college. Maybe even tennis. Or basketball.
'My wife Julie and I wanted them to try everything,' her father, Val Crooke, said of Kya and her younger sister Kenzie and younger brother Kaden. 'We always reinforced the idea of, 'Let's try everything.' … I think that's the biggest thing that makes her great at what she does. She had a chance to do all of those things.'
Crooke, a senior at Heritage Christian, made her name as a track and field athlete, already owning state titles in the long jump and high jump with her final high school meet still to come. But her accomplishments are not limited to that endeavor. Or even just competing in sports. You might see her on the other side of the microphone someday as a reporter for an NFL, NBA or Major League Baseball game.
You would be hard-pressed to find a more well-rounded person than Crooke, who is the City Female Athlete of the Year. The honor, which dates to 1950 and grew to include female athletes in 1979, is regarded as one of the top awards for Indianapolis-area senior high school athletes.
But her true sports' love is track and field. Specifically, the high jump.
'Every single time I step on the track it's never like, 'Ugh, I have to be here,'' Crooke said. 'I want to be out here. I want to continue to get better. I want to be at practice. I love being around my teammates. I love being at meets. It's not like a job; it's something that I love to do. I think that's why I continue to get better – you continue to get better if you love what you are doing.'
Other finalists for the award, which is voted on by the Marion County athletic directors, were Bishop Chatard's Anna Caskey and Cathedral's Kate Kubacki, both multi-sport athletes in their own right. The award is geared toward athletic achievement, but the winners also exhibit impressive credentials in academics and their personal lives. Generally, multi-sport athletes are given consideration over single-sport athletes, though that is not always the case.
Two weeks ago, Crooke had what she described as a 'Wow' moment with a 6-foot, 2-inch high jump that ranks first in the United States and second in the world for the under-20 age group. That jump is just ¼ inch from the all-time Indiana high school girls' record set by Angie Bradburn of Norwell in 1985. Bradburn also holds the state meet record of 6-0.
Crooke, who will continue her track career at the University of Arizona, had a breakthrough last year, winning the high jump for the first time at 5-11 in a competitive event that included defending champion Josie Page of Wood Memorial, who went 5-10. As a sophomore, Crooke won the long jump state title and was runner-up in the 300 hurdles.
But Crooke had bigger sights than even a state championship.
'I was stuck at 5-10, 5-11 for a long time and it was getting a little frustrating because I was so close to 6 feet,' Crooke said. 'Once I hit that 6-foot barrier, it just kind of flipped something and I was able to keep on getting better. I'm excited to see how that keeps going. It was awesome to see that big PR. My biggest goal for this season is to get that state meet record (6-0). Just being able to do that on the day will be something I'm preparing for.'
Val and Julie Crooke did not anticipate their oldest child would get into the high jump. Track? Yes. Val Crooke ran track growing up on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts before going to college at Anderson University. Julie (maiden name Reinwald) was a soccer star, going on to play in college at Liberty University.
Val's background was in the sprints. So, when Kya said she wanted to try high jump one summer with her club team, her dad told her to go ahead and give it a shot. But he did not have much to add – at first.
'We were like, 'Well you are fast and can jump far,'' Val said. 'But we knew nothing about high jump.'
Val got himself up to speed on the high jump but gives most of the credit for Kya's rapid advancement to coach Vic Johnson and the work Kya put in on her own.
'I've learned to just shut up and be quiet,' Val said with a laugh. 'I'm dad most of the time and coach sometimes. Vic is 'coach' all the time. We've had a great relationship from that standpoint. I've gotten really good learning from Kya and other coaches. I feel like I'm pretty solid now (coaching high jump). You have to study and understand it's not just about how high you can jump. It's about the other details.'
As soon as Kya tried the high jump, she knew it was for her. And despite her dad deflecting any and all credit, she said the father-daughter time on the track has been one of best things about her experience in the sport. Val has connected with Arizona high jump coach Bob Carter, a technician of the event who has coached four collegiate record holders and several Olympians during his lengthy career.
'Every ounce of free time my dad has, he's studying high jumpers and getting information from coaches,' Kya said. 'He's getting information from 'Coach Bob', where I'll be in the future. The amount of work he's put into just learning the high jump to make me better is amazing. Him and Vic are best friends, so they work really well together. There's no clashing or anything. It's been really cool to have the opportunity to be coach by my dad and coach Vic.'
Crooke actually came into high school wondering if soccer might be her sport to pursue in college. If not for her excellence in track, it might have been. She scored 35 goals as a freshman at Heritage Christian, helping the Eagles to a Class A state championship. She kept playing all the way through her senior year. 'I really thought I was going to play soccer in college,' she said. 'I really did. It ended up not working out but I'm glad I was able to finish it out and keep playing soccer.'
The only reason it did not work out is because she was so outstanding in track and field. Kya's mother, Julie, dabbled in the high jump in high school but did not stick with it because of soccer. But she did high jump 5-4 ¾ in 1994 without any real idea of what she was doing.
'I asked the coaches, 'Can I try this?'' said Julie, who graduated from Heritage Christian in 1995. 'The record was from like 1976 and was 5-2. I said, 'I can jump that.' Even though I didn't really know how to high jump.'
Kya could already long jump 13 feet, 4 inches by age 10. She surpassed her mother's high jump record in seventh grade, though she would not 'officially' break the record until the first meet of her freshman year. Kya took second at the state meet that year, jumping 5-7.
As Kya has continued to pile up the honors and awards, she has become a role model to younger athletes at Heritage Christian and within the Soca Speed Track Club, which Val and Julie started when Kya was in elementary school. But her position as a role model goes beyond what kids see on the track.
'She has a really sweet spirit,' Julie said. 'Even when she was little, she could sense when a person felt left out and she'd be like, 'Come on.' One of the things I love about her is she loves to cheer on other people. She gets locked in but she's not all about herself. Even after she got 6-2 in the high jump, she was calling kids from the club team to see how they did at their junior high meet. She puts others above herself, which is neat because that is not common.'
Crooke has the top time going into the regional at Lawrence Central on Tuesday in the 100 (12.35 seconds), along with having the top marks in the high jump and long jump. Younger sister Kenzie, a sophomore, qualified for the regional in the 300 hurdles (45.55).
'She puts in the work,' Kenzie said of her older sister. 'Every practice, she goes 100%. She definitely does push me. I really look up to her and love watching her compete every week. I'm really excited for her but I'm going to miss her a lot. I'm kind of nervous for when she leaves. We're so close and I love talking to her every night.'
But Kenzie knows her sister is on to bigger and better things. Kya has goals of competing in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and competing at a high level in college at Arizona. And when she is done competing years down the road, she would love to work as a broadcaster covering professional football, basketball or baseball, and big track meets. And because she is Kya Crooke, there is no doubt she will put in the work to accomplish those goals.
She also will not forget the people who helped her get there.
'Prayers with my teammates is probably one of the most special things I'll remember,' she said. 'And all of my teammates on the track team. For a lot of them, track is not their No. 1 sport. We get kids from soccer, football, basketball. It's such a big mix of kids and relationships I've been able to build, even though Heritage Christian is a pretty small school. I also love that I got to compete with my sister for two years. That is really cool. I'm sure I'll get a call when she breaks my records.'