Outrunning all odds

The gun fires and River Valley High's Kym Crosby bursts out of the starting blocks like a rocket, bright red hair flowing behind her and dark sunglasses strapped to her face.

She stands out among her peers, not only for her fashion sense, but because she's fast.

Real fast.

"She's a blue-chip runner and represents us at all of our meets," River Valley track and field coach Paul Odegard said. "If anyone knows about River Valley track, they know about Kym. She's been the face of the program."

Crosby started running for the Falcons as a freshman and over the last four years she has become one of the school's most well-liked and most accomplished athletes — male or female.

She holds school records in the 100, 200 and 400 meters, and has played a key role on two relay teams that have set school records as well.

Last year, she reached the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Meet in the 400 and just recently signed a national letter of intent to run for Chico State next season.

But that's only a part of the story.

For all her success, Crosby battles through a disability that would have sidelined most other athletes.

Kym was born legally blind.

"I was born with no pigment in my eyes so twice as much sunlight comes in. That's why I run with sunglasses," Crosby said. "Things have to be close for me to see things. The lane lines are what stand out so that's what I aim for."

She's been one of the fastest girls in the area for a few years now and the fact that her sight has been a problem may come as a surprise to some. In fact, before this year very few even knew she was visually impaired.

People see her pale-white skin, the sunglasses and that ever-changing hair color and think that maybe she's just a little quirky. That all changed this year when she noticed that her eyes were getting tired faster when she was outside. And since she was bumping into people and things more often, she made the decision to bring a cane to school to get around campus better.

Even so, none of this seems to slows her down once the gun sounds and the race begins.

"It's crazy. She walks around the track at meets with a (cane) and then she comes out and smokes everybody," said fellow senior Fenny Descuatan, a teammate of Crosby's for four years now. "It's just crazy."

It may have been tough at the start, but Crosby said using a cane has come to be no big deal.

"It was hard to use it at first because everybody was staring at me. When I was little I got made fun of and I thought that was coming back again," she said. "But I just told myself not to worry about it. After all, it's for my safety."

Crosby played volleyball in the eighth grade before her vision forced her off the court and onto the track. She got her start in the sport when her older brother, Darian, saw her run the mile one day and told her she should try track and field instead.

She knew she couldn't throw and since she didn't want to run the longer distances, she decided to stick to sprinting. The choice was all her's and her family was there to back her up.

"She played volleyball and did her best, but it was kind of disheartening because she couldn't see the ball until the last second," said Paul Crosby, Kym's father. "We were surprised when she chose track and we didn't know what to expect, but we supported her all the way."

Paul can still remember the first time he saw his daughter race. It came at the Yuba City Friendship Meet early in Kym's freshman year and it caused quite a stir. When she got in the blocks at the start of the race, her coaches started yelling "Kym's running, Kym's running" and they all ran down to watch her, he recalled.

Sure enough, she ended up blowing past the field and won.

"She's a super kid and from the first day she got in the blocks, I knew she was a natural," Odegard said. "She's a pure sprinter, but she's also strong in the longer distances and a lot of that has to do with her cross-country background."

Crosby said that things are most difficult when the sun is directly in front of her and everything turns white. When she ran cross country she had to stay behind the leaders because she couldn't see the path of the course. Near the finish line, she would aim for the man in the bright yellow jacket and make a sprint towards the tape.

But for all her accomplishments, what truly sets Crosby apart from the rest is her bubbly personality and willingness to help out wherever she's needed. She leads the team stretches at the start of each practice and when her teammates need help with their technique, Kym is always there to lend a helping hand.

Freshman on the team look up to her, junior high kids want to be like her and even her rivals have become her friends.

"She's energetic and always gives encouragement," Descuatan said. "Even when she's tired, she'll come out and support you. Not just the runners, the throwers too. She's not just an athlete, she's a good student and she's fun to be around."

On Saturday, Crosby competed at the prestigious Stanford Invitational where she finished third out of 32 runners in the 400 with a time of 57.95 seconds. It was just .2 seconds off her personal best and her goal is to get her time down to the 56-second range before the end of the season.

And after making a run at the state meet, it'll be on to Chico, where she will hope to build the types of friendships she's developed in high school.

"I'm looking forward to getting close to the track team. I went to one of their meets and I saw how close they were and it reminded me of my team," she said. "It's like starting a new family."