Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
Maria Kropf made some friends two weeks ago in Hershey, Pa. ? friends she may meet again on the track and field circuit.
Maria, 12, returned from Hershey and went straight to church camp for a week, but she had plenty of energy left to recount her experiences at the Hershey’s Track and Field National Meet Aug. 6.
“It was really, really fun,” said Maria, who qualified for the nationals by running the 100 meters in 12.84 seconds at the Hershey state meet on June 19. As the oldest female runner for the Oregon contingent at the national Hershey’s meet, she got to carry the state flag during the opening ceremonies.
The trip, on which she was accompanied by her mother, Leona Kropf, involved a lot more than track and field. After her first plane ride ? that she remembers, anyway, Maria and the other young athletes, all of them state champions from eight different regions of the United States and Canada, got to tour the chocolate factories that are normally off limits to the general public.
Among other things, they saw what happens to Hershey’s Kisses that don’t meet the standard.
“If they’re slightly imperfect, they throw them away,” Maria said. “Anything that’s imperfect becomes a Mr. Goodbar.”
The streetlights in the city of Hershey are shaped like Kisses and there is Hershey Park amusement park, which the athletes also got to visit and where they learned about the history and process of making chocolate.
The weather was a new experience for Maria, who has lived in Sweet Home since she was adopted by Leona Kropf as a baby.
“It was hot and humid back there,” she said. “It rained a little bit and that made the humidity worse. I might have been a little dehydrated. I felt a little dizzy at the track meet.”
She felt a little awestruck when she got into the bullpen, where the athletes waited together for their events, and talked with other competitors in her race.
“We were all talking about who we were and what region we were from, the girl from Atlanta (Takeia Pinkney) said she’d run 11.7. Deep inside, I said to myself, ‘Say good-bye to first place!'”
Maria said she was also nervous about reinjuring her quadriceps muscle, which she had pulled while running at an all-comers meet in Eugene in July.
Still, she finished fifth, in 13.48 as Pinkney won the event in 12.53.
“I’m kind of mad at myself that I didn’t go my hardest,” Maria said. “I was afraid of pulling my quad again.”
“She had a good time,” her mother said. “She made it to the nationals and this was her first time doing it.”
Leona Kropf said she became aware that she had a daughter gifted with speed when Maria was in the first grade at an elementary school track meet.
“One of the other mothers said, ‘What’s that girl doing all by herself?’ Leona recounted. “I looked up and there was Maria half a lap ahead of the rest. That’s when we knew she had talent.”
In addition to the memories and experience, Maria brought back a certificate and a medal, in addition to a tote bag and four T-shirts.
Maria said she plans to play soccer in the fall, when she enters Sweet Home Junior High. But she plans to continue developing her gift of speed.
“It’s just a God-given ability,” she said. “I’m thankful He’s given me this ability and I want to use it in many ways.”