Kiley Mironenko once competed in track and field simply to stay in shape for soccer season.
Things are quite opposite for the Waldwick senior these days.
“Now, the roles are kind of reversed, where track is my main sport, and then, soccer I just did for fun [and] to stay in shape,” Mironenko said.
The 5-foot-6 hurdler/jumper holds school records in the triple jump and long jump, having set the latter during last week’s Aviator Relays at Hasbrouck Heights.
The trio of Mironenko (17-9), Georgiana Daniello and Ella Eitner combined for a distance of 49 feet, ½ inch, which set a new program standard for the long jump relay.
In the triple jump, Mironenko was just shy of the individual program record she set last season but still met the qualifying standard for the Penn Relays thanks to her 37-9½ clearance. The Warriors won gold in both jumping relays.
“I love relay meets, because I love the team aspect of it, where you get to cheer on your teammates and root for everyone,” Mironenko said. “All of my teammates set PRs as well, so we got a high enough combined score where, for Waldwick, we broke the long jump relay and triple jump relay [records].”
She also tried the 100-meter hurdles for the first time in last week’s dual meet at Emerson and concluded, “I actually really enjoy it.”
Mironenko is the youngest of three siblings who have made their mark in soccer at Waldwick. Older brothers Alex and Garrett graduated in 2015 and 2019, respectively.
Basketball was her winter sport for two years before her passion for track and field took over – a far cry from where she started.
“I originally wasn’t really interested in the sport, I kind of did it in middle school just for fun,” Mironenko said. “When high school came around, my mom encouraged me to do it, like, ‘You know, just try it out for a year.’
“I ended up really enjoying it, loving the team, and I started succeeding in it. So I was like, ‘OK, this is probably a sport for me’.”
It will be moving forward, too. Mironenko has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete at the University of Rhode Island.
Lately, in addition to track, she’s also been interested in following the news. Her paternal grandfather immigrated from Ukraine, so the Russian invasion has hit close to home.
“Luckily, I don’t think I have any family over there anymore – my grandpa and a lot of his family came over here when they were younger,” Mironenko said. “But I’ve been following it really closely, and it’s definitely hard to be talking about in our family, because we are Ukrainian. So, it’s like a little piece of us is still there.”
