Photo: Ashville High School senior Kaylan Ladoski recently agreed to compete with the University of Montevallo track and field team as a preferred walk-on. Pictured, sitting, from left: Kaylan’s mom Sherry, Kaylan, Kaylan’s dad Blake. Standing, from left: AHS track and field coaches Mike Adams and Michele Rogers. (Courtesy of Sera Beth Potter)
By Chris McCarthy, Publisher/Editor
Kaylan Ladosky certainly made the most of her two full years throwing the discus.
The 2021 Ashville High School graduate recently agreed to compete with the University of Montevallo track and field team as a preferred walk-on.
“I’m just so thrilled,” said Ladosky, who plans on studying speech language pathology at Montevallo. “All this season, I really didn’t expect to get as far as I did, and I really wanted to throw in college. I’m very excited.”
Ladosky said she felt at home at Montevallo as soon as she first hit campus.
“The facilities are absolutely gorgeous, and the coaches are the sweetest people. [Head] coach Tommy Barksdale is amazing. I could tell during our first phone call that he’d be an awesome coach.”
This past season in the discus, Ladosky medaled four times – including a pair of first-place finishes – and had eight top-10 showings while qualifying for the Class 4A state meet in Gulf Shores. She also had six top-10 efforts in the shot put and three in the javelin.
After running cross country during her seventh-grade year, Ladosky competed in the discus as an eighth grader and freshman then skipped the next two years before returning as a senior.
Even though she was not a member of the AHS track and field team as a sophomore and junior, Ladosky threw on her own, either at home or at school, and maintained a regular weight training schedule that kept her muscles toned.
“We’re thankful that Kaylan came back out for her senior year, especially when she told me a little while before sectionals that she loved it enough to want to throw at the collegiate level,” said AHS track and field coach Michele Rogers. “Kaylan is such a humble girl, and I don’t think she realized the talent that she has. We certainly missed having her on the team when she took those two years off.”
Ladosky points to Rogers as big factor in her success.
“I’m the type of competitor that needs a coach to motivate and encourage me and push me, and Coach Rogers definitely did that the entire season. Even if I didn’t throw my best at one meet, she would tell me I did absolutely wonderful. It made me want to do better for her.”