DALEVILLE, Ind. — For two months, Kadence Aikin didn't know what was wrong with her.
After months of training, cutting minutes off her times during the summer, the senior cross-country runner was forced to sit out most of her final year. She watched her Daleville teammates, who all worked so hard preparing for this season, frustrated she couldn't be out there with them.
In mid-July, Aikin collapsed during a tempo run. Her heart rate was at 208 and she was rushed to the hospital. Head coach David Beard, whose own son was diagnosed with a coarctation of the aorta when he was 9 years old, was on high alert.