2022 Daily Chronicle Girls Track Athlete of the Year: Indian Creek’s Brooke Probst

When Brooke Probst soared 1.72 meters last month in the high jump at the Class 1A Girls Track and Field State Championships, she didn’t just set another school record or even just win a state championship.

She won the first state championship in the school’s nearly 30-year history with that leap, and for that and other accomplishments she was named the 2022 Daily Chronicle Girls Track Athlete of the Year.

“My name will always be there,” Probst said. “The next time the school wins a state championship a year from now, five, 10, however many years from now, it will always be like this hasn’t been done since Brooke. Or ‘We’re the second ones, Brooke was the first.’ It’s great that my name will always be there and I left my mark at that school with all my hard work.”

Probst was fifth in the state last year as a junior after there was no state tournament her sophomore year.

This year, in addition to clearing 10.27 meters in the triple jump to take 10th at state, she finally reached her long-time objective of winning the state high jump competition.

“I wanted to win so badly, and I had those expectations going in to win,” Probst said. “It was really weird because I kept saying I’m going to win, I’m going to do it, I’m going to go out there, I even said I’m going to jump 5-8 and I’m going to win. Then when it got into the moment it was like how could I have predicted this so perfectly - 5-8 and everything.”

Probst said it took a couple of weeks to realize just what the accomplishment meant to the district. But at a sports banquet and awards night, that is when she said the reality hit her.

“It took a long time to set in,” Probst said. “I got back to my town and we had our awards night for school and everything and they had a little special part for just me. They congratulated me, and a bunch of people came up to congratulate me and [I] got a standing ovation. It was crazy. And it wasn’t until that moment that it finally set in. It kind of all came to a peace after that, just kind of made sense.”

Probst pulled double duty in the spring, playing softball while the track season was going.

First-year Indian Creek coach Jenilee Johnson said Probst brought sportsmanship and leadership to the team and was a joy to be around.

“Brooke is just super-determined,” Johnson said. “She always puts in a lot of hard work. She trains year-round. Even during COVID her parents got her a high-jump pit so she could continue to practice even when everything was shutdown. That says what type of determination she has. She just puts in a lot of time and work to get where she is.”

Johnson said that sportsmanship was on full display in Charleston as she hugged each competitor as they finished their jumps, even before Probst herself had jumped.

Probst said Charleston was an amazing experience and that virtually everyone who had helped her over the course of her career was there, from her parents to her first track coach, Jody Olive, to travel coaches, to her future roommates next year at Murray State and even competitors.

In particular, she said how she always respected Newark’s Kiara Wesseh, who cleared 1.69 and took second.

“I’ve grown to love Kiara, and I have a special bond and friendship with her,” Probst said. “We support and each other. There are days I beat her and days she beats me. Last year she beat me at state, she got second, and I got fifth. It all went back and forth, and we have a support for each other that I love so much.”

Probst will compete for Murray State next season. She said that on the way to an off-season meet in Alabama, she stopped by the campus and immediately fell in love. She also said that jumps coach Kelsey Riggins had a huge part in recruiting her.

“We stopped by, and I loved absolutely everything,” Probst said. “It felt like I was at home. It’s small, which I like, and it’s Division I, which I wanted. I loved the track and the campus and everything. After that there was no campus that compared to it. There was no coach I liked more than coach Riggs, or another campus I liked more than Murray. Every college I looked at I could not see myself going to except Murray.”