‘Not once did I feel down’: Cheney track coach gives ultimate lesson on perseverance

CHENEY, Kan. (KSNW) — Coaches are teachers and cheerleaders. One Cheney woman has a proven track record of training state champions with a lesson on perseverance that goes beyond winning gold.

Moments of victory are built on preparation.

“I just give them guidance, they put in the hard work,” said Laura Markuly; it’s encouragement she gives to all her athletes. “To see that I could help them get to a place that they didn’t think they could get to, that’s biggest satisfaction for me.”

Markuly has helped train several students since 2016; at least ten get to state. The first of the state champions is Allison Catlin.

“The goal was to just get there in the four years, and I got lucky enough that I made it my freshman year in the 100 hurdles and completely credit it to the work I did with Laura,” said Catlin.

She returned to state two more times, claiming titles.

“[That] kind of nothing that I had left to give, I could kind of dig it out because I had the support to do it,” said Catlin.

That support came at a time when Markuly faced her own battle.

“I’m the exercise person. It doesn’t happen to me,” said Markuly.

She received a cancer diagnosis in 2015 and again in 2023.

“I actually rolled over in bed, felt a pop, and that’s when I fractured my pelvis,” said Markuly.

After going to the hospital, she was told, “Your neck is collapsing forward, pushing back on your spinal column; we thought you were paralyzed,” Markuly recalled being told by doctors.

She later learned she had a tumor on the T6 vertebra, T5 was fractured and disintegrated, she had lesions on her pelvis, and the ball and socket were disintegrated.

To fix this, doctors took out T6, had spinal fusion surgery for T3-T9, put a rod through her femur and screwed her leg back to her pelvis.

“It’s kind of crazy to believe that she was going through such a hard battle and was out here supporting me to do what I wanted to achieve,” said Catlin.

Competition, a familiar feeling, fueled Markuly’s fight.

“From day one, not once did I feel down about it; it was, ‘Hey, here’s the problem. What’s the solution? Let’s go,'” said Markuly.

Tapping into her inner strength, a lesson she’s taught to dozens of others.

“It’s almost therapeutic for me,” said Markuly. “It kind of keeps my mind off what’s going on, but also, in the back of my head, ‘I can do this too.'”

Markuly has stage four metastatic breast cancer, which means there is no cure, but it can be controlled with treatments and lifestyle.

She expects to be out training athletes this summer. Markuly also has a Facebook page dedicated to her progress and encouragement for other survivors and supporters.