FROM CROSS COUNTRY AT MCA TO THE OLYMPIC MARATHON: DAYNA’S JOURNEY
For Dayna Pidhoresky, running was never a chore. From the earliest days on the cross country course, it felt like freedom, not punishment. That feeling, planted sometime around fifth grade when a teacher named Mrs. Hayes encouraged her to join the cross country team, would eventually carry her all the way to the starting line of the Olympic marathon.
Where the Passion Began
Dayna’s early success on the course fed a growing love for the sport. She found a long-time training partner, Alyssa Daichendt, and together they were coached by a small group of local coaches outside of MCA who were willing to invest their time in building a program with longevity in mind. Their focus wasn’t just on winning races in high school. It was on keeping the sport enjoyable long enough for Dayna to still want to run in university and beyond. Looking back, she says that decision kept her love for running alive through the years that mattered most.
The Road to the Olympics
Dayna has pursued running for many years beyond her college days, with the marathon now her main event. Even now, she believes her best times are still ahead of her. Her goal has always been to use what she calls a God-given gift to its fullest potential, and to walk away from the sport knowing she gave everything she had.
Her first Olympic team, in 2020, did not go the way she had hoped. An injury complicated her preparation, and she has not stopped dreaming of standing on another Olympic start line with the chance to give her full effort.
Being a Light
A phrase has stayed with Dayna since a difficult moment at the Olympics, when a wise woman told her simply to “be a light.” She thinks about those words often, especially in the middle of an injury or a hard season. For Dayna, it is not just about performing well. It is about how she carries herself when things are falling apart, and letting her resilience in the darkest moments be what stands out.
Support Through the Hard Seasons
Dayna is honest that the journey has not always felt encouraging. Long stretches of injury or underperformance bring real doubt, the kind that makes an athlete wonder if it’s time to walk away and find something more stable. Through those seasons, her husband has been her biggest supporter, standing behind her pursuit of another Olympic team. She also remembers the encouragement of Mr. Winik during her years at MCA, particularly during a tough season when running wasn’t going according to plan.
She’s deeply grateful for the chance MCA gave her to challenge herself and simply enjoy sports throughout grade school and high school, something she now sees as essential to her longevity in the sport. Balance and fun at a young age, she says, are what made it possible for her to still be running today.
Learning to Balance It All
In high school, Dayna played sport after sport, during the school day and after it, with her parents driving her wherever she needed to be. She admits that balance was harder to find once she reached university, and that better rest and recovery back then might have prevented some of her injuries. These days, training like a professional athlete alongside part-time marketing work has taught her just how essential daily recovery really is for consistency.
Her core disciplines have stayed simple through it all: staying organized, paying attention to detail, and giving her best effort every time.
Facing the Unknown
Injury has been one of Dayna’s most persistent challenges, always carrying the uncertainty of when she’ll be able to return to the fitness she once had. Her hardest test came before the Tokyo Olympics, when an injury threatened to derail her preparation entirely. Just after her flight to Japan, she was identified as a close contact of someone who had tested positive for COVID and was placed in isolation, away from her team, during what should have been her Olympic experience.
She wanted to go home. Instead, with the help of a sports psychologist, she shifted her goal entirely, from chasing a top finish to simply soaking in the experience of the Olympic marathon course so she could carry it into a future Games. Despite the injury, she crossed the finish line of the Olympic marathon, something days earlier she wasn’t even sure she’d be able to start.
Growing Closer to Christ Through It All
Dayna has always wrestled with anxiety before a race or competition, something she says she still feels today. Her way through it has been to cast her cares onto God and place each race in His hands. That surrender, she says, is what helps her get the best out of herself. God is in charge, and that truth has carried her through more uncertainty than she can count.
Her Word to Current Student Athletes
Dayna’s advice to current MCA students is refreshingly simple: have fun with it, and follow your passion.
Her Word to MCA Parents
To parents of current MCA athletes, Dayna encourages keeping things diverse. She played soccer, figure skated, did gymnastics, and competed in every school sport she could. She didn’t narrow her focus to a single event until well into university, and didn’t begin training specifically for her signature event until years after that. Her own story is proof that the path to the Olympic stage doesn’t have to be a straight line, or start early, to lead somewhere extraordinary.
Dayna is one of many MCA alumni carrying what she learned as a Panther onto some of the biggest stages in the world.
