“Aaand Palo Alto takes the lead!” The crowd’s roar fills the air as the commentator’s voice cuts through the excitement at the Stanford University track on April 5. With speed and precision, Palo Alto High School senior Kinga Czajkowska powers through the final stretch of the 1600-meter race, her blue track spikes a blur as she crosses the finish line with a personal-best time of 4:46.34.
As the clock stops, it’s clear that Czajkowska has not only set a new milestone for herself but has also broken her own school record by almost two seconds, making her mark yet again in Paly’s athletic history.

“I wasn’t really expecting a PR [personal record] during that race, so being able to win and PR, especially at a competitive meet basically right in my backyard, was super cool,” Czajkowska said. “Both my parents were able to make it, and some of my friends and teammates were in the stands cheering for me, which was really nice.”
As impressive as her track records are now, they didn’t come to her without hard work.
Michael Davidson, Paly’s head cross country and track coach, said that when Czajkowska joined the team, she had to learn how to pace herself strategically. Davidson recalled one of Czajkowska’s first track practices, when she started sprinting the mile time trial immediately instead of keeping a steady pace.
“We’re like, ‘does she know it’s a mile?’ [because] she’s going so fast,” Davidson said. “The beauty is … she was going to showcase what her talent was without her even knowing it.”
Davidson said that Czajkowska overcame a learning curve early on in her running career as she adjusted to both the physical and mental demands of competing.
“She knew about running, but she didn’t know about racing,” Davidson said. “Her racing acumen has grown tremendously, and that’s because her talent has put her into situations that she totally wasn’t ready for mentally yet. … She had the capability to move up to [the] Varsity [team] a lot earlier than some athletes did.”
Czajkowska said she started track and field later than most other top athletes, beginning in middle school at an after school program directed by Casper Vroemen, who also coaches at Paly.
Despite a slightly later beginning, Czajkowska quickly found her stride on the track. As a sophomore she ran a school record of 4:48.23 for the 1600-meter, and in junior year broke the 26 year old 3200-meter school record with a time of 10:28.59.
Just recently, she and her fellow teammates not only broke their school record at the Stanford Invitational for the 4000-meter Distance Medley Relay with a time of 11:46.16, but also set a meet record and ended up ranked seventh in the nation.
“We not only broke the Stanford meet record, which stood for 18 years actually, we also broke the Paly record … and won Arcadia [an invitational meet],” Czajkowska said. “That was honestly the coolest thing ever because in a span of a week we demolished a school record, we demolished a meet record at a really competitive meet, and we won at an incredibly competitive national level meet.”
While Czajkowska’s high school career has been marked by notable success, it hasn’t been without challenges. In her junior year, Czajkowska had a stress fracture in her lower left leg which ended her cross country season early and postponed her track performance in the spring.
“With as much energy as she has, [she was forced] to sit down and get quiet,” Davidson said. “But she stood patient. She stayed patient about what she needed to do, working her way through her injury, being smart about what she was capable of doing, following what the doctors told her to do.” During this time, Czajkowska used cross-training with exercises like weight-lifting, biking and swimming to help her recovery. While it was difficult, Czajkowska noted some of the positive outcomes of her recovery period.
“That [recovery period] did kind of let me refocus and get better at cross-training,” Czajkowska said. “It also helped prevent burnout, because you really realize, ‘oh, I do love this sport, and it means so much to me when I had it taken away.’”
After her recovery period, Czajkowska was able to make a comeback in her senior season where she set new school records at Stanford and Arcadia.
Despite Czajkowska’s accolades, her teammates and coaches describe her as down-to-earth and approachable.
“She hates being in the limelight,” Davidson said. “She’s very humble about what she does, but she puts in a lot of hard work and I’m gonna miss her work ethic [and] her fun personality to come and participate and be around the team and just be goofy and just be Kinga.” Paly junior Amaya Bharadwaj also said that Czajkowska is able to have fun while working hard. She has been running with Czajkowska throughout the entirety of her high school season so far and said that she looks up to her.
“She will do anything that it takes to win the race,” Bharadwaj said. “Having a training partner to do all my workouts with and always being a few steps behind her … motivates me to push myself harder. I always tell myself before a race, ‘If she can do it, you can do it.’”
Czajkowska will be continuing to compete in college at Cornell University, a Division 1 school.
She said that she looks forward to the Ivy League conference championships, also known as the Heptagonal Championships.
“It’s [Heptagonal Championships] usually a bit more … close knit,” Czajkowska said. “You’re more likely to know these other athletes and the excitement there is much more palpable than other competitions.”
While she is excited to embark on her collegiate career, Czajkowska said that she will miss the Paly cross country and track team.
“The Paly track and cross country team has been a really great community,” Czajkowska said. “It’s been the highlight of my high school experience.”