Senior Hayley Crone still riding it out in her last year
As the sun is at its highest point in the sky out in Temecula, California, a young woman on her family ranch mounts her horse and rides it around a dirt track. The wind wildly blows through her golden blonde hair as she makes many impressive sharp turns. This young woman happens to be senior setter Hayley Crone, and though she is known at USC for playing volleyball, her true passion lies with her horses.
Farm family · Senior setter and team captain Hayley Crone hails from Temecula, California, where her family lives on a ranch with 13 horses. – Brian Ji | Daily Trojan
Even before Crone was born, she was predisposed to liking horses.
“My mom wanted to be a vet before she was a nurse,” said Crone. “She has always loved animals and we have always had a lot of them.”
As a young girl, Crone participated in an equestrian sport called team penning, the object of which is to work as a group of three riders to get three cows into a pen within 90 seconds. What makes this sport difficult is that there are 30 cows in the arena and participants have to pen the cows that judges call out. The entire Crone family traveled throughout California to compete in this sport.
Back at the Crone’s home in Temecula, several animals roam the property including dogs, barn cats, alpacas, pigs, chickens and horses. The family has 13 horses in all, but Hayley rides only her own horse, Dominic, religiously. Her best friend and teammate, senior middle blocker Hannah Schraer, attested to how important Crone’s animals are to her.
“She takes teammates to her home and it is basically a ranch,” Schraer said. “We call it the Crazy Crone Family Farm and they always try to get me to ride a horse, but I just don’t like horses.”
Crone has an older sister, Hillary, who competed with her in team penning, and has been Crone’s rock her entire life.
“My sister is understanding, extremely patient, and we are so close,” Crone said, smiling. “She has always been my role model and I can’t even explain how much I look up to her. She has given me such unconditional support my entire life and she is such a wonderful person.”
Crone and her sister were involved in not only team penning but also dance. They were the tallest girls in their dance company and the husband of the owner asked Hillary if she would play in a volleyball match. Crone watched her sister play and was instantly hooked.
Starting in the sixth grade, Crone has played volleyball nonstop, going from grade school to club volleyball to USC. Committing at the beginning of her sophomore year to USC, Crone knew this was the place she belonged.
“A lot of my family went to USC, it’s close to home and in my opinion it is the best university ever,” Crone said. “I can’t thank Mick [Haley] and Tim [Nollan] enough for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime.”
During a recruiting trip to USC, Crone met 6-foot-3 Schraer for the first time — an encounter that marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship.
“We were on a recruiting trip and we went to a football game. We didn’t even sit next to each other,” Schraer said. “When we met it was super awkward, but she is so kind, so funny and very loyal.”
When Crone finally arrived on campus, she had no idea what a ride USC had in store for her. In her first three years on the volleyball team, she made one Final Four appearance and two regional final appearances. She also has accumulated 2,186 assists and 474 digs in those three seasons.
Even head coach Mick Haley knew he had something special when he recruited her.
“She was pretty fearless and was a dominant athlete in her age group,” Haley said. “She has always loved to play and she has a team first attitude, which you love having.”
Though volleyball has always come easy to Crone, school has always been tough. With her strong will to achieve and her fearless attitude, however, Crone made major improvements in the classroom and in 2013 was awarded Most Improved GPA at Purdue’s Mortar Board Premier.
“When I was a freshman I believed in ‘Cs get degrees’ and I didn’t care about my grades,” said Crone. “It meant a ton to me to win that award and it even impressed myself that I did that.”
As both a senior and the captain of this incredibly young volleyball team, Crone has more responsibilities now than ever before. Crone leads by example, showing teammates how this program works as well as giving them positive encouragement every step of the way.
Roughly halfway through this season, the Women of Troy are 10-6 overall. Though it wasn’t the start they wanted, they are improving in every match that they play. With Crone leading the charge, the Women of Troy hope to not only play in the NCAA Tournament but be serious contenders.
At the end of this school year, Crone will be graduating with a communication degree from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. For her future, she is still deciding on whether she will join former teammates Natalie Hagglund, Sara Shaw and Alexis Olgard in playing professionally.
Though her college volleyball career will be finished soon, she will always be a part of the Trojan family and always have her horse, Dominic, by her side.