Their lives were impacted last spring by the coronavirus pandemic just like everyone else in the United States. They responded in a manner that they best knew how.

One put others first, helping those on the frontline of a battle to stop a global pandemic and aiding an industry hit hard by it. Another traveled far from home, escaping what was then the epicenter of COVID-19, to find solace through time with family and an added focus on a blossoming musical career.

A third had visions of capturing an elusive prize dashed when a season was canceled and used the lost opportunity as motivation and a reminder of how fickle things can be.

A year later, we catch up with three San Antonio natives as they look back on what they experienced and learned:

Colleen Konetzke
As long as the former Reagan High School standout swimmer can remember, she has always had an inquisitive mind. Konetzke enjoys crunching numbers and figuring how pieces of a proverbial puzzle fit together. She also has a compassionate heart. She likes helping those less fortunate or down on their luck.

A year ago, that meant playing a vital role in creating “Feed the Front Line,” a non-profit that collected donations to purchase meals from restaurants in Houston to feed medical personnel during the COVID-19 crisis. The program delivered more than 48,500 meals and raised more than $662,000 during the height of Konetzke’s tenure, helping keep restaurants — one of the hardest-hit industries during the pandemic — open. Konetzke was in charge of finances, filing for tax-exempt status through the Internal Revenue Service and setting up an online payment platform.

“I love solving different problems, especially if solving the problem helps those in need,” Konetzke said.

Konetzke, who is working toward a master’s degree in business administration at Northwestern University, might now live in a different state, but her penchant for providing a helping hand remains strong. Three months ago, Konetzke was spending time with family in San Antonio after a COVID-19 outbreak at Northwestern University forced the Evanston, Ill.-based school to shift to virtual learning.

On Feb. 14, as she prepared to leave the Alamo City and return to the Midwest, Konetzke noticed several car accidents on overpasses while driving along U.S. Highway 281. The early stages of a winter storm were descending on San Antonio. Konetzke was on one of the last flights to leave Texas before the state was shut down by an unprecedented weather system that dumped about six inches of snow in San Antonio, caused pipes to freeze or burst, and left countless without heat and water.

While Konetzke’s family was spared the worst of the storm’s effects, some of her friends in Houston were “hit very hard” because of widespread power outages that nearly left Texas in the dark when the state’s electrical grid failed.

“I spent a lot of time having conversations with my friends and family back in Texas, and using the knowledge that I had trying to explain to them, ‘Here’s what happened. Here’s what went wrong.’ “

Konetzke has gone from trying to explain what happened to seeking to fix the problem. In three weeks, she will move to California to intern this summer at Southern California Edison, the primary electricity supply company that services 15 million people in a 50,000-square-mile territory in southern California.

The 27-year-old Konetze’s goal is to help discover “the grid of the future” and better electric reliability. California’s electric grid is set up just like Texas’ and has dealt with similar issues, Konetze said.

“These things are critically important and will continue to be critically important,” she said. “The ice storm in February was a really strong and close-to-home reminder of that. I was really excited and jumped at the chance.”

Belén Cusí
In the early hours of March 26, 2020, the former Churchill High School basketball player left New York City for Florida, traveling 16 straight hours until she arrived in Florida to stay with family. At the time, Cusí said she was in no rush to get back to the nation’s most-populated state. NYC was the epicenter of a coronavirus pandemic in the United States, with the number of deaths and infections rising at an alarming rate.

Fourteen months later, Cusí still hasn’t returned to the Big Apple. That day, she said, will come soon. For now, as was the case back then, she is fixated on finding balance in her own life.

“Has it been a year?” Cusí joked. “No, it doesn’t seem like it — 2020 went by unbearably slow and yet, it feels now like it was a flash. I miss New York City prior to the pandemic, but being away from it has been incredibly enriching and given me opportunities in work and family that otherwise I would not have had.

“I’ve learned that I’m a great cat mom. But also, I’ve learned to be more patient and compassionate with myself. To get proper sleep. And to let the ones you love know you love them more often.”

Such is Cusí’s takeaway of the last year. She’s eager to return to NYC, but she’s not sure what she will return to. Some of her friends have left the city because of COVID. Others tell her that restaurants and clubs — like the ones where she sung and earned a place on the area’s musical landscape — are “alive.”

“I miss performing very much, although the timing was also coincidental in that I needed a break to focus on more developmental work musically, as well as my studies in the acting program I’m now in the process of wrapping up,” she said. “I missed getting out for a nice dinner with friends, but with the friends that matter most, the “FaceTime Bar” has become the next best thing. And generally, I’m quite the introvert. I crave solitude like mad in a world where it’s literally almost impossible to find due to cell phones, so the pandemic gave me a fantastic excuse to stay home and be with myself, which is really important to me. I saw a passing headline that read something like, ‘It’s OK; you’re not the only one with anxiety about things returning to normal.’ In a way, that’s true. The space and change of pace have been a welcome relief.”

The relief came with reflection. Even in isolation, Cusí found herself jugging a PR consulting gig, acting school, voice lessons and teaching piano students. Her calendar looked “like a game of Tetris” and she was getting only three or four hours a sleep a day.

“It was ridiculous, I don’t know how I did it now that I’ve slowed down and narrowed my focus,” Cusí said. “Having to wear so many different hats throughout the day from the same physical space was also a challenge. It was very unworkable. When my acting work in school started to suffer and my anxiety — which formerly I never realized I had or maybe didn’t really suffer from — became paralyzing, I realized I needed to get real with myself and priorities if I wanted to achieve the artistic transformation I sought from my acting program. So I quit my job. And as soon as I created that space for myself, other opportunities more aligned with my artistic goals came my way — it’s wild how that happens. It was a big lesson in following my gut and betting on myself. You only get one life and I’m fervently passionate about spending it chasing the things you love.

“I’ve grown tremendously as an artist in the last year — and the best part is that most of that growth has been internal. It hasn’t been a year of massive output; I didn’t record 3 albums while quarantined or do live videos every week. I put my head down and worked on myself, both artistically and spiritually, and I’m still very much in that process.”

Maja Kaiser
Two weeks ago, the Smithson Valley High School graduate was on the beaches of Gulf Shores, Ala., taking in the sights and sounds and collecting memories. Kaiser was on her sport’s biggest stage. And although her role had changed, the meaning of the accomplishment didn’t.

When University of Southern California beach volleyball teammate Sammy Slater served an ace, putting the finishing touch on her and partner Julia Scoles’ 26-24, 21-25 win over UCLA’s Devon Newberry and Leah Monkhouse, Kaiser rushed the court with her teammates.

Moments later, they took part in a trophy presentation. That was followed by the obligatory plunge into the Gulf of Mexico.

In one year, heartache had turned into heartfelt. The Trojans had defeated No. 1-ranked and nemesis UCLA 3-1 on May 9 in Gulf Shores, Ala., to claim the national championship, its third overall and first since 2017.

“It’s been by far the best feeling ever, the best experience I’ve ever had,” said Kaiser, a senior who had 40 career victories. “This team was really, really special. Even though I didn’t get to actually play in one of the top five pairings, being a part of the team and experiencing it in person was the best feeling in the entire world.”

The elation was a far cry from the emotion that Kaiser felt 13 months earlier. She admitted she hadn’t thought too much about that day in March 2020, other than it was “an unreal experience.”

What Kaiser recalled was one moment she was preparing for an upcoming tournament in Florida over spring break, hoping Stetson University’s Beach Blast would help the Trojans overcome an uncustomary slow start in which they lost five of their first 11 contests.

And the next moment, she was in a team meeting learning that the Pac-12 Conference was halting the seasons for its spring sports. USC had already gone from in-person to online classes because of the coronavirus pandemic.
To make the day even worse, it was raining — which was also unusual.

“It made it very ominous,” Kaiser said. “Just a very sad day to see our season come to such an abrupt end. It was especially very heartbreaking for the seniors on our team, with it being their last season and all the hopes and dreams they had to accomplish things.”

As the spring changed to summer and then to fall, Kaiser was concerned she might face the same fate as the seniors. Eventually, though, the season went on as scheduled and the Trojans claimed the top prize.

“The fact that we even got a season during COVID, we’re very lucky we did,” Kaiser said. “We ended on a great note.”

Where are they now?
Clayton King
Then: The Uvalde High School product was literally awakened from his sleep to the news that St. Edward’s University, citing lost revenue related to the coronavirus pandemic, had announced it was eliminating its men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis and men’s soccer programs. The school’s cheer squad was demoted to club status.

King, a junior, earned NCAA Division II All-American honors after earning three top-10 finishes in five spring tournaments and posting a team-best 72.93 scoring average. He carded a 69 in the final round of the Las Vegas Desert Classic, the final tournament of the season.

Now: Transferred to Texas State in San Marcos, where in two golf tournaments this spring he had a 74.80 scoring average. He was third at the Lone Star Invitational (74-70-76).

Hunter Domanski
Then: The New Braunfels High School graduate was walking down an aisle at a warehouse store in Baton Rouge, La., with LSU beach volleyball teammates when she learned via social media that the NCAA, the governing body of intercollegiate athletics, had canceled the seasons and championships for its remaining winter and spring sports because of a coronavirus pandemic.

LSU was ranked No. 1 in the nation, had defeated two-time defending national champion UCLA twice, and was poised to become the first non-West Coast school to win a title. The Tigers, who were riding an 11-match winning streak, had come within a point of playing for the national championship in 2019.

Now: The 10th-winningest player in program history, Domanski recorded one win this season as LSU advanced to the national semifinals before falling to UCLA 3-2. According to the school, Domanski is scheduled to graduate this summer with a degree in biochemistry and will then attend law school at the University of South Carolina.

Kiersten Bryant
Then: The former Johnson High School standout golfer netted all-region and all-conference honors as a freshman, landing four top-10 finishes, for St. Edward’s. She was second on the team in scoring average (75.82) when the school announced it was dropping the program because of a financial shortfall due to the COVID pandemic.

Now: Transferred to West Texas A&M, a nationally-ranked NCAA Division II program in Canyon, Texas, near Amarillo. She was 14th at the RJGA Palm Valley Classic in Arizona, 26th at the St. Mary’s Rattler Invitational and 31st at the WT Desert Invitational in Arizona. During the fall, she was sixth at the Oklahoma Intercollegiate in Lawton, Okla., and 19th at the West Texas A&M Fall Invitational.

Romina Gonzalez
Then: The Reagan High School alum was coming off a top-15 showing at the St. Mary’s Rattler Invitational at the Dominion Country Club when she and her St. Edward’s golf teammates learned during a video conference call that the program had been shuttered along with four others.

Now: Transferred to Division I Texas-Arlington last summer, joining a roster that includes former Reagan teammate Kinsey Ray and New Braunfels graduate Abigail Adams. Gonzales had two top-25 performances, placing sixth at the Texas-Arlington Invitational and 25th at the Houston Baptist Husky Invitational. She had a 77.36 scoring average.

terrence@terrencesports.com
Twitter: @sa_terrence1