One of the frequent complications of growing up and reaching high school is losing the sport you’ve enjoyed the most throughout your childhood.

The rug gets pulled out from under the active feet of hockey goaltenders, high jumpers and offensive linemen alike. They learn and enjoy the games at the youth or recreational level. Then they attend a high school that doesn’t host the activity as a varsity endeavor.

Most simply accept the changing times and gravitate to other pastimes.

Not Marley Byrne. Not having an indoor track team as an outlet for drowning those December doldrums and January jitters didn’t sit well with the St. Dominic Academy sophomore.

“I needed a winter sport,” Byrne said.

And so with dogged persistence through a pitfall or two, she got one.

St. Dom’s, a school that doesn’t have a track facility on its modest Auburn campus and didn’t even field an outdoor squad until the spring of 2010, has joined the small cluster of indoor programs in the tri-county area.

Getting there wasn’t as easy as that makes it sound.

“She pushed to be able to compete,” said Calvin Hunter, leader of the Edward Little High School girls’ indoor track program and Byrne’s personal coach. “She kept pushing, as did I, because I didn’t want to see her practice the whole season and not be able to compete.”

The end result is a tribute not only to Byrne’s competitive fire but to the spirit of cooperation between two neighboring schools and the efforts of two athletic directors.

St. Dom’s AD Lee Hixon contacted his Edward Little counterpart Dan Deshaies, who discussed with Hunter the possibility of Byrne training with the Red Eddies.

Hunter consented wholeheartedly. Byrne was given a team t-shirt and all the rights and privileges that came with it.

“I knew a few of the girls from going to school with them before high school. The moment I walked into the room everyone was so welcoming,” Byrne said.

The plan was for Byrne to work out with EL — practicing Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at Bates College — but compete as an individual representing St. Dom’s at the Red Eddies’ meets.

Only days before the first scheduled competition came bad news.

“We were told that the KVAC (EL’s conference) didn’t allow individuals,” Hixon said. “So we were in a cooperative situation, but we couldn’t co-op.”

St. Dom’s moved from the Western Maine Conference into the Mountain Valley Conference two years ago. The MVC has no indoor track teams, but the Saints’ old WMC friendships paid off with an invitation to join their winter meets if the school could put together a squad.

Although no money existed in the St. Dom’s budget for such a move, Hixon put out a memo to any students interested in joining the club. Four boys and three girls followed Byrne.

It was an expensive commitment. Each student paid $50 to compete, in addition to a flat rate financed by the school.

Spring coach and longtime Maine track and field personality Keith Weatherbie stepped forward to coach the team.

Then came another bump in the road. Weatherbie was taken ill during a meet and remains hospitalized after emergency surgery.

“It’s really tough. He’s been such a big, supportive part of this,” Byrne said. “He dedicates his time and I believe he does it voluntarily.”

Hixon hired former Poland coach Ray Lafreniere to head up the Saints on an interim basis until Weatherbie is able to return.

Byrne continues to train under the watchful eye of Hunter, a former star football player who was enamored with the athlete’s competitive spirit almost immediately.

“If I had to pick anybody to be part of our team at EL, it would be Marley Byrne,” Hunter said. “She’s there every day. She works hard every day. She’s never late even though she’s coming from St. Dom’s.

“She has the drive. She’s a great athlete. She has so many of the attributes you look for in a great athlete that makes her fit in with the team. She’s only a sophomore, but with her presence, behaviors and work ethic, a lot of our kids look to her as a leader, even though they can’t see her compete.”

There are frequent conflicts between EL and St. Dom’s meets, but Hunter has been able to attend two of Byrne’s competitions in January.

Byrne’s success as a lobbyist and trendsetter is matched by her skills on the track and in the jump pit. She competes in the 55- and 200-meter dashes and the triple jump and has scored at least one first place in the junior division of each one.

She prevailed in both the 200 and triple jump Friday night at the University of Southern Maine.

“It’s definitely a great experience,” Byrne said. “I don’t know what I would be doing right now if this hadn‘t happened.”

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