For Kristin Daugherty Ronai, being involved in sports has long been about family.
As an employee of the Ohio High School Athletic Association and a former two-sport standout, she has been a fixture at state tournament events for most of the last two decades.
In addition to having parents who were coaches, her husband, Jared Ronai, is a head college basketball coach.
Their three children, Kyler, 10, Kamryn, 7, and Kolton, 4, needless to say, are more than familiar with athletic competitions.
“My mom was the head coach, my dad was the assistant, my sister and I both played, and my younger brother was the ball boy while my younger sister was the ball girl,” Ronai said. “We used to say it was a way for my mom to know where we all were when she was coaching.
“My husband, Jared, is the head coach at Mount Vernon Nazarene, and it’s cool to meld our two worlds together like that. (My children) know what a gym is like between Jared being a coach and with us being at all of these events. They’re pretty familiar with sports.”
A 2007 Warsaw River View graduate, Kristin Ronai joined one of her younger sisters, basketball player and coach Kari Daugherty Pickens, as an honoree in this year’s Circle of Champions.
Their mother, Caroline Mast Daugherty, was inducted into the Circle of Champions in 2024 and served as their head coach in high school while their father, Bill Daugherty, was an assistant with the Black Bears. Caroline played on River View’s 1982 state-title team which was coached by her father, Dave Mast.
Ronai has worked for the OHSAA since 2011 and has been its Associate Executive Director since April 2024.
“Honestly the fact my sister and I are going in together, that’s the most meaningful part,” Kristin said. “I couldn’t have done what I did without her, and without our parents being our coaches in high school. We did it together, and that makes it more special.
“We grew up on a big dairy farm and we’d milk cows. (Kari and I have) done so much life together and enjoyed so much success in the high school athletic realm. With (Kari) also playing with me in college, we’re bonded pretty tightly.”
Ronai was a two-sport star for River View.
In girls volleyball, she was second-team all-state in 2005 as a junior when she helped the Black Bears reach a Division II state semifinal and then was first-team all-state as a senior when River View reached a regional final.
She was an even bigger standout with the girls basketball program.
After earning honorable mention all-state honors in 2004, Ronai was second-team all-state as a sophomore as the Black Bears reached a regional final.
Kari, who along with Kristin gave the program two players standing taller than 6 feet, joined the program as a freshman for the 2005-06 season.
The duo helped River View win the first of back-to-back state championships and to a combined mark of 52-2 that included title wins over Mentor Lake Catholic (48-29 in 2006) and Shaker Heights Hathaway Brown (45-26 in 2007).
Kristin was named Ms. Ohio by the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association and the AP Player of the Year in Division II in each of her final two prep seasons when she also earned first-team all-state honors. She closed her prep career as River View’s all-time leading scorer with more than 1,800 career points, including averaging 20 points, eight rebounds, and 4.3 assists as a senior.
Ronai ranks among the top 25 all-time according to the OHSAA record book in career free throws made (458).
Ronai also was named Academic all-Ohio as a senior.
“The fostering of relationships and the camaraderie you can create, you can’t take that for granted,” Ronai said. “That’s what opens doors and propels opportunities, so you want to develop that teamwork and that team camaraderie because that’s what develops future success.”
Ronai became a four-year regular for the University of Dayton, where she finished her career fifth in all-time scoring with 1,498 points. A two-year team captain, Ronai was a three-time all-Atlantic 10 selection and was the 2011 Atlantic 10 Student-Athlete of the Year in women’s basketball. She also was named Dayton’s Presidential Outstanding Scholar Award and would graduate Magna Cum Laude.
During her time with the Flyers, they went 94-43 with appearances in the WNIT in 2008 and ’09 and in the NCAA tournament in 2010 and ’11. Her younger sister also played for Dayton during her final two collegiate seasons.
Ronai was inducted into the Dayton Athletic Hall of Fame in January 2020.
“For me, it was so much about the camaraderie of who I played with, and when I looked for a home collegiately, I found that at Dayton,” Ronai said. “It was very much a family atmosphere. We had a wonderful run (at Dayton) and I played with some amazing women who went on to play professionally as well. After that, I had the choice of do I stay (at Dayton) and actually get involved at the University of Dayton Arena or pursue an internship at the OHSAA.”
After meeting with Dr. Dan Ross, who was then the OHSAA’s commissioner, Ronai joined the OHSAA in August 2011 and would hold a variety of titles before being named the Associate Executive Director.
Ronai, who earned a degree from Dayton in Communications with a focus on Public Relations because it “seemed like a broad career field that would lead to a lot of opportunities,” loves writing and originally thought she might someday become a sports information director.
Instead, Ronai has transitioned into being responsible for oversight of the OHSAA’s compliance department where she and her team handle all student eligibility issues.
She also serves as the liaison for legislative affairs, where she works to develop relationships with state legislators to help guide policy which impacts interscholastic athletics.
Other primary responsibilities include responding to concerns or questions from administrators regarding eligibility guidelines and bylaw interpretations, co-chairing the Competitive Balance Committee, providing testimony and explanations for the OHSAA Appeals Panel and legal cases, handling all sanctioning requests for member school participation, and working with the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce to collect EMIA data for divisional alignment purposes.
She also often is involved in the process of state tournament awards ceremonies.
“(The basketball postseason) is a fun month, a fun two weekends,” Ronai said. “I told people I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. I feel so fortunate to connect with the people I have in my career who have opened up doors to where I’m at today.
“I still oversee compliance, but as (OHSAA Commissioner) Doug (Ute) puts it, if ‘he gets hit by a bus, Kristin is supposed to make the call.’ Moreso in the past year, I’ve been getting involved in more of the big-picture decisions. With our whole team at the OHSAA, we do our best to provide opportunities for kids. Compliance is a hard world to live in at the OHSAA because sometimes you don’t deliver good news to people, but my motto for our department is clarity, consistency, and compassion. We’re trying to serve our membership to the best of our ability, make rules the best we can, but also do so in a compassionate manner.”