The Road to the Races: Greyson Dolezal's climb to become a Cyclone

9/6/2017

 

KEEP IN MIND THAT THERE CAN BE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HAVING A STRESS FRACTURE AND HAVING AN EATING DISORDER! 

No spotlights. No scholarships. An underdog story in a Nike commercial couldn’t have put it better.

Now in his second year on the men’s cross-country team, and what will be his third year on the men’s track team, junior Greyson Dolezal took an unorthodox road to making the Iowa State men’s cross-country and track teams. And for Dolezal, this road was not without its up and downs.

A 2015 graduate of Linn-Mar High School in Marion, Dolezal’s cross-country career began as a sophomore in high school, having played football his freshman year.

 

 

 

Already a mid-distance runner for Linn-Mar’s track team, Dolezal credits his older sisters with getting him into cross-country. A track background and siblings pushing him in that direction, he felt it only made sense to start running cross-country in the fall.

His opening season, running for Linn-Mar’s JV team, was a matter of figuring out the 5K. On the track, Dolezal ran 400 and 800-meter races, so the 3.1-mile distance was new to him, and he spent that fall getting adjusted.

The following spring of 2013 was Dolezal’s second year of high school track, and his first year as a member of the varsity squad. He attended the Drake Relays as an alternate, and was part of the 2013 State Championship team that brought home the first boys state track title in school history.

“That [winning the state title] kind of motivated me my junior year to get off that alternate spot and participate in those meets," Dolezal said. 

Dolezal trained through the summer of 2013 and made the varsity team for his second season of cross-country. Some improvement came that junior season, but something was amiss.

“I ran all cross-country season with some pain in my foot, not really thinking much of it," Dolezal said. 

As it turned out, Dolezal had not one, not two, but three stress fractures in his foot. All at the same time.

“I kind of just ignored the pain, I mean, because it was my first varsity [cross-country] season," Dolezal said.  

Stress fractures are common injuries among runners. As the name implies, repeated stress or impact over a period of time is generally the cause of these hairline cracks, often found in the tiny bones of the feet. After the cross-country season was over, Dolezal took 8-12 weeks off in order to recoup and let the fractures heal. Then it was time for track.

“I was still able to improve, but not a lot in track my junior year," Dolezal said. 

His foot had healed before the start of the 2014 track season, but something was wrong. Again.

In hindsight, it’s clear to Dolezal what the problem was, but at the time, he didn’t understand why he couldn’t keep up with the same guys he had been running with previously.

After his junior track season, he continued to train through the summer preparing for his senior year, and final high school cross-country seasons. As the fall progressed, Dolezal didn’t feel right.

Even though he was training normally, he continued to feel out of shape. About halfway through the season, his Dad took to Google for a symptoms check. The results pointed to an iron deficiency.

Another fairly common ailment, among distance runners in particular, low levels of iron in the blood, or being “iron deficient”, can lead to increased fatigue in workouts and greatly hinder performance.

It wasn’t necessarily that Dolezal felt exhausted with everyday tasks, he just simply couldn’t keep up with the varsity guys anymore, and didn’t understand why he seemed so out of shape.

By the time the problem was uncovered and Dolezal began to get back on track by taking iron supplements, his senior season had come to a close.

“By the time he was ready to get back, it was a week too late for state,” said Kyle Hoffman, Dolezal’s former high school track and cross-country coach.

Hoffman, who has been coaching at Linn-Mar for 13 years, attested to Dolezal’s work ethic despite the obstacles he’d been forced to overcome.

After the 2014 cross-country season, Dolezal ran in a Nike Regional meet, and, his former coach explained, ran a really good time for having not been 100 percent most of the season.

“He was completely focused for track,” Hoffman said.

And focused he was. Dolezal dropped about six seconds from his 800-meter time, going from a 2:01 to a 1:55 his senior season of track. He became Linn-Mar’s main 800-meter runner, and lead their 4x800-meter relay that year.

That following summer was when Dolezal really decided he wanted to run as a Cyclone. So, with the help of Hoffman and friends who were collegiate runners, Dolezal trained through that summer after graduation.

His eyes were set on the marks Iowa State assistant men’s cross-country coach Jeremy Sudbury and he had discussed together earlier that summer.

“He wanted something, and so he’s gonna go do what he can to get it,” Hoffman said. 

He missed the mark by just a few seconds during his try out. That appeared to be that. He entered his freshman year at Iowa State, disappointed in not having made the team. This didn’t stop him from joining the running club at Iowa State.

I have a vivid memory of the first time I met him [Dolezal],” said William Graham, the current president of the running club and a fifth year senior at Iowa State. “We were supposed to have a tough workout that day, and we asked Greyson if he wanted to run with us.

"He ran the entire workout with our top runners. We were like, who is this kid?”

The Iowa State running club offers an opportunity for casual runners, as well as those looking to continue to compete after high school. In the fall, they train and attend smaller meets at Division III schools.

In the spring, they do the same for track. Dolezal began competing for the club and raced for the club in the National Intercollegiate Running Club Association meet. He placed 11th overall, racing against more than 300 other runners from clubs around the U.S.

“He was quiet and he worked hard,”  said Robert Scanlon, former president of the running club. “He quickly became a big part of the club."

“He came in and made an impact right away. Not just in how he ran, but as a teammate.” 

After that first fall with the running club, Dolezal said he finally began to be at peace with the fact that he hadn’t made the Division I team. He was still competing and running, and having fun.

At the end of February 2016, around the time of the Big 12 Indoor Championships for Track and Field, Dolezal was doing a workout with the running club in the Lied Recreation Athletic Center. Sudbury saw something that day and approached Dolezal.

“We have a lot of talented athletes that join our run club, and they’re indoors, so we see them all the time,” said Jeremy Sudbury, men’s cross-country assistant coach.

“The coach approached me, and I was with another guy. I thought he was coming to talk to him, and he started talking to me,” Dolezal said.

Sudbury offered Dolezal a walk-on spot for the upcoming outdoor track season. He competed in four meets for the Cyclones that spring, earning a best-finish of fourth place at the Tulsa Duels meet in the 1500-meter run.

“He improved quite a bit," Sudbury said. "He’s a nice guy to have as part of our program."

However, Dolezal wasn’t in the clear just yet. An ankle sprain that following summer took him out of competition for the cross-country season. Similar to his high school career, Dolezal bounced back for track, and competed in four indoor track meets and four outdoor meets in the 2016-17 season.

Now, healthy at last for cross-country, this 2017 season will be Dolezal’s first competitive cross-country season as a Cyclone.

“I’m nervous and excited,” Dolezal said. “I’m excited to see where it goes and what we [as a team] can do. It’s [going to] be an exciting year.”

Andrea Toppin battles back from a runner's nightmare

4/18/2016

 

 

Stress fracture: two words no runner ever wants to hear.

For Andrea Toppin, those words meant more than just sitting out her fall 2014 cross-country season and following indoor and outdoor track and field seasons. Her doctor told her to start centering her goals around her career after college and that it would be rare for the fracture to heal on its own and ever allow her to compete again collegiately.

Entering the 2014 fall cross-country season, Toppin had her sights set on contributing to another successful cross-country season for the Cyclones. The previous year, she finished as the team’s seventh runner at the 2013 NCAA Cross-Country Championships and helped the Cyclones to a 13th-place performance at the meet.

 

 

 

The summer leading up to the 2014 season, Toppin knew she would have to work as hard as ever to be one of the top-seven runners on a continuously improving team.

“I would go hard every run,” she said. “I was coming off an injury that previous spring, so I thought that I had to hammer every run to get back up with the group, and really that was quite the opposite. I wasn’t letting my body recover after easy recovery days. I was just hammering every run.”

The strain she put on her body day in and day out came at a cost the following fall.

“I had a really good summer of training, I was really fit, I was ready to go,” she said.

It turned out she wasn’t ready to go, and within that first week of school, she started experiencing pain in her knee.

She said the pain started in the front of her knee, and everyone thought it was a bad case of tendinitis. The pain then moved to the back of her knee, causing them to believe her popliteus muscle was inflamed.

“And then it moved to the front of my knee again, but lower, kind of right on my tibia, so that was a little scary,” she said. “I think I took a week off, cross-trained a lot.”

Toppin’s trainers had her run again the next week because her knee was feeling better.

The goal was for Toppin to make it through an easy four-mile run, but she could barely get through two miles.

“I remember going out one mile, turning around and feeling like my leg was going to break in half,” she said. “It just felt like someone was stabbing my leg. It was the most awful feeling ever.”

The trainers didn’t think the injury was a stress fracture at first. Toppin tried using a HydroWorks treadmill, which is an underwater treadmill. She used the most secure level, where the water was up to her shoulders near her neck, causing little impact on her body.

When she got off the treadmill she started limping, and her trainer suggested having an MRI. Toppin found out she had a stress fracture high up in the back of her tibia, which was rare because stress fractures are “most common in the weight-bearing bones of the lower leg and and foot,” according to the Mayo Clinic's website. 

“The doctor told me that I probably wouldn’t be able to compete again because it’s just a really rare stress fracture,” Toppin said. “I remember holding back tears the whole appointment. When he told me I would never really be able to compete again, the floodgates just opened.

“So I listened to my body, did what coach told me to do, but I knew I wasn’t done yet. I just took all the precautions I could. I listened to my trainers, I did every little thing I could do to get back to where I was.”

Toppin hasn’t been alone in dealing with injuries. Redshirt senior Christina Hillman, senior Alyssa Gonzalez and sophomore Abby Caldwell are three other athletes on the track and field team who have experienced injuries and health issues recently, all varying in severity.

Hillman’s back gave out on her while doing the technique of a front-squat wrong two summers ago.

“I felt my back kind of crunch in a way,” Hillman said. “It completely gave out on me. I ended up getting two bulged disks and a herniation.”

She battled back in the 2015 indoor season to finish first in the shot put at the Big 12 Championships and fourth at the NCAA Championships.

Caldwell had a successful cross-country season in the fall of 2015, but found out she had a kidney stone when she returned to Iowa State after Winter Break.

She said she was still able to do all of the mileage, but just didn’t feel that great, and the races didn’t go as planned.

“I’ve definitely had some successes, but I think my setbacks and failures have helped me a lot,” Caldwell said. “At the time, they’re really frustrating, especially this past indoor season wasn’t a season anybody wanted, but I think what I learned from it is going to determine whether it was a failure or learning experience.”

Gonzalez had her own run-in with injury during the 2015 indoor season. She strained her hamstring in January and was forced to miss the remainder of her final indoor season as a Cyclone.

“I’ve never been injured before, so it was definitely the hardest thing I’ve had to go through,” Gonzalez said. “Mentality wise, it was probably the toughest having to come to practice every day and see my teammates do what I wanted to do.

“But it taught me a lot; it helped me grow. I think I’m a lot stronger now and I’m a lot more ready to compete than I was beforehand.”

Athletes learn a lot about themselves and how much their respective sports mean to them after suffering a serious injury, and that was no different for Toppin.

As difficult as it was to hear that she had a stress fracture and that the remainder of her collegiate running career was in limbo, Toppin now says the injury was a blessing in disguise.

“I was kind of running down a path that I was going to end up getting hurt regardless," Toppin said. "I was kind of running myself into a hole."

The weeks of running 75 to 80 miles, even up to 90 miles when Corey Ihmels was coaching the women’s cross-country team before Andrea Grove-McDonough arrived in 2013, were in the past.

The road to recovery wouldn’t be easy for the seasoned long-distance runner, whose whole world seemed to revolve around running.

"You go stir crazy,” Toppin said. “I think everyone does.”

Toppin was initially told she couldn't exercise at all for six weeks. She had to use crutches and couldn’t wear a boot because the stress fracture was too high up in the back of her tibia.

Her doctor, however, gave her the OK on pool running in the deep end for 60 minutes, three times a week.

After eight weeks, Toppin had another MRI taken, which showed that she still had a stress reaction, but the fracture was healed. She was given permission to bike.

“I remember previous to this, I hated biking,” she said. “It was around Christmas time [when I found out I could bike], and I was like, this is like a Christmas present. It was awesome. I was actually excited to do something besides just being in water."

Four weeks later, Toppin found out her stress fracture was clear and everything was healed. The recovery process lasted about nine months. She started running again in late March, early April of 2015.

“It was a long haul, but it really taught me patience and perseverance and to never give up,” she said. “It taught me how to be more of a positive person, because to be a true athlete, to be a really good athlete, you have to have a really good positive attitude and a lot of perseverance to get through anything.”

Toppin credits her recovery to her faith, the support system around her and her ability to transfer negative energy into positive energy.

“I’d just think of the little girl — seventh, eighth grade, high school — who always had a dream of running Division I cross-country and track and field,” Toppin said. “I would always think, 'what would she do in this situation?' She would kill to be in this situation, so don’t let her down.”

Toppin returned to the cross-country course Sept. 4, 2015, for the Hawkeye Early Bird Invitational in Iowa City, where she placed fourth in the meet and completed a 1-2-3-4 sweep for the Cyclones.

“It was weird, but it was good to be competitive again and be in that type of area again," she said. "It was awesome. I was like, I can’t believe I’m out here.”

Toppin had been gaining confidence leading up to the meet ever since the team’s first cross-country workout.

She started off in the back, but said she felt better each half mile and kept working her way up in the pack.

“I did really well in that workout, so that’s where I saw where I was at,” she said. “It gave me a good confidence boost because I was working out with the top girls, and coach was like, 'what have you been doing this summer? Where have you been?'

“So going into my first meet I had that, OK, this is where I’m at. I’ve gotten back that confidence, that fitness that I lost over the past year.”

Toppin said during the cross-country season that she had just hoped she would make the travel squad for the team.

Her breakout performance came at the NCAA Midwest Regional on Nov. 13 in Lawrence, Kan.

She finished as the team’s third runner and 18th overall in the race.

“At the beginning of the year, I never would have thought I would be All-Region in cross-country, and that was just a race I never gave up,” she said. "It was a very hard race. I remember our third runner, Abby [Caldwell], was really struggling during that race. I just thought back to my workouts, coach trusted me, my workouts had been really good. There’s no reason I can’t be up here helping Abby, so I just remember that whole race, even if I was tired, I wanted to step off or pass out or drop back, I just thought, no, I have to help my teammates out here.

“Every [1,000 kilometers] of that race I got stronger, mentally and physically. That was just an awesome race because it was like finally everything that I’ve worked for these past four or five years is paying off.”

Toppin finished as the team’s third runner again at the NCAA Championships a week later and helped the Cyclones finish in the top 25.

“[Toppin] had that senior leadership that we really needed and were looking for and was always consistent, stepping up when other people kind of weren’t having their best day,” said ISU volunteer assistant coach Matt Valeriani. 

Toppin experienced a setback during the winter when her achilles flared up, forcing her to miss the entire indoor track season.

She returned to the track Friday to compete in her first 3,000-meter steeplechase in two years at the Jim Duncan Invitational, where she finished second overall behind ISU freshman Kelly Naumann.

Toppin said she is focusing on getting a chance to run the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Big 12 Championships.

Once her season ends, she plans on moving to Minneapolis and work as a physical therapy technician and apply to physical therapy school. She said she will probably run casually, but hasn’t thought about running post-collegiately yet.

“I’m going to miss running,” she said. “I’m going to miss competing like crazy. I know whenever my last race is, it’s going to be really hard, but I have to move on at some point, and I’m proud of what I’ve done and how I’ve represented Iowa State.”

 

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY: Kashur = Perseverance

• By STEVE THOMAS Bismarck Tribune
• 2011

Bismarck cross country runner Lane Kashur has shown he has no trouble reaching the finish line in precipitous fashion. His problem has been getting to the starting line.

 

Kashur, a junior, is one of five BHS runners ranked in the top six in the state cross country poll. And he'll have more invested in today's state meet at Rose Creek Golf Course in Fargo than most of the entrants.

 

 

Stress fractures hobbled him at last year's state meet. He was ranked in the top 10 and gutted out a 63rd-place finish. Last spring he was the state's second-ranked two-miler when a similar injury sidelined him.

 

 

As a freshman, he was ranked ninth in the state cross country poll, became ill the week of the state meet and placed 22nd.

 

 

"That young man has had to deal with some blows and he's persevered," said Dave Zittleman, who shares BHS coaching duties with Darrell Anderson. "He's really worked hard with his crosstraining and he's passionate about the sport, so this year we wanted to make sure he gets to the starting line at the state meet."

 

 

With his history of stress fractures, Kashur has adopted an unorthodox training regimen.

 

 

"I've really reduced my mileage. I'm just a lot more careful and have orthotics in my shoes now ... and I'm pretty much doing a lot of crosstraining. I'm on a weight-reducing treadmill once a week, and I'm actually running six out of seven days."

 

 

In order to prepare for cross country over the summer, Kashur supplemented his running with swimming and biking.

 

 

The alternative training plan has paid off, thus far.

 

 

"I didn't know what to expect. I decided to see how it goes and it's worked out nicely," Kashur said.

 

 

Ranked ahead of Kashur in the final cross country coaches poll are teammates Jake Leingang, Austin Todd and Brandon Berg. They're rated 1-2-3, respectively. Branden Scheel of Fargo Davies stands fourth and Bismarck's Preston Lerew is No. 6.

 

 

Leingang took the individual title last fall as Bismarck claimed its sixth straight state championship. Todd, Lerew and Berg finished fourth, 13th and 17th, respectively, as Bismarck posted a score of 53.

 

 

A much lower team score is anticipated this year. The Demons enter the state meet on the heels of back-to-back perfect scores. They tallied a 15 in the conference meet two weeks ago and matched that 10 days ago in a four-team Bismarck-Mandan event.

 

 

BHS is undefeated this season, a run that includes a victory in the Roy Griak meet in the Twin Cities. Kashur said it's been amazing to watch the team come together.

 

 

"There are a bunch of young kids on the team who really decided to step up this year in hopes we can make it to the national meet in December," Kashur said.

 

 

In order to qualify for the New Balance nationals the Demons must place first or second in the Heartland Region meet next month. BHS is currently ranked No. 1 in the seven-state region and 11th in the Dyestat national ratings. The Dyestat individual rankings have Leingang 12th.

 

 

 

 

That's not to say Kashur has lost track of the state meet.

 

 

"The state meet is a big meet for us, but we look to the November and December meets as part of our season."

 

 

Kashur has ambitious goals for today.

 

 

"Personally, I'd like to be in the top five," he siad. "With my teammates we're hoping to go one through five."

 

 

That would break the state Class A record of 19 set in 1967. That team included Randy Lussenden, Leon Conitz and Leon Kleingartner.

 

 

Kashur said Bismarck's back-to-back 15s are a little hard to comprehend.

 

 

"I don't know if any of us expected to be where we are right now," he siad. "We definitely thought we had a shot at another state title, but we didn't expect to be getting perfect scores."

 

 

Behind Bismarck in the statewide standings come West Fargo, Grand Forks Central, Fargo Davies and Century.

 

 

Century, led by Cataldo DiDonna's eighth-place finish, placed second behind Bismarck in the conference meet. West Fargo edged Central 65-57 to win the East Region meet. Scheel finished first individually.

 

 

Zittleman said apart from Leingang the Demons are well-balanced.

 

 

"Our 2-3-4-5 have kind of been interchangeable, and that's a good thing," Zittleman said. "I think we're deep back to our 10th guy."

 

 

However, Zittleman insists today's focus is not on a perfect score. "We just want to go out there and have a successful run ... and if it happens, it happens," he said. "But there are some really good runners from the East, so it will take a really outstanding run."

 

 

The Class A boys are second on today's program with a 12:30 p.m. start. The Class A girls kick things off at noon. The Class B girls run at 2 p.m. with the B boys scheduled to start at 2:45.

 

 

The state layout is 4,000 meters for girls and 5,000 meters for boys.

 

September 20, 2014  

Jordan Jacob won the Class A girls cross country state championship in 2013, but when the 2014 season arrived, the Century standout didn’t know what to expect.

But with less than a month remaining in the regular season, the expectations are running high for the senior.

Jacob spent most of the past offseason recovering from multiple stress fractures in her left foot. She sustained those injuries while training shortly after the end of the 2013 cross country season. A top-notch distance runner, Jacob had to miss the entire track season last spring.

“I had to stay off my foot for 11 weeks. No training, nothing,” Jacob said. “After that it was hard to get back to training the way I’m used to. I thought I would be ready to go by track season, but I couldn’t do it. I had a good summer, but I didn’t really know what to expect this year in cross country.”

So far, so good.

Jacob is the No. 1-ranked runner in Class A girls cross country, a distinction she has held in three of the four state polls. On Saturday, she added another individual crown to her collection at the Anderson/Stavn Invitational meet, held at McDowell Dam. Jacob recorded a winning effort of 14:39.17 (4,000 meters), which was 11.22 seconds faster than the time turned in by the runner-up, No. 5 Mattie Shirley-Fairbairn of Bismarck.

Elizabeth Yoder of Dickinson, Olivia Murdoff of Century and Amber Stevahn of Shiloh Christian finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Jacob has now won three straight competitions after finishing third behind Kelby Anderson of Century and Shirley-Fairbairn in the first meet of the season, the Rusty Bucket.

“I felt really good today. It was a good day to run,” Jacob said. “At the start of the year I was a little nervous because of what happened last year, but so far, I haven’t had any trouble.”

Jacob helped No. 2 Century to the team championship. The Patriots totaled 38 points, with Murdoff (fourth), Jaiden Schuette (sixth), Laura Laber (10th) and Brittney Humphrey (17th) rounding out the team scoring.

Jacob said the Patriots are looking better each week.

“We have a very good team this year ... a lot of talent,” she said. “We have some work to do, but if we continue to work hard, I think we can go far.”

The girls field consisted of 91 runners from 17 Class A and Class B teams, but none of them were from the Class A East Region. Jacob was disappointed that No. 1 Grand Forks Central and its top runner, No. 2 Karly Ackley, weren’t in town, but noted that the meet wasn’t short on high-quality competition.

“We haven’t seen any east teams yet this year, but there are a lot of talented runners in the west, both Class A and Class B. A lot of them were here today,” she said. “This was a great meet to run in ... very competitive.”

Dickinson, with 98 points, was a distant second in the team standings. Bismarck (129), Mandan (160) and Shiloh Christian (169) completed the top five.

In the boys division, No. 1 Sam Clausnitzer of Bismarck continued his winning ways, cruising to his fourth victory of the season. The junior covered the 5,000-meter course in 15:43.47. No. 2 Jackson Binstock of Dickinson came in second, a whopping 20.77 seconds later.

Clausnitzer took control about midway through the race.

“Jackson was pushing the pace the first 2K, but then he started to fall back. That’s when I made a move,” he said. “I went out hard early on, but I tried to pace myself most of the way, and then try to finish strong.”

Clausnitzer was one of six Bismarck runners finishing in the top 13. Also contributing to the team score were Matt Bakken (fourth), Nils Aardahl (fifth), Sam Markle (11th) and Stuart Wolf (12th). Bismarck tallied 33 points.

New Town, the No. 1-ranked team in Class B boys, finished second with 90 points. Century had 94, Dickinson 165 and Williston 190. There were 98 runners from 14 teams in the boys division.

Clausnitzer said the Demons are gearing up for the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational in St. Paul, Minn., this weekend.

“It’s one of the best meets around. Teams from all over the country come there to run, so there will be lots of great competition,” he said. “The course has lots of hills and turns. It’s one of the most difficult courses you’ll find, but it’s fun to run on.”

Erin Finn Is Injured, Will Sit Out Remainder Of Indoor Season

Feb 16, 2018

University of Michigan All-American Erin Finn announced on social media this week that she is injured again and will bypass the remainder of the indoor track season. 

Finn has placed runner-up at the NCAA Championships four times: at the 2017 indoor 5K, 2016 XC, 2016 indoor 5K and 2016 indoor 3K.

The fifth-year senior was in PB shape as recently as January; she broke nine minutes in the 3K for the first time in her career to set a new Michigan school record of 8:58.69. That mark still ranks No. 6 in the NCAA this season.

Finn has endured a recurrent stress fracture in her foot through much of her collegiate career. The University of Michigan Medicine department published this video on Finn's journey back from injury in January:

 

STATE CROSS COUNTRY: Hillsboro-CV eyes another title run

Oct 24, 2018

 

 

Another state championship seems a lot closer to the Hillsboro-Central Valley girls cross country team than it did a week ago.

The Burros program has won seven consecutive state titles. This season, Rugby was the No. 1 team in every weekly Class B coaches' poll, with Hillsboro-CV second in each of the last seven polls.

In last Saturday's East Region meet, Hillsboro-CV won the title with a score of 74, beating runner-up Rugby by 20 points. The teams meet again Saturday at the Class B state high school meet, which begins at 11 a.m. in Jamestown.

"I've been optimistic about our chances the whole season,'' H-CV coach Kirk Zink said. "But from the standpoint of confidence for the girls, it was a really nice win for us.

"If our top five runners run really well, we have a good chance to win again. Rugby could win, too. We have more top-end talent. They have more quality depth.''

The Burros' are led by Jensyn Zink (fourth at state last season) and two-time defending state champion Reagan Baesler. Jensyn Zink missed almost five weeks this season due to issues with a stress fracture. Baesler has been running all season with a torn ACL she suffered last summer.

“You'd never know it watching Reagan,'' Kirk Zink said. "It's amazing. She's had a terrific year.''

Eighth-grader Ondrea Betner and seventh-grader Mallory Alfson have stepped in as the third and fourth runners, respectively.

The regional was the first meet the Burros won this season. It was the first time their top six runners ran together in a race.

Krack the favorite

While Baesler is defending champion, Thompson senior Lana Krack has been the No. 1-ranked runner all season by coaches.

Krack finished third at the state cross country meet last season and won the 1,600 and 3,200 at the state track meet last spring. Class B runner has beaten Krack this season.

“We haven’t paid a lot of attention to the polls,’’ Thompson coach Lindsay George said. “What matters is Saturday when you prove your ability. Lana’s been running really well. I don’t see that changing.’’

Other area runners who consistently have been ranked in the top 10 are Langdon-Edmore-Munich's Elise Ramberg and Mayville-Portland-CG's Anna Strand.

Burros chasing New Town

New Town won its sixth consecutive Class B boys cross country state title last season, with Hillsboro-CV finishing second. Those teams consistently have been ranked first and second, respectively, in the state poll this season.

"New Town isn't the power they've been the last several years, but they're still clearly the favorite,'' Kirk Zink said. "We have three, maybe four, kids who will contend for all-state. That would win state in a lot of years. But New Town has a dynasty. We'd need some breaks to win it.''

The Burros are led by a returning top-10 state finishers Colton Anderson (sixth) and Chase Fossum (ninth).

Other area runners who consistently have been ranked in the top 10 include Hunter Denault of Pembina County North and Thompson juniors Pierce Cooper and Jacob Hendrickson.

 

Dieting Danger: Female Athletes Limiting Calories More Likely To Get Stress Fractures

Date:September 13, 2006Source:Saint Louis UniversitySummary:Female college athletes on low-calorie diets could be putting themselves at risk for stress fractures, according to new Saint Louis University research published in this month's American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Female college athletes on low-calorie diets could be putting themselves at risk for stress fractures, according to new Saint Louis University research published in this month’s The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

Researchers studied risk factors for exercise-related leg pain, including stress fractures in women participating in four popular fall sports – cross-country running, field hockey, soccer and volleyball.

Women with "disordered eating," which includes eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia but more generally refers to insufficient caloric intake, were more likely to develop stress fractures as a result of decreased estrogen production, says researcher Mark Reinking, PT, Ph.D., chairman of the department of physical therapy at Saint Louis University's Doisy College of Health Sciences.

"When people expend more calories than they consume, they release fewer hormones, which slows down menstrual cycles. This decreases estrogen in the body, which is responsible for bone development," says Reinking, also chairman of the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties.

Leg pain is one of the most common problems afflicting athletes, Reinking says.

"It causes people to miss practices and competitions, and I wanted to understand if two people were undergoing the same exercise regime, why only one of them would have leg pain," he says. "It’s not as simple as 'Run less' or 'Change your shoes every 300 miles.' It's a complex problem, and you can't prevent something if you don't know what causes it."

Risk factors for exercise-related leg pain were a prior history of the condition, disordered eating and excessive pronation (a rolling inwards) of the foot.

 

"Exercise-related leg pain is often described as common in athletes, but this is only the second study of its kind to quantitatively describe the condition and identify the risk factors for it," Reinking says. "The history and incidence data from this study support the notion that leg pain is common among female athletes."

Exercise-related leg pain is a term used to describe lower extremity overuse conditions in which pain is felt below the knee and above the ankle bone and is associated with exercise.

Although it is often thought to be related to external factors such as training volume, playing/training surface or footwear, there is little scientific evidence to support these elements as risk factors for leg pain.

Rather, internal factors such as excessive foot pronation, menstrual function and bone mineral density have been found to be associated with this condition.

Reinking studied 76 female college athletes playing one of four fall sports at a Midwestern NCAA Division I school (29 soccer, 18 field hockey, 18 cross-country and 11 volleyball athletes). Data were collected on the athletes’ eating behaviors, years in school sports, menstrual history, bone mineral density, body mass index, incidence of prior leg pain, and the degree of foot pronation.

 

Three-quarters of the female athletes reported a history of leg pain, with cross-country runners having the highest percentage (94.4 percent) and soccer players the lowest (55.2 percent). All athletes were then monitored for leg pain during one intercollegiate sports season. Of the 76 athletes, 26.3 percent experienced leg pain during the season, all of whom had reported prior leg pain.

Athletes who developed stress fractures had more abnormal scores on the eating behavior questionnaire and also showed decreased bone mineral density, findings suggestive of disordered eating, which is an umbrella term for common eating disorders as well as any other nutritional deficiency.

The type of sport played was not correlated with high scores on the eating behaviors survey.

Long a leader in health professions education, Saint Louis University began its nursing program in 1928 and the first baccalaureate degree program in an allied health profession in 1929. Today the Doisy College of Health Sciences offers degrees in nursing, clinical laboratory sciences, health information management, investigative and medical sciences, nuclear medicine technology, nutrition and dietetics, occupational science and occupational therapy, physical therapy and a physician assistant program.

Repetitive, high-impact sports linked to stress fractures in girls

Date:April 4, 2011Source:Children's Hospital BostonSummary:Children are urged to participate in sports at younger and younger ages and at greater levels of intensity. While weight-bearing activity is generally thought to increase bone density, a new study finds that for preadolescent and adolescent girls, too much high-impact activity can lead to stress fractures. If these are detected too late in children and adolescent athletes, they pose a risk of true fracture, deformity or growth disturbance requiring surgical treatment, say the researchers.

Children are urged to participate in sports at younger and younger ages and at greater levels of intensity. While weight-bearing activity is generally thought to increase bone density, a study from Children's Hospital Boston finds that for preadolescent and adolescent girls, too much high-impact activity can lead to stress fractures.

If these are detected too late in children and adolescent athletes, they pose a risk of true fracture, deformity or growth disturbance requiring surgical treatment, say the researchers, led by Alison Field, ScD, of Children's Division of Adolescent Medicine, and Mininder S. Kocher, MD, MPH, associate director of Sports Medicine at Children's.

The study, published online April 4 by the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, followed 6831 girls aged 9 to 15 participating in the large national Growing Up Today Study, co-founded by Field. During the 7 years after enrollment, 4 percent of the girls developed a stress fracture. The most significant predictors were high-impact activities, particularly running, basketball, cheerleading and gymnastics.

"This is the first study to look prospectively at causes of stress fracture among a general sample of adolescent girls," says Field, who is also affiliated with Brigham and Women's Hospital. "Most research has been on specialized groups, such as army recruits or college athletes, making it difficult to figure out if the results apply to average adolescents. Our study was large enough to look at risk associated not only with hours per week of activity, but also hours per week in a variety of different activities."

When the researchers adjusted for other risk factors (age, later onset of menstruation and family history of osteoporosis and low bone density), the association between high-impact sports and fractures only strengthened. Girls engaging in 8 or more hours of high-impact activity per week were twice as likely to have a stress fracture as those engaged in such activity for 4 hours or fewer.

"We are seeing stress fractures more frequently in our pediatric and adolescent athletes," says Kocher, senior author on the report. "This likely reflects increased intensity and volume of youth sports. Kids are often playing on multiple teams, including town and travel teams, and participating in high intensity showcases and tournaments. It's not uncommon to see young athletes participating in more than 20 hours of sports per week."

Each hour of high-impact activity per week increased fracture risk by about 8 percent. Basketball, cheerleading/gymnastics and running were independent predictors.

"The youth athlete is specializing in a single sport at a younger age," says Kocher. "This does not allow for cross-training or relative rest, as the athlete is constantly doing the same pattern of movement and impact. Small injuries are being made in the bone with greater cumulative frequency than the body can handle."

The key to the treatment of stress fractures is early recognition, Kocher adds. If recognized early, most stress fractures will heal fully with activity restriction.

"Kids should not play through pain," he says. "'No pain-No gain' is not an appropriate adage for the young athlete."

The study was supported by the Department of Orthopedics at Children's Hospital Boston and the National Institutes of Health.

 

Underweight female runners more likely to get stress fractures

Doctors find women with lower BMIs are at a higher risk of injury, take longer to heal

Date:June 12, 2017Source:Ohio State UniversitySummary:Female runners who are underweight have a higher risk for injury and take longer to heal, according to a new study. A researcher studied dozens of Division I athletes over three years and found that those with a body mass index of 19 or below were likely to develop stress fractures because their bodies are unable to handle the constant pounding of running.

Carrying less weight may make female runners faster, but a new study from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center shows it may also put them at a higher risk for injuries.

Published in Current Orthopaedic Practice, the study found that female runners who have a body mass index (BMI) of less than 19 are at a higher risk of developing stress fractures than women with a BMI of 19 or higher. It also found that lighter women who suffered stress fractures took longer to recover from them than other runners.

"We found that over time, we were able to identify the factors that put female runners at an increased risk of developing a stress fracture," said Dr. Timothy Miller, assistant professor of clinical orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine. "One of the most important factors we identified was low body weight, or low body mass index."

Miller said runners endure repetitive pounding on hard surfaces and, without enough lean muscle mass for dissipation of impact forces, the bones of the legs are vulnerable.

"When body mass index is very low and muscle mass is depleted, there is nowhere for the shock of running to be absorbed other than directly into the bones. Until some muscle mass is developed and BMI is optimized, runners remain at increased risk of developing a stress fracture," Miller said.

For three years, Miller and his team looked at injuries in dozens of Division I college athletes using the Kaeding-Miller classification system, which he developed with another sports medicine expert at Ohio State. This system is unique in that it characterizes injuries on a scale of 1 to 5, taking into consideration not only the patient's symptoms, but also x-ray results, bone scan and computed tomography (CT) images, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings.

Among those with grade 5 stress fractures -- the most severe -- the research team found that women whose BMI was 19 or higher took about 13 weeks to recover. Those with a low BMI (below 19), took more than 17 weeks to recover and return to running -- a full month longer.

Studies show that between 25 and 50 percent of track athletes have at least one stress fracture in their career, with an increased incidence in female track athletes.

"It's imperative that women know their BMI and work to maintain a healthy level. They should also include resistance training in their training regimen to strengthen the lower leg to prevent injury, even if that means adding weight from additional muscle mass," Miller said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the body mass index for an average woman is 26. Miller suggests female athletes maintain a body mass index of 20-24.

Would changing gait pattern decrease your likelihood of running injuries?

Date:April 6, 2016Source:American Academy of Orthopaedic SurgeonsSummary:Are runners less injury-prone trekking barefoot than in pricey running shoes? Maybe, according to a new literature review. Advances in running shoe technology in the last 40 years have not reduced injuries, but racing 'barefoot' in shoes with minimal cushioning could help runners change their strides and landing patterns to prevent repetitive heel pain and stress fractures.

Are runners less injury-prone trekking barefoot than in pricey running shoes? Maybe, according to a new literature review in the March issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS). Advances in running shoe technology in the last 40 years have not reduced injuries, but racing "barefoot" in shoes with minimal cushioning could help runners change their strides and landing patterns to prevent repetitive heel pain and stress fractures.

Three of four active runners sustain injuries, mostly in the knee and lower leg. Most distance runners who use cushioned running shoes run heel-to-toe, or in a rearfoot strike (RFS) pattern. This action is associated with longer strides and excessive load force--up three times the runner's body weight--on the lower leg, knee, and hip. This leads to bone and soft-tissue injuries, tibial stress fractures, and severe heel pain, such as plantar fasciitis.

Minimalist, including barefoot, running has become popular in recent years. Minimalist running shoes have thinner soles and less cushioning and are more flexible than conventional runners' footwear. Advocates believe these shoe changes alter running so the front or middle of the foot strikes the ground first--a forefoot or midfoot strike (FFS and MFS)--which reduces load stress on the knee, lower leg, and heel. Flatter foot placement dissipates load impact on the heel.

"Injury patterns among long-distance runners are unacceptably high, and while some research in minimalist running seems promising regarding injury prevention, there still are a lot of unknowns, and the debate continues," says lead author and orthopaedic surgeon Jonathan Roth, MD, with Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Virginia. "Evidence to date shows that changing gait patterns, not shoe selection, is the best intervention to lower the injury prevalence in runners. Minimalist shoes may give better feedback to runners and allow them to focus on changing their gait, but not everyone does, and this could lead to more injury."

Dr. Roth added that increasing acceptance of minimalist running has outpaced medical evidence of its benefits. Orthopaedic literature, however, has demonstrated that with less-cushioned footwear, runners spontaneously transition from the RFS to the FFS gait pattern. Whether FFS running truly can reduce injuries is unknown, but the most compelling data were published in a 2012 study involving a Division I collegiate cross-country team. The results showed:

• The athletes had a 75 percent injury rate per year, categorized as either traumatic or repetitive;
• Strike type was characterized for each athlete and showed that 31 percent ran in the FFS pattern and 69 percent demonstrated RFS; and,
• There was no difference in the traumatic injury rate between FFS and RFS runners; and,
• FFS runners were 1.7 times less likely to sustain repetitive injuries than RFS runners.

Other findings in the JAAOS literature review include:

• Barefoot and minimalist running is not injury-proof and poses risk for metatarsal (toe) stress fractures, plantar fasciitis, and puncture wounds;
• Runners can transition to the FFS pattern in any shoe with appropriate training; and,
• Barefoot and minimalist running is an emerging phenomenon that requires further exploration of its orthopaedic implications to identify true long-term benefits and risks.

Runners interested in exploring minimalist running shoes to provide more feel and less of a heel-to-toe offset, and to allow easier landing midfoot to forefoot, "should consider themselves as non-runners and start over by walking and gradually adding running distance week to week," advises Dr. Roth. "This will help assure proper transitioning to build strength, flexibility, stability, and endurance around the foot and ankle." Transition from a RFS to FFS gait pattern should be a gradual process--over many months. Runners should expect to run minimal mileage when transitioning and always remember the 10 percent rule when increasing in distance. An abrupt switching of gait patterns can lead to an increase in other repetitive stress injuries if not done correctly.

 

New study connects running motion to ground force, provides patterns for any runner

Date:January 31, 2017Source:Southern Methodist UniversitySummary:Researchers have developed a concise approach to understanding the mechanics of human running. The research has immediate application for running performance, injury prevention, rehab and the individualized design of running shoes, orthotics and prostheses. The work integrates classic physics and human anatomy to link the motion of individual runners to their patterns of force application on the ground -- during jogging, sprinting and at all speeds in between.

Researchers at Southern Methodist University in Dallas have developed a concise new explanation for the basic mechanics involved in human running.

 

 

Reducing Stress Fractures in Female College Distance Runners - Training & Conditioning (training-conditioning.com)

JFMK | Free Full-Text | Drive for Thinness Predicts Musculoskeletal Injuries in Division II NCAA Female Athletes (mdpi.com)

Summer Training Factors and Risk of Musculoskeletal Injury Among High School Cross-country Runners | Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy (jospt.org)

Preventing Cross Country Running Injuries | Orthopaedic Specialists PLLC (louisvillebones.com)

 

Epidemiology of stress fracture injuries among US high school athletes, 2005-2006 through 2012-2013 - PubMed (nih.gov)