Rapid recoveries

It’s been a remarkable journey back to state meet contention for two senior sprinters on the Creston girls track team.

Stephanie Hemsworth began running with the team again in early March after a winter-long recovery from her second ACL reconstruction surgery on her right knee.

Kiersten Latham, bothered by a dysplasia issue in both hips for several years, opted to have corrective surgery on her left hip — the most painful of the two — last July after her junior softball season. She was on crutches for 12 weeks and walked with a cane until the week after the 2017 homecoming weekend (see related story).

Through dedicated rehabilitation and sheer determination to return to the track this spring, they can now often be seen handing off the baton to each other on some of the Panthers’ best relays. Both have state meet experience and want to end their track careers back on the blue oval at Drake Stadium next month.

“It would be hard to run relays this year without those two,” said head coach Clay Arnold. “When things happen like that to people who aren’t as tough as Steph and Kiersten, or who don’t have their drive and ambition, they don’t come back from that. Those two are special.”

Transfer impact

Hemsworth’s high school track career started long before her family moved to Creston just before her sophomore year. Minnesota allows high school participation starting in seventh grade, and Hemsworth was part of her high school team in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. A few years earlier her sister Elizabeth starred on the team, running 56.99 in the 400 meters as state runner-up and led the school to a 4x400 relay championship.

During presesason conditioning running as a newcomer on the Panther volleyball team two years ago, teammates noticed her speed and alerted Arnold.

“Jami Sickels came to me and said we have a move-in and she’s pretty fast,” Arnold said. “I saw her play some JV basketball games that winter and loved her hustle and effort. I thought that’s exactly the type of kid we want on our team.”

Hemsworth’s impact in track was immediate. That year she qualified for state in four events — sprint medley, 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relays.

Amber Castillo, now on the Grand View University track team as a hurdler, anchored the 4x400 that year as a senior, and Arnold was planning on Hemsworth stepping into that role the following year.

First injury

But, on the fourth day of basketball practice in November of her junior year, Hemsworth came down awkwardly on her right leg after grabbing a rebound. Chris Leonard, athletic trainer for Greater Regional Medical Center, took a look at the injury and had some bad news.

“Chris did the things he does to test it and he said I tore my ACL,” Hemsworth said. “My goal all along was to get back for track.”

That was easier said than done. Track practice would begin in just more than three months. The normal ACL surgery recovery period is six months.

Hemsworth was soon on the fast track. She was on crutches only one day.

“Dr. (William) Ralston said he wouldn’t say it’s not possible, but he wouldn’t definitely say he would clear me, either,” Hemsworth said. “He ended up releasing me at four months to run track. Running straight is not really that bad for your knee. I wasn’t on crutches long, so I hadn’t lost that much muscle. But I was kind of out of shape when I got back for the Dallas Center-Grimes meet that April.”

Hemsworth was part of a state-qualifying 4x200 relay last year, despite limited practice time.

“Few people could have done what she did,” Arnold said. “Steph is the most dedicated rehabber I have ever seen. She did everything she was supposed to do, when she was supposed to do it. She still had some rehab to do after track season to make sure everything was balanced and healthy. Then I got a text from her over the summer that she had done it again!”

Second mishap

Just three weeks after Hemsworth had been cleared by doctors for full activity, she was on a church mission trip in Salt Lake City, Utah, and participating in a group outdoor game.

“We were doing an outreach event, playing this game where we’re spread out like spokes on a wheel and when your number was called you had to run around this circle faster than the other number that’s called,” Hemsworth recalled. “I stood up and turned to run and it popped out. The same knee. I was hoping it wasn’t my ACL again.”

Once again, after flying back early to Iowa with a painful, swollen knee, Leonard gave her the bad news again.

“He said, ‘I’m sorry, but you don’t have an ACL.’ By that time I kind of knew,” Hemsworth said.

This time, after a second opinion at DMOS Orthopaedic Center, Dr. Jason Sullivan performed a second ACL construction on her right knee on Sept. 6. Doctors told her there is more caution involved in recovering from a second surgery, and that she could be out up to 12 months, which would sideline her for any sports her senior year.

Hemsworth refused to accept that, but did comply with being on crutches for six weeks. She said she’s still trying to rebuild lost muscle from that long of an inactive period. She convinced doctors to release her for track at six months if she showed sufficient progress.

Much like former Creston football players Alex Tamerius, now at Central College, and Briar Evans, who played at Morningside College, Hemsworth was back on the ACL rehab schedule for a second time.

“I knew I couldn’t give up, but sometimes it is so boring,” Hemsworth said. “You do the same thing day after day. It’s more mental than physical.”

Dedication

Leonard said the process asks for a lot of discipline and determination, especially a second time.

“It’s tough, emotionally and physically,” Leonard said. “They have been through it, so they know what they need to do. It’s an advantage in that aspect, but you have to stay motivated.”

This time the recovery wasn’t as rushed and Hemsworth was able to build herself up to full strength at the six-month mark in early March. She ran the 55 meters at the Graceland University indoor meet in a time matching her stellar sophomore season, and also ran the 800 meters for conditioning purposes.

Arnold was encouraged.

“We could tell in her 55 meters that she still had her speed, and that’s what we were wondering about after two surgeries and just a few weeks of activity since the first part of her sophomore basketball season,” Arnold said. “She’s not quite where she was two years ago in her 200 and 400 splits, but each time out she looks stronger and smoother.”

Hemsworth and Latham have run together on the 4x400 relay in a season-best time of 4:17.94 at the Tiger-Knight Relays at Denison on Thursday; the 4x200 relay in 1:53.79 and 4x100 in 54.35 at the DC-G meet; and sprint medley in 1:55.97 at the Ram Relays in Glenwood. Hemsworth also ran a 65-second 400 leg on the distance medley team at the Clarinda Co-Ed Meet on April 16 as the Panthers placed second.

“I just want to keep improving my times and get back to state,” Hemsworth said. “I’d really like to medal in something my senior year.”

The daughter of Ron and Joy Hemsworth plans to major in office administration at Faith Baptist College in Ankeny, where she may play volleyball.

If her track career ends during a state meet race, she’ll know all that hard rehabilitation work paid off.

“I learned you just have to keep working even though it’s not always fun,” Hemsworth said. “The plan that God has for your life may not be necessarily what you always thought it would be.”

Arnold said Hemsworth has been a terrific role model for injured freshmen Braelyn Baker and Samantha Dunphy on their efforts to return to athletics.

“To be basically out of shape for two years and come back and perform like she has for us, Steph is a real success story,” Arnold said. “The perseverance, I’ve never seen anything like it. She is very strong-willed.”