Athletes Struggle to Overcome Mid-Season Injuries

Roll over the dots to hear how the athletes received their injuries. 

Mary Booton: Volleyball

Sophomore Mary Booton felt something solid slam into her left eye, and hit the floor hard. Stunned, she looked up to see her teammates huddled around her. She had been celebrating with the rest of her team after scoring a point in their volleyball game against SM North, but the mood shifted drastically within seconds. Senior Savannah Bellem had been pumping her arms in the air in celebration when her hand came into contact with Booton’s head.

“I kind of blacked out,” Booton said. “I was shocked at first. I remember lying on the floor and eventually I got up to sit on the bench. It was a bad game.”

Booton received a minor concussion that kept her off the court for a week. At first, Booton had no motivation. She stayed home from school for two days and suffered from constant headaches and fatigue.

After eight days, her symptoms became manageable and Booton began to go on daily one-mile runs and exercises that consisted of weighted lunges and jump training.

“It wasn’t too bad,” Booton said. “I just got a little beat up. Really, I just wanted to get back to the team.”

Will Jaggers: Football

It was the JV football team’s first game of the season when sophomore Will Jaggers suffered a coracoid fracture. Jaggers, who plays left guard, fell on his arm during the second half of the game against Leavenworth and fractured a small bone in his right shoulder.

“I felt a crack in my shoulder,” Jaggers said. “I tried to shake it off. I told myself I was okay and that I could play and so I did. But I found out later that it was much more than that.”

When Jaggers went to the doctor the next day, they told him that he had a coracoid fracture, which is when the joints are dislocated. As a result, Jaggers had to wear a brace that attached his right bicep to his side and his wrist to the front of his body. Jaggers spent the practices filming the offense, running water out to the player and catching the footballs for the field kicker.

Though he was able to remove the brace last week, he still wears it in his sleep. Jaggers now stretches his shoulder in order to reduce swelling, and will be able to play in the playoffs in November.

“The hardest part about being injured is knowing that I’m missing most of the season,” Jaggers said. “Now I’m just going to focus on playing hard.”

Mick Wiggins: Cross Country

Freshman Mick Wiggins had every intention of running with the varsity boys cross country team in the Topeka Invitational. He had finished in the top 10 during time trials and ran with the varsity team in the meet the week before. He was in the middle of his pre-meet warm ups with the rest of the team when he felt excruciating pain in his right heel.

“Something just clicked,” Wiggins said. “It was clear I couldn’t run; I could hardly walk.”

Frustrated, Wiggins walked off the starting line and threw his spikes on the ground. Two minutes later, the gun went off and the meet began, leaving him on the sidelines.

The following week, Wiggins went to practice three times, but was only able to do the warm up run before dropping out. Finally, on Thursday, he and his dad went to a walk-in clinic in Prairie Village. After getting an x-ray of his foot, they told him he had fractured a bone from striking the ground with his heel, rather than his forefoot. Within the hour, his foot was in a cast. This past week was his last week with the cast. Now he must wear a boot for three more weeks and undergo physical therapy.

“I’m definitely looking forward to running three more years,” Wiggins said. “I might even do track in the spring.”

Madi Lage: Gymnastics

Senior Madi Lage has successfully done a punch front — a stunt that requires a gymnast to do a front flip while tucking his or her legs up to the chest — numerous times. But it was on Sept. 12, during a meet in Lawrence, when her right foot missed the floor and her entire body weight slammed into her right leg, forcing her into a squat and straining her knee.

“I just thought ‘Oh God, could this end the year?’,” Lage said. “It didn’t really start hurting, though, until I got off the floor and the adrenaline left my body.”

The tendons in Lage’s knee were inflamed and slightly out of place. To recover, Lage iced her knee and wore her brace, which she still does today. Her injury kept her out of events that strained her knee, such as tumbling, for a little over a week.

During the Lancer Day parade, Lage hurt her wrist while tumbling down Mission with the rest of the gymnastic team.

“Gymnastics is almost a daily injury,” Lage said. “But I just tell myself that I have to keep working and no matter how much it hurts it’ll be worth it when [a] competition comes.”