Injury is all a big part of playing sports at any level and at any venue. As the competitive juices continue to flow within an athlete, getting beyond those injuries can either be simple, leading to future successes, or a problem child.
Injury is all a big part of playing sports at any level and at any venue. As the competitive juices continue to flow within an athlete, getting beyond those injuries can either be simple, leading to future successes, or a problem child.
At the Wooster Invitational Track Meet at the College of Wooster recently, several local athletes who have taken high school experiences to the next level came together, some successfully, some not so much.
Emma Liberatore, as 2019 graduate of NDCL, was a dominating athlete in anything she tried for the Lions.
She has taken those skills to the college level at Ashland University, and done quite well. She battled shin splints in her early days for Ashland, and while now back to as full a level of competing as she can reach, those darn shins still bark once in a while.
“I’ve been doing pretty good so far this season, both indoors and outdoors,” she said in a brief moment of rest during the high jump competitions at Wooster. “The time really had gone by fast for me. I still deal with the shin splints from time to time, but you just learn to rest, recuperate and move on with it. I always think I can do better with my efforts, but it’s also not possible at times. I had tried the heptathalon last year, but it’s just too hard to get ready for, so now I’m concentrating on the high jump.”
For an athlete her size, about 5-6 or thereabouts, she was in the running, as she is in most meets, for the title until the last couple of rounds. Then you could see girls over six feet tall jumping, and at the same success levels as for Liberatore, but it had to give her ideas about her chances to win. That is the key to her successes, though, in anything she tries.
“It’s funny how fast things have gone here,” she said. “I’ve had some talks with others about what I will do in the future when I’m done here. I get back to NDCL once in a while, visiting or taking part in alumni events, it’s just great to get back. I’ve thought about coaching later, but it’s still down the road.”
Other area athetes competed at Wooster. Rosie Murray , a sophomore from Chardon who graduated from Hawken School, ran the anchor leg for the John Carroll 4×100 team that took third place. She also ran the opening leg of the 4×400 relay team for the John Carroll team as the Blue Streaks ended up second in the overall standings to the powerful Ashland Eagles.
JCU tallied 90 points, but Ashland dominated in most events to prove why they have some national DII titles under their belts by scoring 389.5 points.
For a quick idea of how good the Ashland Eagle program is, Liberatore also finished in third place in the javelin throw with a heave of 90.05 feet, while the first two athletes ahead of her and the four behind her all wore the colors of the Eagles. Several events ended up like that.
Freshman Alyssa Vis of Perry finished tenth in the 1500 race running for John Carroll, and teammate Grace McKoon, also a freshman from Perry, took 19th place.
Ashland also dominated the men’s side of scoring wth 247.5 points, easily outdistancing Mt. Union, which tallied 90.5 points.
West Geauga graduate Chris Whiting, also running for the Blue Streaks, gave in very respectable effort to finish in 15th place in the 800 race behind McBride.
Chardon’s Dillon Cox competed in the pole vault for Mt. Union as well.
He was not credited with an official height in the event but among close to 2,000 athletes competing on a sunny but cold and windy day, the atmosphere was at a high level for all who participated.
Injuries happen when you compete, some avoid it but most don’t, but the higher levels of those competitions are what make life stronger for all.
