Coming back from an injury is never easy. As Century hurdler Carly Fornshell found out, competing again is the easy part.
In June of 2015 during a basketball game, Carly Fornshell jumped in the air, but when she landed she experienced immediate pain.
“I was playing in league basketball Monday night,” Fornshell said, “and there was no trainer there, so I didn’t know I had torn it. I had a pretty good idea because of the amount of pain.”
Soon after, Carly visited a doctor and they performed tests on her knee. She tried to remain positive but the doctor had a different look in his eye.
“I cried,” Fornshell said. “I could tell by the look on the doctor’s face as soon as he did the ACL test that it was gone. My heart just sunk.”
Century girls track coach Courtney Ollerick has known Carly for three years, and she witnessed the recovery process up close.
“It’s taken a while for her to build up her confidence,” Ollerich said. “This year, she has stepped outside of the comfort zone. She’s beginning to trust herself.”
On the track, Carly competes in 110 and 300-meter hurdles, so having faith in her knee is vital to her success.
“As a hurdler, I had to learn to trust myself going over the hurdles again,” Fornshell said.” Like as basketball player, because I did come back to basketball my junior year, you have to trust yourself to jump again because that’s how I did it.”
Along with overcoming an injury, Coach Ollerich views Carly as one of the leaders on the team.
“We have a really young team,” Ollerich said. “She’s done a really great job of taking those younger girls under her wings. Demonstrates hard work. I don’t think you get a more dedicated athlete.
Next year, Carly will run track for Concordia College in Moorhead.
