THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Wellman-Union School Athletics

Gracen Key couldn’t speak after finishing the race on a cool, brisk morning at Mae Simmons Park. After enduring the journey she had for the past two years, the Wellman-Union senior long distance runner didn’t have to utter a word after she finished first with a time of 12 minutes, 43 seconds in the Class 1A girls race Saturday in the Lubbock ISD Invitational. “This is really the first time I’ve felt that my legs are finally underneath me,” she said. Key, who missed her entire junior season due to stress fractures in her tibia, admitted she was pleased to just compete on a familiar course. Several months prior, Key was asked to stay off her feet and take part in low-impact exercises such as riding a stationary back to allow the delicate bones in her leg time to heal. She was initially diagnosed after her sophomore season after her injury was first thought to be tendinitis. An MRI cleared up any questions. “We saw them in my tibia, and I knew what I had to do after that,” Key said. “When they told me I had tendinitis, I thought I would be back to compete real quick. But then my legs hurt worse after taking two weeks off and getting back to work. So we decided to get the MRI, which is where I found out what I really had. “So, what’s usually a six to nine weeks of rest injury turned into six to nine months.” Key, who also competes in basketball as well as track and field, had to decrease her activity for the betterment of her future. It was difficult news to handle, considering she was expecting to have a breakout junior season and to run for college scholarships. “I’m trying not to let that define me,” she said. “It has been a major setback for me, but I’m hopefully trying to push past that. ... It was a very mental season, but I feel that I’m stronger now for going through that.” The jovial runner from Wellman plans to major in sports medicine to become a physical therapist, or her dream would be to become a sports physiologist. Key has shown she can deal with the mental side of the sport, competing at the state level as junior — with her injury — and placing third with a time of 5:32.99 in the Class 1A girls 1,600-meter run. She also finished seventh in the 800. “She’s got a strong character drive and dealt with the injury like a mature adult,” Wellman-Union coach Eric Erwin said. “She got the rehab and whatever else was need and then had to evolve from a kick to a power runner. She’s done everything that was needed and worked her tail off to get here.” Erwin, who hugged Key after her first-place finish, was grinning cheek to cheek as he told his senior how proud he was. “It is so much validation,” Key said. “Each time I win, I keep getting reminded that there is a plan in place. Even though I’m going up and down these crazy mountains and hills during the season, I know there’s something in the future that — whether it’s running or something else — I will be mentally prepared for.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Wellman-Union School Athletics

AFTER REST, WELLMAN-UNION’S KEY PLACED FIRST IN LUBBOCK ISD INVITATIONAL

CARLOS SILVA JR

Lubbock Online | 9/24/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Abbie Burnett