LC's Saunders vaults through recovery (IN)

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.indystar.com/article/2009052 ... h+recovery

LC's Saunders vaults through recovery
Pole-vaulter heals from injury, ready for sectional

By Nat Newell
Posted: May 21, 2009

Soaring more than 15 feet off the ground seems as natural to Zach Saunders as walking is to most people. In December, however, the Lawrence Central High School pole-vaulter couldn't lift his leg an inch.
"I was scared to death," Saunders said of tearing his anterior cruciate ligament during football season. "I was thinking, 'If anything goes wrong now, there goes my season.' I was worried about getting my speed back. (Competing at) Purdue (University) was still up in the air. I was worried about getting back fast, and showing I could put up big numbers early.


"It was a stressful time."
He's soaring again.
Saunders enters today's North Central Sectional at 5 p.m. with the second-best vault in the state at 15-6, trailing only defending state champion Corey Shank of Fort Wayne Northrop. Purdue confirmed its commitment to Saunders at the end of April . . . and his leg is still not quite 100 percent.
"He still has a ways to go with his strength and speed, and we've got a few weeks to get him there," Lawrence Central coach Mike Holman said, thinking of the state meet on June 5. "It's exciting to think he's not there yet."
Saunders injured his knee at the end of football season, but it wasn't diagnosed until several weeks later in mid-November. He considered holding off on the surgery until after track season but eventually had the procedure Dec. 1, with the recovery expected to take at least four months, leaving little time to prepare for the postseason.
Saunders was back in February.
He had been a hurdler in middle school, but Lawrence Central coach Tim Richey recognized a talent and attitude for the pole vault. It's an event in which participants launch themselves 15 feet in the air, requiring an athlete with some daredevil spirit, and Saunders was a natural, having grown up building ramps to jump his bike over garbage cans.
"Worst accident? There were so many," he said, though noting he jumped over as many as three cans. "There was a fence right next to where we had the ramp set up. I came down a little sideways, hit the fence and went flipping a few feet into the neighbor's yard. I got up, wiped the tears away and got back on the bike."
Saunders didn't hesitate in his return to track, either.
He broke through at the end of last season, vaulting 14 feet in the sectional, adding six inches in the regional and another nine to finish third in the state meet. Saunders has bettered that mark by three inches this season despite the knee injury.
"An ACL is a debilitating injury if you let it be, but doctors will tell you (the knee) can be stronger than the one that wasn't injured if you rehab it correctly," Holman said. "Zach got right in the weight room and pushed himself beyond what the doctors were asking him to do. He showed no fear when it was time (to return to the track).
"He picked up the pole, went at it fearlessly and started progressing."

[nitro]

Coach Richey has done great things with Zach!