Running into records and injuries
Alex Johnson - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 5/9/08 Section: Sports
If it's not an injury, it can't hold him back.
Even then, Micah VanDenend will likely find his way back to the track. The Glen Ellyn, Ill., native has fought through injuries and pain ever since his junior year of high school seven years ago. The problem?
The 24-year old distance runner can't escape his legs.
Throughout his first five years of eligibility, VanDenend competed in four seasons of fall cross-country - the norm. But spring track is another story.
In his first year at Iowa, VanDenend redshirted both indoor and outdoor track. In 2004 and 2005, he sat out with injuries, one right after the other.
VanDenend wasn't breaking his ankles, dislocating his joints, or tearing ligaments. He just couldn't keep his legs happy.
Even this season, when the sixth-year senior provisionally qualified in the indoor 5,000 meters in 14:07.06, pains in his fibula would limit him to just two more sub-VanDenend performances.
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"It seems like a lot of the injuries that I have, they never necessarily know exactly what's going on with me," he said.
The harrier's career has been a tale of two cities, said Iowa head track and field coach Larry Wieczorek.
"The best of times, the worst of times - I think that's been Micah's career," the coach said. "It's pretty tough to not be able to do what you need to do to compete against the best."
In VanDenend's first season of collegiate track in 2006, he broke school records in the indoor 3,000 (8:00.81) and the outdoor 5,000 (13:56.00), set by his coach 38 years before.
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