Follow Waterville HS senior Alex Jenson's Blog. Jenson is one of the top hurdlers & jumpers in the state. Jenson won't be competing this spring but instead recovering from a torn ACL. Follow Alex this spring as she starts the recovery process.
This past month was a very eventful month. I graduated from high school, the Waterville Track Team swept Class B States and my knee has been feeling more and more normal everyday.
Although I had to sit my senior year out, it was still worth being part of the team. The Waterville Track team over the season becomes a family and I don’t know a lot of teams that can say that. I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of the Waterville track team tradition and I wish the team the best of luck in the years to come!
States was probably the hardest meet to watch for me because it meant that it was officially the end to my high school career. It is safe to say that I lived vicariously through some of my teammates at states, especially Sarah Shoulta and Kellie Bolduc. I was happy to see my two state titles from last year defended by my own teammates this season.
At the end of the meet when both teams had received their state championship plaques, Coach Wilson got a little ice shower from some teammates. The team joked about giving Coach Wilson the best birthday present a track coach could ask for, a team sweep. When we got back to Waterville we did the traditional parade through town, which was a blast because both teams were able to partake in the screaming and chanting through the bus windows.
The seniors were happy to go out on a team sweep because it was the last time we would be competing together. Most of the seniors have grown up together and we are such a great group of friends. It has been fun to see how everyone has grown as a person and as an athlete and I know that we will all remain close friends in the years to come.
In regards to my knee, I made some huge strides these past couple of weeks. After dealing with a great deal of swelling and knee stiffness for 5 weeks post surgery, my knee finally decided to calm down. Once the swelling started to move out of my knee, I was able to walk with a normal gate, stationary bike, and rev up my rehab. My range of motion, which had been stuck around the 100-degree mark for a while, improved drastically and I was able to get 125 degrees on my own and 130 degrees with the help from my physical therapist this past week. I am still a ways away from being back to normal but it's all about the baby steps and making a little bit of progress everyday.
Something that I have had to get used to during my recovery is going at the pace my body will allow. I couldn’t move forward until the swelling in my knee went down and this meant waiting for my body to do its job. I was getting pretty frustrated because as an athlete you try to push yourself but I couldn’t because it would have only set me back more. I have had to accept that I will hit these hurdles along the way but they haven’t stopped me in the past so why should I let them stop me now?
My doctor was very pleased with how my knee looked 8-weeks post-op and gave my physical therapist the go ahead to start pushing me even more in rehab. I am a third of the way through my recovery and I will be returning to what I love in four months. Unlike many of my friends who have summer jobs, my summer job is going to be getting healthy and ready for ski season. I am taking a gap year next year in order to focus 100% on skiing in hopes of fulfilling my dreams. I will be calling Park City, Utah home next year in order to train with the U.S. Developmental Team for skiing and I am very excited for what next year holds.
Congratulations to everyone on their spring track seasons. I would like to thank everyone who has read my blogs and come up to me at track meets to ask how I have been doing. This injury has taught me a lot and I know that I’ll be a stronger person because of it.
-Alex Jenson