HIGH SCHOOL TRACK: REID TRYING TO PUT BEST FOOT FORWARD RIO MESA SENIOR OVERCOMES INJURY.Byline: MATTHEW KREDELL Staff Writer Lauren Reid planted herself on the runway, burst toward the pit and jumped into the air. She was trying for 19 feet. She ended up leaping ahead two years. At least that's the way it seemed to the Rio Mesa of Oxnard long jumper The simplest form of an on/off switch. It is just a tiny, plastic-covered metal block, which is pushed onto two pins to close that circuit. It is used to select a myriad of functions on a printed circuit board or on a peripheral device. . As a sophomore, she was one of the up-and-coming young athletes in the area in track and field. She had made it to the Masters meet as a freshman and was expected to go to state. Her brother won the state title in the 1,600 meters for Rio Mesa in 2003. With the second half of her high school career in front of her, she looked as if she might follow in her brother's footsteps. Today, she is back in the Southern Section postseason for the first time since 2004, when a hamstring injury hamstring injury Sports medicine A muscle injury of biceps femoris, seen in sprinters and runners, when a contracted muscle meets a lengthening force, overpowering intrinsic muscle resiliency Management RICE, NSAIDs, gradual ↑ of pain-free activity–eg, at the Div. III prelims began a series of injuries that cost her nearly two years of progress. ``It seems like another lifetime ago with all the stuff that has happened,'' said Reid, now a senior. ``I've thought about where I would be if not for the injuries, but it's hard because there was such a long gap where I didn't do any jumping at all.'' The hamstring injury prevented Reid from competing in the division finals that year, even though she had qualified. She missed her entire junior season after tearing tear·ing n. Epiphora. the anterior cruciate ligament anterior cruciate ligament n. Abbr. ACL The cruciate ligament of the knee that crosses from the anterior intercondylar area of the tibia to the posterior part of the lateral condyle of the femur. in her left knee while playing volleyball volleyball, outdoor or indoor ball and net game played on a level court. An upright net, 3 ft (or 1 m) high, the top of which stands 8 ft (2.43 m) from the ground for men, 7 ft 4 1/8 in (2. . Her left leg still does not have the strength it used to, so Reid has learned to jump off her right foot. ``She's worked so hard to come back from that knee injury,'' said teammate Josh Harrison, the state leader in the long jump among boys. ``She's shown great improvement and should just keep getting better.'' A shell of her former self at the beginning of the season, jumping 16 and 17 feet, Reid is now sixth in the state with a best jump of 19-1 1/2 entering the prelims at Warren of Downey. That's nearly three inches short of her best as a sophomore. ``I'm not really frustrated frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: ,'' Reid said. ``I'm actually kind of happy to be where I am. I really didn't have any expectations coming into the season. I was just hoping to be back where I was, and I'm starting to get there.'' After she came down wrong in a hitting drill during a volleyball practice last year and hurt her knee, the thought that a fluke fluke, parasitic flatworm of the trematoda class, related to the tapeworm. Instead of the cilia, external sense organs, and epidermis of the free-living flatworms, adult flukes have sucking disks with which they cling to their hosts and an external cuticle that injury in her secondary sport could end her track and field career was devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. . She has competed in track events since age 5. The junior season is the most important for impressing colleges, and she didn't have one. She said she didn't know if the sport would be in her future. Her rapid improvement this season caught the attention of some coaches. She got a scholarship offer from UC Riverside three weeks ago and accepted it last week. Reid doesn't expect to be fully recovered from her knee injury until sometime next year. At some point, she might switch back to jumping off her left foot. That she is still getting better physically and becoming more comfortable jumping from her off foot makes Reid a wildcard See wild cards and wildcard mask. in the postseason. She has a lot of room for improvement, it's just a matter of how quickly it will come. ``It's been a long road back and she's not to the end of it yet,'' coach Brian Fitzgerald Brian Fitzgerald (born March 1 1947) is an Irish Independent politician. He was a Labour Party Teachta Dála for Meath from 1992 to 1997. Previously a trade union official with SIPTU, Fitzgerald was elected to Dáil Éireann for Meath during the swing to Labour in the 1992 said. ``She can get stronger. I think she has tons of potential ahead of her.'' matthew.kredell@dailynews.com (818) 713-3607 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Rio Mesa's Lauren Reid has had to learned to jump off her right foot in the long jump. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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