University of Washington senior pole vaulter Kristina Owsinski had surgery Monday to repair a fully torn Achilles tendon she suffered during competition Saturday at UW’s Dempsey Indoor facility.
“They said the reconstruction was very successful,” the Prairie High School graduate said Tuesday. “I’m just resting up and then I’ll have a follow-up appointment first week of March to get my cast off and stitches out.”
Washington’s indoor school record holder, defending Pacific-12 Conference champion and a First Team All-American, Owsinski had cleared 14 feet, 1.25 inches at the Husky Classic meet.
With the bar at 14-3.25, Owsinski started her run, but went down after one step with the injury to the tendon in her right leg.
“It happened pretty suddenly,” she said. “I was midway through the competition, and had cleared three bars before. I went to take my first attempt at (14-3.25) and just took my first step into my approach and it tore. I actually thought for a second that someone might have hit me by accident in the back of my leg with their pole, but I looked and there was no one behind me.
“Once I felt the strange sensation and heard a pop like noise I fell to the ground from the runway and had a feeling something bad had happened. It wasn’t confirmed ’til later, though, that it was officially torn — but I had a feeling it was something pretty serious.”
Owsinski said she expects a slow recovery.
“It will probably be about five months minimum until I’m doing anything — meaning running jumping, etc. — in my training. For now it’s going to be a lot of rehab and staying positive.
“The good thing is it’s not my jumping leg so the recovery outcome is looking great. Also I’ll have plenty of time to train my upper body and work on tons of visualization and mental preparation to come back full force”
Women’s gymnastics
Sac State’s McCartney garners MPSF honors
Sacramento State senior Kalliah McCartney was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Week after helping the Hornets to a school-record score of 196.475 in a win Friday over San Jose State.
Vancouver’s McCartney, a graduate of CAM High School in Battle Ground who trained at Multnomah Athletic Club of Portland, garnered the award for the third time this season.
McCartney won the all-around at Friday’s meet with a four-event total of 39.350 — the highest score in the MPSF this season and ranks second in Hornets history behind her own mark of 39.375.
She scored 9.850 on both vault and bars, 9.750 on beam and 9.900 on floor exercise.
Softball
Schroeder gets first win for Utah State
Utah State freshman Katie Schroeder struck out four Southern Utah batters in a complete game Saturday as the Aggies won 10-4 at UNLV’s DeMarini Desert Classic in Henderson, Nev.
It marked the Camas High School graduate’s first collegiate pitching victory.
She is 1-0 in six appearances, with an earned run average of 4.75.
“Outside of the one inning where she had the two walks and the home run, Katie did a great job in the circle for us,” Utah State coach Steve Johnson told utahstateaggies.com. “Each game she is getting better, which is going to be key for us once we start conference play.”
Softball
NWC honors Lefever
Whitworth University junior Makayla Lefever was named Northwest Conference Softball Pitching Student-Athlete of the Week after going 2-0 with two complete-game victories last week.
The Woodland High School graduate pitched the Pirates to wins of 7-3 at Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday (seven hits, two earned runs, two strikeouts, two walks) and 3-2 at Redlands on Sunday (eight hits, two earned runs, one strikeout, no walks).
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