For freshman Gayle Hunter, her knee could be a ticking time bomb. That is why she wants to qualify in the heptathlon, and qualify ASAP.
"We're trying to knock it out pretty fast," Hunter said. "Get it out at the beginning of the season so that no injuries can occur later in the season."
It is important for Hunter, a member of the Penn State women's outdoor track team, to get her best marks while she is still healthy. Hunter has been dealing with tendonitis in her left knee since the New Balance Collegiate Invitational on Feb. 5. Now, going into the outdoor season, Hunter has to take extra initiative to make sure that her season will be a productive one, by qualifying early for the NCAA Championships in June.
In hopes of qualifying, Hunter will be traveling with assistant coach Chris Johnson to Mississippi. The rest of the Nittany Lions will be competing at home Saturday at the Jim Thorpe Invitational. Hunter is taking the hike down South because at the Ole Miss Invitational, unlike at Jim Thorpe, the heptathlon will be part of the competition.
The heptathlon is the equivalent of the indoor season's pentathlon. During the indoor season Hunter competed in the pentathlon at nationals, and was first in the Big Ten in the event with a point total of 4,059. But in the heptathlon, athletes add the javelin and the 200 meters to the competition. These events can take a toll on an athlete's body.
"Usually by the end of the season, there is a lot of wear and tear on the body," Penn State coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "So basically, [Hunter] is just trying to get one out of the way before she's tuckered out."
If Hunter can manage to perform well early in the season, there would be flexibility toward the end of the season, including possibly sitting Hunter out until the championship meets.
Hunter has been rehabbing her knee, and it has been getting stronger. And while the doctors don't think the injury will require surgery, the tendon is very sensitive and has been known to act up repeatedly.
During the Indoor Big Ten Championships this year, she hurt the knee again competing in the high jump portion of the pentathlon.
"This darn knee of her's just won't seem to get rid of its problems," Alford-Sullivan said. "It's tendon problem so it's catchy, and if you tweak it a little bit it acts up on you."
But Hunter has done a good job of dealing with the knee injury. In her mind, it's not something that she tries to think about.
"I'm not really worried about [the knee]," Hunter said. "If it does hurt, just mentally try and get through it.
