Bergren competes for first time since December injury

 Blake Bergren said she was asked several times if she was nuts leading up to her race in the 1,500 at Thursday night’s Lady Tiger Relays at the Dick Morrison Track in Red Oak.

To put the questions and the event in context, Bergren tore her ACL in December, ending her basketball season.

Less than four months after Bergren’s ACL injury during basketball season, the senior was back on the track representing Red Oak, along with teammate Ashley Brower, in the 1,500 field.

“Being able to participate in a track meet three months out is pretty outstanding,” Bergren said.

Bergren ran a time of 6:28.35 in the 1,500, which placed her 10th out of 12 competitors in the field.

“I think I’m going to be feeling it tomorrow for sure, but I’ll get some rest and maybe a couple of ice baths, see how that goes,” Bergren said after the race.

Bergren has rehabbed the injury for several months now, starting just a few days after she had the surgery in early January.

“It’s going really well. When they say ‘oh you tore your ACL 6-9 months,’ you expect it to be a very long and slow process,” she said. “I started therapy like four days after I had surgery, so that’s when I knew I was going to get started off hot.”

With the process going Bergren has been able to walk without crutches or wear a brace.

Leading up to the race, Bergren said she asked her physical therapist Monday for her thoughts on running.

“I’ve been running on the treadmill quite a bit and doing some jogging in practice in lane 8 and not to that speed and she said ‘oh yeah, go right ahead,’” Bergren said.

With the okay from her therapist, Bergren opted to run in the 1,500, as opposed to other races like the 400-meter dash or the 3,000.

“I can’t quite sprint yet, I can go like 75 percent on the straightaways,” she said.

Bergren traditionally has been in faster races and participated in the long jump. She’s made a couple of appearances at state, including last season as part of the 4x200 relay team and in the long jump.

Going into the week, Bergren said she felt confident. 

She wasn’t expecting much and just wanted to see how it would all go.

However, when the race approached Thursday, the nerves started to pop up.

“I was pretty nervous when the 1A race was going on, but when I got up there to the starting line, I just heard my friends and parents of friends just cheering me on and telling me good luck, so then I knew I had all the support in the world and I wouldn’t have a problem,” Bergren said.

Throughout the race, Bergren paced herself around the track for the 1,500 and moved about without any problems. The ultimate goal for Bergren was to just finish the race.

“My knee feels great, I didn’t even notice it while I was running,” she said. “My lungs and my chest are on fire, though I think that’s expected.”

Another motivating factor for Bergren was to test her time for offseason workouts for her upcoming college basketball career. Bergren will attend Upper Iowa University in Fayette this fall to play Division II basketball for the Peacocks.

“Guards have to run a mile in 6:30 to be able to continue on with preseason workouts and stuff,” Bergren said.

Bergren thought her time was a good milestone.

“It was way better than I expected to run,” she said.

It will be a case-by-case basis for Bergren as to whether she will run again this season. She said as the rehab and season continues on, Bergren said she could possibly work her way down to faster races like the 400 or 800.

“I’ll see what Coach Lammert thinks, but I imagine I could probably run at a few meets this year,” she said.