Huron's Schlessman manages injuries to set records in 800

HURON — Kennedy Schlessman often falls to the ground at the end of her races, so the fact that she remained upright at the end of her 800-meter run Saturday was a small victory in and of itself. Of course, there were larger victories on hand — the Huron junior won the race in convincing fashion and in the process set a new Artie Miller Invitational meet record with a 2:19 finishing time. "It was actually really exciting," Schlessman said, "because a lot of my friends and family are here. I'm used to (the track). It was exciting." Making the feat more impressive for Schlessman was a combination of two other factors: a torn labrum in her right hip, and her relative inexperience in the 800. "I do get nervous every time she runs because of her injury, just waiting to see how she feels at the end," said Schlessman's mother, Kristi. "It's fun to watch her, and I know she sets very high goals and standards for herself." Schlessman's labrum has been torn for a few years now, but a potentially lengthy recovery process is one of the reasons she's competing with the injury. She also deals with hip impingement and related issues with her oblique and diaphragm. "That's usually the part that hurts me is my breathing," Schlessman said, "because you know, if you can't breathe you can't run." According to Massachusetts General Hospital, labrum tears are more common in female athletes than male athletes for anatomical reasons. Huron's girls track coach, Lesley Gainer, recently underwent her own surgery for the injury. Commonality doesn't make it any less painful for Schlessman, who also has slightly rotated hips due to a childhood experimental elbow surgery that took a bone out of her knee and put it into her elbow. The broken elbow was fixed, but the replacement structure in her leg didn't heal correctly, and her hips are now slightly misaligned. "Because my hips are slightly rotated, it pulls on my oblique," Schlessman said. "… When that gets a little tight, when I start hurting, my shoulders go up and my hips go back, so that pulls it more. That's the only reason I can tell when my hip actually hurts. Usually I don't feel it. It pulls on my diaphragm. Usually I can't breathe." Only in last fall's cross country season did Schlessman really learn to manage the injury, she said. It requires a lengthy stretching routine prior to races, along with "belly breathing" exercises after races to account for the accompanying diaphragm limitations. Schlessman started seeing Dr. Leo Kormanik at Brecksville's Ohio Chiropractic and Rehab about two years ago at the recommendation of former Huron coach Bill Scott. The Schlessmans make the trip east every two or three weeks to work with Kormanik. "He has worked very closely with her on giving her ways to cope with it and prevent it from getting worse, or how to handle it when she's in pain," Kristi said. Schlessman's main area of stretches before races are called Myrtl exercises. Basically, she said, it looks like she's swimming on the ground. "I do a bunch of exercises to get warmed up and usually it doesn't bother me," Schlessman said. "She wouldn't be able to do it if she didn't do the exercises she is told to do," Kristi added. "So she does those very religiously to keep her able to go. She has a lot of grit and determination." Schlessman hasn't run the 800 in competition very much. She was aiming to make state in the 3200 last spring before the reality of her hip meant Huron's coaches decided she should run the 800. The first time Schlessman ran that race in competition was at the district meet. She qualified for regionals, where she set the Huron school record (2:18.89) in only her second time in the event. Schlessman finished 10th at state (2:21). "It definitely hurts," Gainer said. "She hurts. Right after every meet, during every race she does, but you push through it and you've got to get it done." Schlessman's still learning the 800 this season. She was two seconds slower on her 200- and 400-meter splits than she planned on during Saturday's Huron Invite, yet she finished with her second-fastest time. "Usually for me, I usually try to speed up with 300 left," Schlessman said, "and then the wind hit me, and I was like, oh no. But I just never got tired. I was like, this is where it's supposed to hit me, right in there. It's not hitting me yet. Maybe going out slower was a good idea, actually." Schlessman also is part of Huron's 4x400 relay (with Maggie Golling, Kaylee Parker and Izzy Cozzie) that won on Saturday, along with the 4x800. The junior is excited about what's to come in part because this time last year, she had never even run the 800. Now, she's just tenths of a second away from breaking her own Huron record. The time it took to make the eighth and final spot on the podium at last year's state meet was 2:18.5, well within Schlessman's reach. With burgeoning experience and an injury she's learned to manage, Schlessman won't be slowed down anytime soon. "She's super competitive like that," Gainer said.