It’s not going to be an easy decision, but in the end it just may be the right one.
Alex Ostberg, one of the nation’s top distance runners, could sit out the remainder of the outdoor track season. The senior from Darien High in Connecticut is recovering from what he describes as a “minimal tibial stress fracture on his left side.”
An MRI a few weeks ago confirmed the injury for the Stanford-bound runner, who stated there’s a good chance his high school career may be finished.
“It's hard to say right now," Ostberg said on Wednesday night. “My doctor is on vacation this week and then we are going to talk about the implications early next week. I'm hoping for a quick recovery."
"I’m going to deal with the long-term development," he added." Even though my school career may be over in a couple of weeks, I still got four or five years at Stanford and don’t want to put anything in jeopardy.”
The Darien standout, who recovered from a similar injury at the beginning of the cross-country season to eventually win his first state and New England titles and place ninth at the Foot Locker Nationals, developed the stress fracture just two days after a fantastic performance at the Glenn B. Loucks Games in New York. In that meet, he placed second in the 3,200-meter run behind the host state’s Mike Brannigan of Northport with a state record of 8 minutes, 43.93 seconds. The following day, he anchored the school’s 4x800m squad to a sub eight-minute clocking.
After placing third in an epic two-mile race at the indoor nationals, where he was timed in a best of 8:48.88, Ostberg appeared well on his way to finishing off his outstanding high school career on a high note. The defending outdoor 5K national champion earned his first individual title at the Penn Relays Carnival on April 23 when he won the 3,000m with the country’s fastest time to date of 8:23.95.
Two weeks later, it was the Loucks Games in a classic 3,200m race where 10 runners broke the nine-minute barrier.
“I think the Penn Relays' win was just as important as my win at nationals last year,” said Ostberg, making reference to last June’s New Balance Nationals where he captured the 5K with an all-time best of 14:16.61. “In addition to that, I just wanted to run as fast as I could (at the Loucks Games). I didn’t care about tactics. I just wanted to PR. It was an historic race. Just being part of that atmosphere was fantastic.”
Ostberg has confirmed that he is not competing in the State Open this Monday. It’s still up in the air whether or not he goes to North Carolina for the nationals the weekend of June 19-21.
Right now, Ostberg’s primary concern is staying healthy for his post-high school career at Division I power Stanford.
“I am obviously upset that [the injury] happened at this time,” he said. “I really thought I had some great things coming. I was in fantastic shape. It just came at an inconvenient time. Talking with my coach and my college coach, we just have to move forward.”
