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.”
