Keara Sammons stepped on a rock awkwardly and thought nothing of it.
Her right foot hurt, but she told herself it was just regular aches and pains. This was the first day of a three-week cross country camp in Bend last summer and the freshman had high expectations.
But the pain lingered.
She made her collegiate debut in the Pier Park Preview in Portland in September and won the event by seven seconds. She emerged from the 5,000 meter race in 17:49.25, ahead of teammate Zoe Nelson in second place in 17:56.57.
Afterwards, the pain was too severe and Sammons told coaches, who learned of the fracture through x-rays.
Timing surrounding the fracture is unclear with Summons unsure if the injury occurred when she first stepped on the rock or when she ran the season opener. Either way, it left the distance runner sidelined.
“It was disappointing … ’cause I had trained really hard all summer,” Sammons said.
Now fully healthy, Sammons is running 10,000 in the NCAA Championships in Sacramento, Calif. today. The race, set for 8:40 p.m., caps off the second day of competition.
“I’m going to be nervous, but I’m excited for it,” Sammons said. “I feel like I’m in really good shape.”
Sammons earned her NCAA provisional time of 33:54.55 at the Stanford Invitational at the end of March. She also had a regional qualifying time of 16:42.78 in the 5,000 at the Pepsi Team Invitational. Most recently, Sammons doubled up for Oregon at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships at Stanford, and ran the 10,000 in 35:51.13 and the 5,000 in 16:57.87.
It’s been a long, but memorable first year at Oregon for Sammons who arrived in Eugene via a nationally known cross country program in Colorado.
“It’s a lot different,” Sammons said. “I feel a lot less pressure. When I’m going to race, it’s just like see what you can do instead of always thinking about the competition. You more think about just your race and go out and just do what you can do.”
Sammons ran for Smoky Hills cross country program under coach Greg Weich, who guided the cross country program to three straight cross country state championships.
She came to Colorado in time to help earn the third championship.
“I learned a lot from him … mostly I really learned to love running,” Sammons said of Weich. “His passion is (what inspired her). He is an amazing guy. He is an amazing coach.”
Sammons began running around eighth grade and joined the Desert Vista High track and field team in Phoenix her freshman year. She stayed there two years, and then her sister graduated, and settled on Colorado State for college.
The Sammons family followed and moved to Aurora, Colo. Sammons’ parents are originally from the Midwest and were looking for a change. The climate of Phoenix was “a little hot for them,” Sammons said.
For Sammons, the move to Colorado offered a bump up in competition, and a whole new running environment under Weich. Maybe it’s better to let Sammons explain:
“My coach at Smoky is awesome,” she said. “He’s really into running and he knows a lot about it and what to do. My coach in Arizona, he was a wrestling coach. He didn’t really know a lot about running. He enjoyed coaching us, but it was definitely different.”
Sammons adjusted, and after helping Smoky Hills win its third consecutive cross country championship as a junior, saw five of the team’s seven runners leave the program and Sammons had to go ahead with a younger, less experienced group of teammates in her senior year.
Her senior year also welcomed opportunities to look at colleges and decide on her next step. She considered an in-state option of Colorado, and visited Wake Forest and Oregon. Sammons enjoyed the idea of running at Hayward Field, but also thought back four years to her first visit to Oregon for a high school track meet in Clackamas.
“I liked Oregon a lot when I came out here,” Sammons said. “I was like, ‘Oh that would be cool if I could go to school here.’ When we landed, it was all green and so pretty.”
She arrived in Oregon for college last summer, and after the mishap with the rock, won her first race and had to watch as the cross country team ran without her. She was joined by Bria Wetsch and Nicole Blood, two other freshmen also sidelined by injuries.
“We kept each other motivated and positive because you get down sometimes,” Blood said.
Sammons spent eight weeks rehabbing in the pool followed by several more weeks on an anti-gravity treadmill for 20 minute runs. She began running again over Christmas break back home in Aurora, Colo.
She tried running outside, but each time, poor weather interfered. Sammons settled for a treadmill and worked her way back into shape.
She returned to competition in the indoor season at the Husky Classic in Seattle on Feb. 10. Sammons led much of her indoor debut and won the second section of the 3,000 in 9:44.70.
Sammons worked her way back up through indoors and outdoors and has delved into the championship portion of the season and is eager for the NCAA Championships.
“I’m really happy about how I’ve transitioned from my injury to now,” she said. “It’s been a good season.”