Tristen Bronaugh will get a chance to compete as a runner at Manchester University, but no matter where that opportunity takes him, it will not be able to fill the void left by a pair of lost high school track and field seasons.
Bronaugh missed his entire junior season due to an injury, and had this spring swept away by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I was really excited for this season because I knew that I worked hard to get to where I was and I felt better then I did my sophomore year,” Bronaugh said. “The biggest thing is I wanted to prove to everyone that I could still do what I’ve done and even better that’s what hurt the most when I found out the season was canceled. I couldn’t show people want I wanted to show them.”
Bronaugh injured his knee during the Athenians’ sectional final soccer match against Frankfort in the fall of 2018, but a routine procedure to clean up his knee seemed to correct the injury.
Just a few months later Bronaugh dislocated his kneecap during the first conditioning practice of his junior track and field season.
Then came the fight to return to an elite level.
“Right after my surgery a couple days later I went to physical therapy at the local ATI and I spent most of my days after school or even before school working on my leg muscle and getting back into shape,” he said. “I was still a part of the track team so I still went to the meets and helped all I could. I went to physical therapy all the way into the summer. I did a lot of quad strengthening exercises until eventually they let me bring in a set of blocks and would work on my starts.”
Bronaugh returned for his senior soccer season, and committed to Manchester for track and field over the winter.
And then everything he worked for was taken away. The indoor Sagamore Conference meet was scheduled for March 13, which was the last day Montgomery County students saw the inside of a classroom before Governor Holcomb shutdown schools, and the IHSAA eventually canceled the entire spring sports season.
“My reaction when I heard the season was canceled I was just shocked,” Bronaugh said. “I got a call from coach Gerold and we talked and that’s when I really got upset because he’s been there for me ever since I got injured him and Mr. Hiatt, who’s no longer at CHS.”
Bronaugh knows he will one day be able to lace up his spikes and sprint out of his starting blocks, but that didn’t make losing his senior season any easier.
“I don’t think it made it easier because I wanted to show people that I could run at the next level so that’s always gonna be there for me I wanted to get those awards for my senior year, I wanted to get those patches, I just wanted to prove what I know I can do.”
