After suffering what was thought to be a career-ending injury, one Texas State athlete has made a remarkable recovery to get back in the pit and defend the conference title.
Lauren Brogger, junior multis participant, began her Texas State journey in the fall of 2015.
“Texas State was my second visit my senior year and I immediately fell in love with the campus and the facilities,” Brogger said. “Once I was on my visit there wasn’t a doubt that this was the place for me.”
Brogger injured her ankle at her first collegiate meet.
“I continued to compete on it throughout the season even though the pain was horrible,” Brogger said. “The training staff did what they could to relieve as much pain as possible, but it continued to hurt.”
Going into her sophomore season, Brogger had high hopes that the injury would work itself out.
“Through the summer and my sophomore offseason, the medical staff and I were hoping that it would just heal on its own, but the pain just continued to get worse,” Brogger said.
Eventually, Brogger went in for tests and found she had osteochondritis dissecans in her left ankle, a joint condition that causes surrounding cartilage and bone to crack and loosen.
“I went and got tests done right before Christmas break, and they came back worse than we thought,” Brogger said. “I came back from break and was going to try to compete still because the surgeon said I wouldn’t have 100 percent recovery.”
Coming from the break, Brogger realized that the pain was not going anywhere and that surgery was the best option. Brogger had the surgery in March and underwent physical therapy throughout the summer.
“We didn’t know if I would get to ever compete again after the injury because this was my jumping ankle,” Brogger said. “The pain eventually got so bad my coach and I decided surgery was the best option.”
Although it took some time, Brogger was able to compete in the first meet of the 2018 season. At the Purple Tiger Invitational Track Meet, Brogger recorded a top ten Sun Belt Conference jump in the long jump.
Brogger competes for the Bobcats in the Pentathlon during the indoor season and the Heptathlon during the outdoor season.
“During the indoor season, I do the Pentathlon which consists of 60-meter hurdles, long jump, high jump, shot put and the 800-meter run,” Brogger said. “For the outdoor season, I compete in the Heptathlon which consists of the 100-meter hurdles, long jump, high jump, shot put, 200-meter, 800-meter and javelin.”
Brogger is excited to be back with her teammates and ready to compete and help defend the women’s Indoor and Outdoor Sun Belt Conference title.
“I am surprised at how far I’ve come,” Brogger said. “I just want to keep improving. I want to get better so I can help the team defend our title and finish the season with a conference win at home.”