Anyone who knows Lauren Van Gieson describes her as a “bright, bubbly girl.” The former model and cheerleader used her enthusiasm last year to compile a 50-14 record as a freshman sabreist for the Northwestern fencing team.

But Van Gieson’s positive outlook had to overcome the toughest six-month stretch of her life last year after she suffered a career-threatening knee injury.

Now the sophomore is back and fighting to regain the skill and quickness that she impressed everyone with last season.

“When I first met Lauren, she was this nice, polite girl who was always smiley and pleasant,” assistant coach Ed Kaihatsu said. “Now that I’ve gotten a chance to know her, she has got a fiery side.”

A year has passed since Van Gieson tore her anterior cruciate ligament, but the memories still haunt her. The scar from reconstructive surgery extends down her kneecap, serving as a reminder of the season that could have been.

Van Gieson suffered the injury a week before last year’s Midwest Conference Championships, but the then-freshman tried to compete in the tournament. She won her first dual, but the pain was too much. She had to be carried off the strip in the middle of a bout. She underwent surgery, dashing her hopes of fencing at the Midwest Regionals, the qualifying tournament for the NCAA Championships.

At that point she thought things couldn’t get any worse.

She was wrong.

What Van Gieson expected to be an easy recovery turned into a nightmare. She was supposed to constantly keep her knee in motion, but the knee got infected and doctors told her not to move it.

“With ACL recovery you have to move your leg because you lose all muscle tone,” Van Gieson said. “Your nerves just forget how to work.”

She had trouble walking from her room in Elder Hall to class — especially when she encountered stairs. She remembers not having the strength to lift her leg off a table after she was finished icing it.

But the sabreist fought through the pain and was able to recover before practices began. Van Gieson has posted a 59-21 mark this season, surpassing last season’s 50-win total.

“It’s a second chance,” she said. “I’m passionate about fencing. It makes me who I am.”

If she hadn’t gotten the second chance, she would have had her other talents to fall back on. Van Gieson has as array of talents and interests, from modeling to shooting rifles.

As adolescents, Van Gieson and her sister did runway modeling in New Jersey and appeared in Macy’s catalogs. Van Gieson’s voice could be heard on Blockbuster radio commercials, and she earned a brown belt in karate.

Van Gieson was a three-sport athlete in high school. She ran track and captained the cheerleading squad and fenced at Wayne Valley High School in Wayne, N.J.

Before football games in high school, Van Gieson would often sing the national anthem and then cheer for the team.

“I’m proud of it,” Van Gieson said of her cheerleading career. “I’m not ditzy.”

NU sabreist Lauren Dunn said Van Gieson’s background carried over to the fencing squad.

“She brings a lot of pep to the squad,” Dunn said. “She’ll always cheer the loudest.”

Last season Van Gieson’s teammates called her “Sparkle.”

“It relates to her personality, and she had sparkly eye-shadow that she used to wipe on her clothing and other people,” said Van Gieson’s father, Bill. “She would spread her sparkle on her teammates.”

Van Gieson’s mother, Alice said although her daughter has numerous talents, her heart and soul is fencing.

“She contemplates the sport and goes out to win,” Alice said. “The thrill of the sport for her is in the team spirit.”

Van Gieson first picked up a sword in the seventh grade at the Master’s Fencing Academy in New Jersey. She began her fencing career as a foilist but switched to sabre her junior year of high school.

“Sabre matches my personality better,” Van Gieson said. “You have to be aggressive, and I’m a go-getter. You have to be fast, and I don’t have any patience. In sabre you really don’t need patience.”

Van Gieson is happy to be healthy going into this weekend’s Midwest Conference Championships. But in two weeks, she’ll be focusing her energies on qualifying for the NCAA Championships.

“(Fencing) has its ups and downs but that just makes me want to try harder because I saw where I could have been,” she said. “I wasn’t great before, but I was better than what I am now. I want to get back there and be able to go even higher.”