Although junior cross country runner Kyna Forkins has spent most of the season working out in the pool instead of on land with her teammates, she never goes a morning without seeing her teammates.
Forkins, who pulled her left achilles’ tendon over the summer, goes to the training room at 6:30 a.m. every morning for ultrasound and hot and cold therapies. On any morning, she said, there may be anywhere from five to 10 other cross country runners also in the training room for various aches, pains and injuries.
“We call ourselves the ‘Training Room Brigade,'” Forkins said.
Forkins got out of the pool and hit the ground running as Northwestern’s top finisher at Saturday’s Forester Invitational in Lake Forest, Ill. She finished the 5K race in 19:50, placing sixth overall. Edged out of the team title by two points, the Wildcats finished second of 10 teams. St. Norbert College won the meet that NU had won each of the past five years.
“We went in expecting to win,” said sophomore Lisa Marx. “It was really frustrating since we were so close.”
Forkins, who was one of the team’s top seven runners last year, said that since this was only her second meet of the season, she knew she wasn’t running at her full potential.
“It was encouraging to finish in the top part of the meet with minimal pain,” Forkins said. “But it’s frustrating to not be running on the varsity team.”
Although she said the team’s lineup is solid this year, coach Amy Tush is hopeful that Forkins’ cross training and therapy will pay off.
“Kyna could definitely make an impact on the team towards the end of the season,” Tush said.
NU’s top 12 runners took the weekend off in preparation for the Pre-National Invitational in Cedar Falls, Iowa this weekend. It takes place on the same course that hosts the Nov. 24 NCAA National Championships. Tush said that this will be an important meet for the top nine NU runners who compete.
“This race is unique because it’s not in every sport that you get an opportunity to compete against the top teams in the country,” Tush said. “After this weekend, we will know the top 30 teams in the country.”
Forkins is hopeful she’ll make it back into the top nine. But for now, just getting back into the swing of things is proving to be difficult. Her form is off, she said, because she is favoring her right side when she runs.
“This is like my preseason now,” Forkins said. “The team felt these pains while they were in preseason. Now, I’m trying to play catch up as fast as I can. Everyday I do 100 percent better than I did the day before.”
