The young athlete held the shotput in her hand, her foot throbbing and her heart racing. The doctors had advised her not to throw, but there was no way she was missing this meet, not after she had come this far.

Sophomore Paitlyn Tankersley competed in the district track meet held at WTAMU and participated in the shotput event and placed sixth. However, a day before the meet, Tankersley suffered a mishap.

“I had a freak accident while I was doing the shotput,” Tankersley said. “I landed wrong, and I broke my fifth metatarsal.”

After Tankersley broke her foot, she visited the doctor to see if she could compete in the track meet the next day.

“They told me I wouldn’t break my foot any more by competing,” Tankersley said. “But at the same time, they advised me I shouldn’t compete in the meet.”

Tankersley said she was not expecting to place well at the meet, given her disappointing performance during the warm-up period.

“I was only throwing about a 25 or 26,” Tankersley said. “At a varsity level, you need to throw a 30 at the least in order to be successful.”

During the actual competition, Tankersley surpassed all of her previous warm-up throws, throwing the shotput 31 feet.

“It felt really good to get in a good throw,” Tankersley said. “I was very surprised, but I was also very happy with it.”

The day following the meet, Tankersley visited an orthopedic surgeon in Amarillo to schedule a surgery.

“He told me I had a Jones Fracture, which is the same injury Kevin Durant has right now,” Tankersley said. “He told me that they were going to have to put a screw inside my foot.”

The estimated recovery time for the surgery is 6-8 weeks, followed by physical therapy sessions.

“I’m going to be on crutches for three weeks and in my boot for three weeks,” Tankersely said. “Hopefully then, if everything goes well, my injury will be healed and I’ll be able to end with physical therapy.”