Sophomore sprinter suffers unexpected leg injury at Big 12 meet

In a star-studded field of sprinters at this weekend’s Big 12 Indoor Championships, ISU sophomore Ian Warner appeared to have a definite chance at scoring points for the Cyclones in the men’s 60-meter dash. The field included Baylor’s Trey Harts, the returning Big 12 60-meter dash champion; Texas A&M’s Gerald Phiri, the sprinter with the best time in the Big 12 this season and sixth best in the nation, at 6.62 seconds; and Texas’ freshman superathlete Marquise Goodwin, ranked No. 20 nationally in the 60 meters.

Warner, ranked third in the Big 12 and No. 32 nationally, with a time of 6.72 seconds, looked forward to running against some of the nation’s top competition.

“The good thing about it is that those guys have all done big things and I haven’t, so they have all of the pressure, not me,” Warner said last Wednesday. “I’m just trying to go out there and just get in there so when the next Big 12 meet comes people will be talking about me like that.”

Warner and assistant coach for sprints and hurdles Nate Wiens had been working all season on Warner’s start out of the blocks, and they were excited about Warner’s chances at both scoring some points for the team, and running at or under 6.71 seconds, the NCAA provisional qualifying time.

In the third heat of the 60-meter dash preliminaries, Warner had a good start and was running neck-and-neck with Harts out of the blocks. However, at about 30 meters his hamstring began tightening, and when he reached the 90-meter mark the pain was too much for Warner, and he slowed down and went to the ground in pain before crossing the finish line in last place.

“I tried to run through it, but I just couldn’t get to the line,” Warner said.

Warner did not qualify for the finals, finishing the race in 7.19 seconds.

“It’s just frustrating because I’ve worked really hard,” Warner said. “I haven’t missed a practice all year, training has been going good and everything. It’s just frustrating to have it end like that.

“I got out of the blocks really well and everything was set up to go well, but it just wasn’t my time. I got to wait for my time,” Warner said.

Looking on from the infield, Wiens’ first thought when he saw Warner pull up was Warner’s health.

“Is he healthy?” Wiens said his first thought was. “I mean, yeah, maybe there were flashes of disappointment, but my first thing was ‘is my guy on the track OK?’”

Without the injury, Warner would have most likely finished in the top three of his heat and qualified for the finals.

“He’s the guy that comes on hard at the end of the race,” Wiens said. “He was in a position to strike. It was just unfortunate.”

Warner hoped Friday that it was just a cramp, but after spending Saturday in the bleachers cheering on his fellow Cyclones, the swelling in his leg did not go away. At practice Monday, Wiens and Warner both confirmed that it was a “slight hamstring injury” that will keep Warner out of this weekend’s NCAA Qualifier on Saturday and, because Warner has not qualified for the NCAA championships, will end Warner’s indoor season.

“It’s just a hard lesson learned. It’s not the fact that he did anything wrong; in fact, he has been the perfect example of doing things right,” Wiens said. “There just comes that point in time [because] he’s a short sprinter we push the line, we ride it, and we did what we needed to do to get him ready.”

Although Warner was the top ranked Cyclone on the men’s side in any event, the team still managed to finish with its best finish — seventh — since 2000.

“That’s just athletics,” coach Corey Ihmels said. “There’s always going to be a lot of twists and turns; a lot of things are going to go really well and a lot of things aren’t going to go your way.”

At a team dinner before the meet Thursday, Ihmels told the team that the only thing it could control at this weekend’s meet was that the meet would be at the home facility, the Lied Recreation Athletic Center. Ihmels still has high hopes for the sophomore, who will compete this outdoor season and will have two more shots at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.

“It was probably the first time that he’s been at this meet indoors where he was going to be a factor, and it won’t happen next time,” Ihmels said. “He’s going to come back next year and remember this.”

As soon as his injury heals, Warner will begin preparation for the outdoor season where he was the Sun Angel Track Classic champion and took sixth place at the Drake Relays in the 100-meter dash.