Katey Comstock earned renown at Windsor High for playing six sports during her Yellowjacket career. For much of 2018, however, the current Franklin Pierce University student won’t be able to compete at all.
Comstock suited up for Windsor’s football, track, field hockey, softball, bowling and basketball teams at various times before her 2016 graduation. The Hartland resident chose Franklin Pierce, in Rindge, N.H., in part because it offered her the chance to continue in bowling and track. However, the Ravens eliminated the former sport last winter, and Comstock suffered a serious knee injury during the spring track campaign.
The bowling team’s demise was announced a week before Comstock competed in the Northeast-10 Conference indoor track championships, and yet she threw a personal-best 41 feet, 6 inches in the shot put. Ravens coach Zach Emerson is betting Comstock will bring a similar focus and determination to overcoming her injury, which earned her a medical redshirt season.
“She’s a blue-collar athlete who likes to turn what others might use as excuses into motivation,” Emerson said. “She’s going to be a very different and strong leader because of what she’s had to overcome this year.”
Comstock said she gave small thought to transferring after the bowling team was cut, although some of her teammates made that decision. The chance to stick with the track program and get a jump on a master’s degree was too good to pass up.
“It was a shock, and it set me back a bit,” Comstock said of the cuts, which included the men’s and women’s bowling teams and the women’s swimming squad. “But with everything I’ve built up here, transferring would be such a hassle, and I really like the (track) team that I have here.”
It was while competing for that team during its second meet of the outdoor season, on April 7 at the Coast Guard Academy, that Comstock was motoring down the runway for a javelin throw. Her spikes caught in the track and she completely tore an anterior cruciate ligament.
“My foot stayed, and my knee just kept on going,” Comstock said. “Everybody knew I was hurt because I let out a big, loud scream. I was down on the runway for 10 or 15 minutes, but initially they thought it was just a sprain.”
An MRI several days later showed otherwise and, on May 10, surgery followed at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, the day after Comstock returned home from spring classes.
Her expected return to track is in six months, but each athlete handles physical rehabilitation and the accompanying mental hurdles differently.
Comstock said she hasn’t had too many down days, although it was tough to have qualified for the storied Penn Relays in Philadelphia and not be able to compete at Franklin Field. She attends physical therapy sessions twice a week and is coming to the end of her time on crutches. After that, the challenge of regaining muscle bulk in her injured leg will truly begin.
The bigger picture includes Comstock’s major in business management and minor in sports recreation management. She hopes to open her own bowling alley somewhere in the Twin States after graduation and clearly has the required drive. She’s spending the summer working at a bowling alley, a grocery store and a children’s camp.
The hope for Comstock and Franklin Pierce is that she returns for the 2018-19 indoor track season. Emerson is betting that will be the case.
“If she had come in and said it was in her best interest to leave, I wouldn’t have agreed with her, but I would have supported her,” the coach said. “We were very fortunate and super proud she chose to stay.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.