The U gymnastics team has enough talented, versatile, well rounded athletes that an injury to any one team member is not going to be devastating.
Last year, the Utes were without the nation’s top all-arounder, Theresa Kulikowski, who was recovering from a torn knee ligament, and they still finished fifth in the nation. This year, even with Kylee Wagner suffering a severe ankle sprain in the season opener and missing the rest of the year, and all-arounder Deidra Graham being limited to just bars for the last five weeks because of four bulging disks, the Utes are still ranked fourth in the nation.
Nevertheless, some injuries, regardless of their relative severity, can’t help but wreak havoc?at least emotionally, if not with a team’s depth.
So it is with Annie Medcalf.
The U sophomore, who has suffered chronic back problems throughout her career, will miss at least the remainder of the team’s season, and could potentially be facing the end of her gymnastics career when she undergoes surgery to remove a tumor on her vertebrae.
Medcalf is suffering from a disorder called “osteoblastoma,” which is defined by Stedman’s Medical Dictionary, 27th edition, as “an uncommon benign tumor?with areas of?calcified tissue, occurring most frequently in the spine of a young person.”
Her surgery will take place sometime in the next seven to 10 days, and will require the removal of the tumor and the fusing of at least three vertebrae.
“This is the kind of thing that puts gymnastics in perspective, said Ute coach Greg Marsden. “It is ironic, because Annie had her best competition as a Ute in our meet at Michigan just prior to this latest development.”
In that Feb. 22 meet, the Stow, Ohio, native tied her career high by scoring a 9.875 on the beam, and also contributed a 9.825 on the bars.
The former U.S. National Team member had been limited to just five routines this year (three on bars, two on beam) but managed to hit all five. She’s hit 15-of-16 total routines in her brief U career.
In spite of the nature of the injury and the surgery, though, her doctors are hopeful about her prospects of returning to training and competition in a few months’ time?something that has her coach and teammates hopeful as well.
“We are not as strong a team without Annie and are encouraged that the doctors are optimistic about her return to gymnastics,” Marsden said.