NSU Horizons Spring 2016

42 NSU HORIZONS K ayla Sullivan was in severe pain— her anguished screams verified that. Sullivan, a University of Tampa cross country runner, was competing at the Sunshine State Conference championship meet at Holloway Park in Lakeland, Florida. Three other women were running in Sullivan’s group. Two of them kept running after Sullivan tripped on a tree root. Only Imke Oelerich, an NSU graduate student, stopped to assist. Oelerich said the two women who kept run- ning “should have heard (Sullivan) scream— it was so loud.” The decision to stop wasn’t a decision at all, Oelerich said. It was a reaction… but one with consequences. Oelerich came to NSU in August from her native Germany, where she had earned a bachelor’s degree. At NSU, she’s working on her master’s degree in sports revenue generation, but this was her one and only shot to do well at the conference championships. After she had battled the flu and soreness earlier in the season, Oelerich finally felt good. She was ready to make a splash—until Sullivan fell. “You cannot think at that time,” Oelerich said. “I asked her if she was OK, but she couldn’t respond. She was just screaming.” Oelerich stayed with Sullivan for what she estimates was 15 seconds until she saw two young men who ran over to help. Sullivan said they were runners from Tampa’s men’s team. “They thought I had broken my leg because I was screaming so loud,” Sullivan said. “[Oelerich] tried to encourage me to get up and continue running, but I couldn’t.” The injury—described as a deep bone bruise on her right knee—kept Sullivan out of action for a couple of months. Her leg was black and blue for weeks. Had Sullivan gone down on a different part of the six-kilometer course, somewhere populated with spectators, race volunteers, or medical personnel, Oelerich would’ve continued. But since it was on a remote part of the course, about two kilometers from the finish, she felt she had no choice but to stop, even though she did so with a heavy heart, knowing it could affect her team. “I knew it was important to pass those women [who kept running],” Oelerich said. “It was important for the coaches to see me pass them.” Oelerich knew the time she gave up was going to be impossible to make up, and she also had to restart her muscles. “It’s so hard to close such a gap when you stop and have to start running again,” Oelerich said. Oelerich eventually passed one of those two women. But she’s sure she would have caught them BY WALTER VILLA Cross Country Runner Wins in Sportsmanship