Hanley running injured at NCAAs (Track)
You’ll have to excuse Ryan Hanley of Anchorage for feeling a little vulnerable these days.
The sophomore runner at Colorado School of Mines is playing hurt, with a groin muscle injury limiting his ability to run like the wind at the NCAA D2 Championships this weekend.
Hanley, of Dimond High fame, will gut it out like an All-American, but it will painful.
“It’s going to be interesting to see what happens,” he told me. “I’m hoping to make finals, but it’s part of God’s plan now.”
Hanley is a specialist in the 800, having earned indoor All-American honors in March and placing ninth at the 2010 outdoor championships to just miss national recognition.
The 20-year-old qualified for this week’s national meet hosted by Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock, Calif., with a time of 1:51.84, which ranks him 13th.
The nagging injury was initially believed to be a sports hernia but an MRI revealed a groin tear.
“Good news is no surgery,” he said. “Bad news nothing can be done before Nationals.”
Hanley has been running twice a week for the last month in an attempt to rest and recover. Everything else is either on the bike or in the swimming pool.
Still, the injury has tamed his expectations a bit.
“An improved time and place would be nice, but I haven’t run a real race since my qualifier,” he said. “So we’ll see if it works out.”