Katy Cinco Ranch junior Heidi Nielson could miss the remainder of the cross country season. She has sustained an injury to the shaft of her femur.
Prior to the McNeil Invitation, Nielson was missing workouts due to general pain. It was originally thought to be a groin injury, until a doctor's visit feared it to be a little worse.
According to her father, "The doctor was worried that it was a Femoral Neck Stress Fracture. Thankfully, the MRI showed the injury was just a little lower and not as severe, on the shaft of the femur," Mr. Kai Nielson said.
This is a lot less risky and easier to recover from. There will be "No running or any weight bearing exercise including ellipticals for 4 weeks," Mr. Nielson said. "The doctor will re-assess, it could be potentially longer or potentially could get back to some partial running at that point."
The injury prevented Nielson from running at her district meet and eliminated any possibility for her to qualify for the state meet.
While she is definitely out for the state meet, is there a chance for NXR South or Footlocker South?
"We're not dismissing the possibility of doing one or both of them yet," Mr. Nielson said. With the limitations placed on her training and cross training possibilities, how likely is it that she can run it if she is cleared when there isn't much she can do to retain or improve fitness?
"The short answer is we don't know, and not much point in speculating as the doctor will really dictate things."
Nielson is one of the most decorated and accomplished runners in Texas. In cross country, she finished fourth at the UIL 6A state cross country meet both as a freshman and a sophomore. She qualified for the Foot Locker Nationals in cross country as a freshman and then again as a sophomore as well as the Nike Cross Nationals last year.
On the track, Nielson finished second in the 3200m and third in the 1600m her freshman year and was fourth in the 3200m and was second in the 1600m last year as a sophomore.
She also has international experience running for Team USA as she qualified for the IAAF World U20 country Championships and the World U20 Track and Field Championships.
Neilson is the second UIL 6A runner who had expectations and a shot of winning a state title this season. Denton Guyer announced two weeks ago that her season might be over as well due to injury.
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