Junior Rachele Schulist, left, and teammate junior Alexis Wiersma congratulate each other after the women's college 6K race Sept. 18, 2015 during the Spartan Invitational at Forest Akers Golf Course in East Lansing. Schulist's time for this race was 21:01. Wiersma's time was 21:07.
It was the halfway mark of the 10,000 meter race at the Raleigh Relays on March 26 and MSU track stars Rachele Schulist and Alexis Wiersma had led the way through much of the first 5,000 meters.
However, the pace was slow and the two of them had goal times they had to hit, so Wiersma turned to Schulist and told her they had to make a move.
And Schulist did, making such a move, Wiersma said was too much for her to keep up with.
In just her second race back from a patella stress fracture, which put her out of racing for the better part of six months, Schulist went on to win the race in a time of 34:12, giving herself an emotional and hard-earned victory along the way.
It’s no secret the last year has been tough on her.
Schulist’s 2014-15 seasons were a career for her, one that featured a fourth place All-American finish at the 2014 NCAA Cross Country National Championships, a 2014 team cross country win at National Championships, as well as successful indoor and outdoor track seasons highlighted by personal bests in all of her events.
Coming into the 2015 cross country season with a solid summer of training behind her, Schulist was expected to repeat the same kind of success.
However, following a fifth-place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota on Sept. 26, 2015, Schulist noticed a funny pain in her knee during her cool down after the race.
Schulist attempted to train through the pain for a couple of weeks, but after learning in an X-ray that she had a patella stress fracture, the coaching staff made the decision to shut her down for the season.
“That was extremely hard,” Schulist said. “I love this sport and I love running so much and competing so to not be able to do it, to not be able to help out the team at Big Tens and stuff was, it was just very difficult.”
For the remainder of the season, Schulist, along with fellow former and injured All-American Lindsay Clark, watched from the sidelines as the MSU women’s team went on to a 13th place finish at the NCAA Championships on Nov. 21, 2015.
Teammates of Schulist’s undoubtedly missed her because of her running talents, but it was so much more than that.
“Anytime anyone of our teammates is not competing, it’s really hard to watch that,” Wiersma said. “It’s hard to see somebody going through that physically and emotionally. It really takes a toll on that person specifically and on the team as well because we want to be there and support that person. It’s really sad to see your teammate sad.”
Schulist made gradual strides to return from her injury, grabbing some miles on the AlterG treadmill by January, and slowly returning to workouts and long runs after that. She ran a tune-up race on Feb. 19 at Grand Valley State University, but it wasn’t until the victory at the Raleigh Relays that she made her true return to competitive racing.
“I was definitely very nervous before, just in terms of everything feeling good,” Schulist said. “But once I got on the track and started going, I couldn’t help but smile when I was running. It felt right and it felt good and when Ally (Wiersma) and I took over the lead, it was like, ‘OK, this is pretty cool.’ There’s nothing better than to be leading a race with your teammate.”
For Wiersma, someone who has been racing against Schulist since middle school, seeing how happy and confident Schulist has been since returning from injury has been the sweetest thing.
“To see her just get back out on the track and to have it be her first 10K and to see her same confidence that she’s always had in the past to just go, it was really cool and something that I admire,” said Wiersma, who finished just behind Schulist in second at the Raleigh Relays. “She’s my friend, but she’s also my role model in that way because she’s such a confident racer and she’s so fearless.”
MSU director of cross country and track and field Walt Drenth said after seeing Schulist’s progress the last few months, he wasn’t at all surprised by Schulist’s successful return, but now it’s just a matter of getting back into the swing of things.
“She broke the school record last year in 5,000 meters,” Drenth said. “I don’t think she’s quite there. I think she can be there by the end of the season and certainly be there by the fall. But it’s a long time to miss. And there a lot of things that go with missing that we take for granted. Racing at that level is hard. And you spend essentially seven months not racing, you lose familiarity with that difficulty.”
Schulist said she’s never gone through an injury like this before, but now that she’s back, said she’s realized how much she truly loves and appreciates running and her team. And for now, she looks forward to the rest of the season.
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“Sometimes I think the injury, it was a blessing because it made me fall back in love with it again and remember why I love it and take the expectations that I put on myself and kind of be free of those and be like, ‘OK, I’m starting over again, and this is where I’m at and all that matters is that I do my best,’” Schulist said.
