Tatiana Andrade is likely to be Greenwood’s No. 7 or 8 runner when the Woodmen take part in the Franklin girls cross-country sectional Oct. 7.
The junior would prefer the former.
Pain in her shins and tightness in both calves forced Andrade to miss the Decatur Central Invitational on Sept. 16. However, she returned to take part in the Mid-State Conference meet Saturday, running a time of 26:25.58.
“Tatiana had been fighting through it for about three weeks, but she needed a break,” Greenwood coach Blaine Williams said.
Andrade would like to return to her form of two years ago when she posted a time of 24:36.31 at sectional on the same course (Franklin). She missed all of her sophomore season after suffering a broken left femur while playing kickball in physical education class.
“The Mid-State meet was kind of a test run to see how my shins were,” Andrade said. “They bothered me a little bit, but definitely not as much as last week. I’m definitely happy to get back into the game. I just wish it wasn’t such a process.”
Freshman Abby Walls has been the No. 7 runner for Greenwood in recent meets, with Andrade a position behind. Walls’ time at the conference meet was 26:22.31 — a little more than three seconds faster than Andrade.
The next 10 days will go a long way in determining who runs seventh at sectional. Greenwood closes its regular season Saturday with the annual Johnson County Meet at Franklin.
