With knee injury, Cook's title defense up in the air
Ben Mark
Issue date: 1/29/08 Section: Sports
Andrew Cook has literally and figuratively been a head above the rest of his competition in the high jump.
The senior is the two-time defending NCAC conference champion in the event, and nothing would be sweeter than a three-peat this March.
Unfortunately, performing at the conference championships isn't a sure thing for Cook, who has sat out the first month of the season rehabilitating a torn meniscus.
"I actually have no idea how it happened," Cook said of the injury. "It must have been an 'over time' kind of thing. You get used to the little bumps and bruises and think it's nothing, but one day [my knee] locked."
You have to go back to last year's indoor season to find the root of Cook's knee problem.
He first felt the knee lock right before the 2007 conference championship meet, which Cook still went on to win.
The problems lingered into the outdoor season, where he jumped on a bad knee all spring. After discovering that he had torn his meniscus all the way through, surgery became the only option.
Since the operation this past October, Cook has been relegated to the sidelines.
"Nothing is more frustrating than feeling like you're able to do something and then not being able to do it," he said.
Assistant track and field coach Gene Booher works with the team's high and long jumpers and sympathizes with Cook's situation.
"You feel sorry for him," Booher said. "This is the last go around and he wants to do it so badly."
For any competitor, a debilitating injury can cause angst and great aggravation. But for a two-time champ who would be the clear-cut favorite to out-jump the competition again, it can become unbearable.
Both the men and women's teams traveled to Orlando, Fla., over the winter break to compete against Division I University of South Carolina.
Cook said he couldn't bear to watch the Gamecock's high jumpers.
"I couldn't watch the high jumpers that South Carolina brought. That was frustrating because I really wanted to compete against them. They didn't go any higher than 6'2", so on a good day I would have had them."
The senior is the two-time defending NCAC conference champion in the event, and nothing would be sweeter than a three-peat this March.
Unfortunately, performing at the conference championships isn't a sure thing for Cook, who has sat out the first month of the season rehabilitating a torn meniscus.
"I actually have no idea how it happened," Cook said of the injury. "It must have been an 'over time' kind of thing. You get used to the little bumps and bruises and think it's nothing, but one day [my knee] locked."
You have to go back to last year's indoor season to find the root of Cook's knee problem.
He first felt the knee lock right before the 2007 conference championship meet, which Cook still went on to win.
The problems lingered into the outdoor season, where he jumped on a bad knee all spring. After discovering that he had torn his meniscus all the way through, surgery became the only option.
Since the operation this past October, Cook has been relegated to the sidelines.
"Nothing is more frustrating than feeling like you're able to do something and then not being able to do it," he said.
Assistant track and field coach Gene Booher works with the team's high and long jumpers and sympathizes with Cook's situation.
"You feel sorry for him," Booher said. "This is the last go around and he wants to do it so badly."
For any competitor, a debilitating injury can cause angst and great aggravation. But for a two-time champ who would be the clear-cut favorite to out-jump the competition again, it can become unbearable.
Both the men and women's teams traveled to Orlando, Fla., over the winter break to compete against Division I University of South Carolina.
Cook said he couldn't bear to watch the Gamecock's high jumpers.
"I couldn't watch the high jumpers that South Carolina brought. That was frustrating because I really wanted to compete against them. They didn't go any higher than 6'2", so on a good day I would have had them."
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