<p>Emily Bonser goes through the same routine before every Greenwood track and field meet.</p>
<p>The junior starts by sliding a cotton sleeve onto her left leg that extends from the middle of her calf to the upper thigh. Once it’s secure, Bonser places a titanium brace over the section of sleeve covering the knee.</p>
<p>The combination hasn’t slowed her down.</p>
<p>Despite a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, Bonser set a new Woodmen record in the shot put earlier this month with a best of 40 feet, 2 inches. She recently reset the mark (40-3) at the Franklin Central Invitational.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
<p>Not content to undergo preseason surgery and be forced to watch teammates run, jump and vault without her, she decided to wait until the season is over to mull her options.</p>
<p>There is a chance she undergoes ACL surgery once Greenwood’s season ends. Much of it could depend on whether she wants to continue in sports her senior year.</p>
<p>“If Emily was doing a sport like soccer or basketball, she would’ve had to have surgery,” Bonser’s mother, Heather, said. “Even after this, she’s come back and had an amazing season. Track has been her sport that she puts her heart and energy into."</p>
<p>A competitive gymnast through eighth grade, Bonser was at an open gym at the Gymnastics Academy in Indianapolis as a freshman when she first injured the knee. She had surgery, but this past December it was discovered she had torn it again. No one is sure exactly when or how it was re-injured.</p>
<p>As a precaution, Bonser bypassed a role on the Greenwood basketball roster this winter to be a diver for the swim program. She felt diving put less of a strain on her knee than constantly changing directions on a basketball court.</p>
<p>During a swim practice this season, Bonser’s left leg gave out during her approach on the diving board. She competed in a meet the next day against Perry Meridian, but cut her season short after realizing she had again torn her ACL.</p>
<p>“My doctor said that it looked like it had been torn for a while,” Bonser said.</p>
<p>Disappointing as the news was, Bonser has experienced worse. As a newborn she was diagnosed with tracheomalacia, which causes the trachea to narrow during exhales and makes breathing difficult.</p>
<p>Bonser was treated at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis for her first year and eventually outgrew the condition.</p>
<p>As a discus and shot put competitor, Bonser is required to spin and push off her left foot, but the knee hasn’t affected her performances so far. She took second in the shot put and fourth in discus at the Johnson County meet earlier this month and expects similar finishes at next week’s Mid-State Conference meet.</p>
<p>Bonser isn’t slowed by the prospect of potentially aggravating the injury while throwing.</p>
<p>“Honestly, I just don’t think about it. I just throw,” she said. “Every once in a while, if I come down on it wrong I’ll have a little bit of pain. But other than that, I forget that I have it torn sometimes. I’ve started to sprint with my teammates, even though I’m really not supposed to.”</p>
<p>Greenwood track coach Blaine Williams appreciates Bonser’s dedication to the team.</p>
<p>“You can’t question her toughness for one second. Emily has not complained once about anything ever,” he said. “She just comes to practice every day and works hard and is ready to compete every time.</p>
<p>“They told her she’s not going to hurt (her knee) any worse. It’s unbelievable to me, but she does it.”</p>
