Greenwood’s Makena Cruse looks over at the clock as she crosses the finish line to win the 400-meter dash during the Johnson County meet.
Daily Journal file photo
Kind of an odd coincidence that Makena Cruse’s last name is an anagram for “curse.”
So eerily similar. Heck, all you need to do is swap two little letters — the R and the U — to get from one to the other.
Are you?
One can forgive the Greenwood junior for believing that there is indeed some sort of curse hanging over her.
In February of her freshman year, Cruse suffered a severe ankle sprain during an indoor soccer match, one that left her in a boot and forced her to miss the indoor track season. She bounced back in time to cap the outdoor campaign with a trip to the state meet in the 400-meter dash, giving herself a huge momentum boost going into her sophomore year. But that was stopped cold last spring when she got hit with mononucleosis, which threatened to derail her track season entirely.
That, she said, was not going to happen.
Cruse was exhausted — she was napping between events at the sectional and regional meets — but she insisted on competing anyway. She made it to the regional before a fourth-place finish in the 400 there ended her season just short of a return trip to Indiana University.
“I knew there was no option,” Cruse said. “My doctor told me not to run because of my spleen, it was enlarged, all of that, but I knew that my options were either don’t run — don’t show up at sectionals and you never find out if you can make it to state — or run sick and just see what happens. And so that’s what I did. I didn’t run as well as I wanted to, but I showed up.”
“She’s tough as nails and just wants to compete,” Greenwood track coach Blaine Williams said.
After pulling double duty in the fall her first two years of high school, running cross country and playing soccer, Cruse chose to focus on the latter this year, serving as a key contributor on the pitch for the Woodmen. After making it through that season without a hitch, though, Cruse was reading on the beach during fall break when she noticed some numbness in her right arm. A blood clot was discovered (on Halloween, no less), and she was put on blood thinners, went through six weeks of physical therapy and was told not to lift any weights.
Are you? You are.
“We were worried back in February, was she even going to have a season?” Williams said. “And then when the doctors told her that they could postpone the surgery until after the season, it was like the weight of the world got lifted off her shoulders and the old Makena is back.”
Well, sort of. A venogram in March found that the clot was still there and was unlikely to dissolve completely; Cruse was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, a byproduct of being born with an extra rib that puts pressure on the artery when she raises her arm above her head. Surgery to remove the rib is an option that will be discussed after the track season ends.
In the meantime, Cruse is on a trial run of sorts, as she has resumed weight training and isn’t taking blood thinners. She showed flashes of her old self at the Johnson County meet early last week, comfortably winning the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.49 seconds.
(Of course, because it seems like nothing comes without a catch for Cruse, she tweaked her ankle near the finish and had to withdraw from the 200 and the 4×400 relay that night as a precaution — but it’s not expected to impact her for next week’s Mid-State Conference meet or the postseason.)
Cruse says she’d like to take down the school record in the 800 before she graduates, but the 400 is her baby — the perfect cocktail of sprint speed and endurance. She was introduced to the event in sixth grade, and while it’s hell for so many others, it just clicked for her.
“I’m built for the 400,” Cruse said. “I used to run cross country, and I play soccer, so I’ve always had that speed and I have endurance. One thing that I use in the 400 is that I’m able to get my first 200 fast, but then I’m also able to hang a lot longer than other kids because I have that set endurance that a lot of kids don’t have. … I can run seven miles, but I can also run a 200.”
Williams is just happy to see Cruse back running, and doing so with a smile on her face. Cruse’s sophomore season wasn’t what she wanted it to be, and she’s been hit with obstacles at almost every turn, she has pushed through all of them.
If there is indeed a curse, it ain’t stopping her.
“I guess my motto is just, if I’m going to run and I’m going to die, then I’d better do it with a good time,” Cruse said with a smile.
