Ashley LaPointe stepped off the team bus in 2014 full of hope for the first time as a collegiate athlete, three weeks after starting her first semester of college at Lindenwood University. Her parents were always her biggest supporters, so when she saw them for the first time in weeks, a number of emotions and thoughts went through her head. After a solid warm up with her new teammates, she laced up her spikes and went to the starting line. When the gun went off, her natural instincts took over and she ran like she always had.

“I felt good so I went out as my usual fast self and got up to the front,” LaPointe said.

She soon realized that the pace that worked in high school would not fly in college because with every step and every breath the sun seemed to be beating down harder and harder. This made every kilometer harder than the last. But, even with the sun, goosebumps covered her body head to toe and she could not figure out why.

While getting on the bus her body ached. She reached for her Gatorade, but she could not move her arms or any part of her body for that matter. She then recognized that these were the signs of dehydration. She took care of herself on the way home and recovered quickly, while also learning a very valuable lesson. But dehydration was not the biggest obstacle LaPointe had to face during her first few years of college.

The summer after her freshman year, LaPointe told her closest friends that she would not be competing during her sophomore year of cross country due to a torn labrum. LaPointe was devastated when she heard the news. Her high school cross country and track coach, Christopher Bailey, was also emotional when he heard the news.

“I was bummed out,” Bailey said. “She is someone who has worked so hard and come so far and I know it crushed her. But knowing Ashley, she’s the type of person that has always been someone to get right back up and be more determined than she was prior to an injury.”

Despite being devastated, LaPointe kept pushing through the pain of the first surgery only to find out that her other labrum was torn as well.

“They told me since my pain tolerance was so high that I should go and get an MRI on the other hip as well,” LaPointe said.

Another tear meant another surgery and another season off. But just like before, LaPointe pushed through and recovered faster than before.

“For the second surgery, I was only on crutches for less than a week where last time it was longer,” LaPointe said.

LaPointe ended up redshirting for both cross country and track her sophomore year of college. Now, she is an academic junior, but has the eligibility of a sophomore, because according to NCAA rules, an athlete has five academic years to play four athletic years. Despite all of this, LaPointe came back stronger than ever and has been a very big contributor this season to her cross country team, just like she was her freshman year.