Stephanie
Dagg and Ingrid Anderson, senior tennis players from Thief River Falls, know
how fortunate they are to be part of the team. The Prowlers are playing at the
Class 2A state team tournament this week after winning the Section 8
championship, and that is historic. Not many teams make it to state in any sport,
and the Prowlers are plenty proud, as they should be.
For Stephanie and Ingrid, however, the gratitude goes beyond what
happens at the state tournament. Both have endured serious physical issues, and
both have had surgical screws inserted into their skeletal structures. Wheelchairs
and crutches are also part of their stories.
When Stephanie was in eighth grade, her father just happened to look at her back
as she sat in a chair. It was hard to pin down, but something didn’t look
right.
“It wasn't painful or anything,” she
said. “My dad said, ‘OK, we should get this checked out just in case.’
”
After
seeing their family doctor, they were sent to a specialist in Fargo. Stephanie
was diagnosed with scoliosis, a
sideways curvature of the spine. Her spine curved at about 60 degrees, and she
needed surgery to correct it and hopefully ensure no serious problems as she
continued to grow.
She had surgery over the holiday break, which
gave her extra time to recover without missing school for too long. She stayed
home for three weeks and wasn’t allowed to do any physical activity for six
months.
“But then, after the six months, I
was cleared to do everything and I haven't had problems since,” said Stephanie,
who also is a track and field athlete.
Ingrid’s issues were more recent, involving her hip joints. She had started
experiencing hip pain in seventh grade. She was a dancer with good flexibility but
athletics can be hard on lots of joints, including the hips.
She, too, went to a doctor in Thief
River Falls. The first possible diagnosis was a torn labrum. MRIs and other
tests followed before a doctor in Fargo discovered she had dysplasia in both
hip joints; that meant her hip
sockets weren’t fully covering the ball portion of the upper thighbone, which can result in the hip joints becoming partially or
completely dislocated. Like Stephanie’s spinal issue, it was
serious stuff.
And here’s another problem with double hip dysplasia:
You can’t have surgery on both hips at the same time. Otherwise you’d be flat
on your back for months and months.
Ingrid had surgery on her right hip at Mayo
Clinic in Rochester in March 2020, just as the Covid-19 pandemic started to
surge. On the day of her surgery, school was cancelled due to Covid.
“I woke up and my mom's like, ‘Hey, school is canceled.’ So I
couldn't have gone to school anyway.”
She began walking with a crutch
three weeks after surgery, admitting, “You're supposed to wait until six
weeks.”
Her left hip went under the knife in
August 2020. In both cases, four-inch screws were put in place to hold
everything together.
Ingrid’s
screws were later removed, while Stephanie still has some screws in her back.
Appropriately, Stephanie and Ingrid stand
side by side in the team photo that’s part of the state tournament program. In
Tuesday’s Class 2A state quarterfinals at the University of Minnesota Baseline
Tennis Center, the unseeded Prowlers fell to second-seeded Edina 7-0. Thief
River Falls then defeated Visitation 6-1 in the consolation bracket and will
meet Mounds View on Wednesday in the fifth-place match.
Singles and doubles competition will be held
on Thursday and Friday. The Prowlers, who will be represented in singles by
senior Brooklyn Broadwell, have moved back and forth between Class 1A and Class
2A; their last trip to state came in Class 1A three years ago.
Second-year Thief River Falls coach
Shawna Spears said Stephanie and Ingrid are “definitely hard workers. To be
stuck on the sofa for how many months recovering, then to come back and work so
hard to earn a spot. They’re great.”
It was hard to sit and wait for the healing process to be
completed.
“I
couldn't sit up or walk for a long time and I sat and watched my team compete
when I was in a wheelchair and on crutches,” Ingrid said. “Now
I'm sprinting and running. And I
look normal, I think.”
Indeed.
Normality is everywhere. Young athletes, training, working, competing, being
part of the team.
To miss out on tennis “would have been
heartbreaking,” Ingrid said. “I wouldn't be here and I wouldn't be so close to
my team, or my coach.”
Asked
about playing at state, Stephanie put it very simply.
“It's a dream come true.”
--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of
Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn
and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts.
Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org
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