Lincoln’s Andrews persevered
Lion graduate battled through injuries to succeed in circle
LINCOLN — For all of these “Senior Salutes” this staff at The Call/The Times has composed over the past two-plus months – and some of them unquestionably tug at the heartstrings more than others –Lincoln High senior thrower Jackie Andrews’ story almost certainly heads the list.
In the fall of her junior campaign, while playing in a varsity soccer game at the Lions’ Ferguson
Field home, she suffered what proved to be a serious knee injury, one that wouldn’t allow her to respond like she had as a sophomore.
Because of what she later discovered was a dislocated left patella, her ability to compete as perhaps the premier female Lincoln thrower had been compromised. In fact, she had a decent junior indoor track & field campaign, but the pain grew increasingly worse during outdoor, and she had to give most of it up.
She even gave up soccer this past fall just to heal up and prepare for this winter season.
She did OK, but failed to accomplish all of the goals she had set herself months, even years, before. Andrews did manage to capture the state Class B indoor shot put title (far off her PR heave of 37-0 ¼, (which, amazingly, missed tying her sister Samantha’s school record by a scant quarter-inch), but that was in essence her sole major accomplishment.
She, however, slowly began to feel better toward the tail end of this past indoor season. The added rest from not competing like usual in the 20-pound weight toss or in the hammer had worked; she felt great, physically, emotionally, spiritually.
She appeared ready to finally break out and begin achieving goals head coach Brian Grant always knew she could.
Andrews’ athletic/competitive world always had meant everything to her, and graduating as a state or New England champion topped her list, yet that world came crumbling down upon her when Gov. Gina Raimondo announced on April 23 that students would not return in person to their schools. That also meant the cancellation of the spring sports campaign.
What a cruel twist of fate. “I was crushed; I had waited for so long to get healthy, worked so hard, and it all disappeared,” Andrews explained. “That was the hardest thing to take, that after all I had been through with my left knee, and the fact I was just starting to feel healthy and throw well again, boom! Gone!
“Before we left school (initially on Friday, March 13), I was thinking, ‘This is going to be my comeback season!’ I was feeling great. I was ready to throw far and compete, not just go through the motions like I had been.”
For the better part of this spring, she kept asking herself, “What if?” What if she had never injured her knee? What if she hadn’t had surgery? What if COVID-19 had never come to fruition?
“I had really looked forward to my senior outdoor season especially because I knew it would take that long to heal up,” she stated. “On that Friday, March 13, (schools officials) said we’d be out for a week, and that it would serve as our spring vacation, so I wasn’t that worried, but then a few days became a week, a week became three and three became a couple of months.
“It was really so sad; I couldn’t say I was angry because I understood why everything had shut down, but it was sad because it was my senior year, and I ended up missing the best half of it.”
Offered Grant: “It got worse during outdoor her junior year. It kept hurting, she said, more and more, so I told her she’d have to ease up. She missed most of the big (championship) meets that year, but she slowly started to improve at the end of this indoor season; she was finally getting back into it.
“She was cleared and was getting back into her groove,” he continued. “She got back into throwing and lifting; her distances started to improve, and the season was first postponed, then canceled. She actually qualified for the New Balance (Interscholastic) Nationals (at The Armory in New York) as a sophomore and won the Emerging Elite Division in 20-pound weight.
“Jackie still has the second furthest hammer throw in school history behind Sam, despite the fact she did it as a sophomore. And then it all came to a close. We all knew it was coming; we could see the handwriting on the wall as time went on, especially after indoor nationals (this March) were canceled.
“But there’s no question: This has hit Jackie, and it’s a cruel ending to her high school career.”
Make no mistake – calling what Andrews has been through over the past threeplus years a roller-coaster ride is a massive understatement, but it started long before then.
She claimed she began throwing shots, weights, hammers, javelins and the discus in sixth grade mostly because she wanted to be like older sister, who continues to hold most of the LHS school records (though Grant indicated Jackie would have broken some of them).
“I looked up to her, so I wanted to try it, but what I found I liked most is, when I’m in the circle, it’s just me and the hammer or shot or whatever,” she said. “I don’t have to worry about anything or anyone else. I’m in charge of my own destiny.”
Andrews really began coming into her own as a sophomore, when she finished third in the state in the indoor shot (37-0 ¼), and she was expecting much more her junior indoor and outdoor campaigns. All she had to do was get through her soccer season that fall unscathed.
“I was in a game in October, and we were at home; I saw a ball coming toward me, so I planted my left foot in the turf, then reached out with my right foot to kick it out of the goalie box,” she stated. “I went down fast, and I knew right away something was wrong. I think I was in shock. I’ve never fallen before in anything and not been able to get up.”
Her parents transported her to an emergency room in Cumberland, and that’s when she discovered she had dislocated her patella.
“They also told me that it had popped back into place, so I’d be fine,” she noted. “I waited a week and didn’t play anything, and I felt fine; there was a little pain, but that was it. Still, I didn’t go back to playing because throwing means more to me, and I didn’t want to hurt it again.
“Coach Grant told me we were going to slow it down, watch it, see how it feels and looks; the first meet, I clearly remember my knee moving, shifting, and it was uncomfortable. I still competed in most of my meets because, when it popped out, it would pop back in.
“Eventually, it got so bad, I’d just be walking around and it would pop out.”
That’s why she missed most of her junior outdoor slate, including the state and New England events.
On Aug. 13, 2019, (ironic, considering her senior outdoor season, excluding workouts on her own, ended seven months to the day later, doctors employed arthroscopic surgery to replace her patella femoral ligament. Andrews said it was extremely loose because of all the stretching, so “they put in a new one from a cadaver.
“They actually wanted to break my leg and reset it because it wasn’t completely straight, but my mom said, ‘No way!’ because I’d be out way, way longer,” she sighed. “It would have way too much of an impact on my senior year.
“Before the surgery, I actually had problems sleeping, the pain was so bad. It would actually pop out if I slept the wrong way.”
She nevertheless battle through all the rehab, all the anguish and traveled to almost all of the meets with her teammates as both a junior and senior.
“I missed out on two things: Trying to accomplish all of those dreams I had set for myself after I was injured, but also being able to compete with my teammates again,” she said. “I’ll never forget that. They mean so much to me. That hurts me.
“I actually qualified for the Emerging Elite in the one meet I threw in (the Class B Championships, so I would have gone to indoor nationals, but that was canceled,” she added. “Now I’m also missing out on outdoor nationals because they had been moved to late July in South Dakota, but they just canceled them.
“Missing indoor is a bummer, but I wasn’t that sad because I was doing it just for fun and to get back into the flow. Missing the outdoor nationals? That’s crushing.”
Andrews nevertheless says she’s triumphed over all those disappointments after discussions with family and friends, and the forming of new dreams – that is, focus on being the best thrower she can be at Rhode Island College.
“The last three or four months They’ve been really weird, different, emotionally disappointing, but it is what it is,” she explained. “I’m just looking to move on; I don’t want to dwell on anything. I’m still hanging with my friends, but I do miss seeing kids I’ve gone to school with for my whole life.
“I’m still working out; I get in the circle and train maybe twice a week, but that’s because I’m working (at a nearby coffee shop) to raise money for RIC. I’m also running and lifting on my own.”
She’s anxious to major in elementary/special education, and to start working out with her fellow Anchorwomen throwers.
“I want to become a teacher,” she said proudly. “My boyfriend’s brother has Down Syndrome, and he’s so great; I love him so much. Working with him made me want to go into special ed, plus I love all kids.
“I’m still upset I couldn’t have my last senior season, really in indoor and outdoor, but the good thing is I still have opportunities to improve when I go to college,” she continued. “I know most of the other girls because I’ve competed with or against them before. They’re all really nice people, so I’m excited.
“They’re also very good throwers, which is great for me because they’ll push me to get better. I can’t wait to get started.”