When Lafayette Jeff junior Jenny Strasser doesn’t feel like
practicing, she only has to remember the time when she
didn’t have a choice.
A middle-school back injury became so painful and restrictive
that Strasser nearly had to quit swimming. At one point,
she stopped swimming competitively and was limited to a
one-armed stroke.
“I was completely against it,” Strasser said of possibly having
to stop swimming. “I’ve swam all my life. It’s the only
thing that I’ve liked to do and that I’m decent at. The
thought of having to not do it waspretty traumatizing.”
Now recovered from what Lafayette Jeff coach Jim Sharp called a
career-threatening injury, Strasser is a key
contributor for a Bronchos team that hopes to defend its
sectional title.
A member of the 200 freestyle relay squad that broke the school
record last season, Strasser has her eyes on the 200 and
500 freestyle individual records as well.
“She always has a really strong work ethic and a desire to do
well,” Lafayette Jeff senior Jennie Peterson said. “She
works twice as hard as a lot of the other swimmers and
it’s really paid off for her.”
Strasser injured herself two-and-a-half years ago while lifting
weights with her former swim club. The exercise popped
vertebrae out of place in Strasser’s upper back, and
those loose vertebrae then put strain on her left shoulder.
When she got to high school, Sharp noticed that Strasser’s
stroke was short and choppy.
“Every time I’d ask her if her shoulder’s OK, she was mute,”
Sharp said. “She’d just nod her head. I could tell by
her stroke that when the stroke would shorten up, the
reality of it was she was in a lot of pain.”
Strasser went to A Touch for Health in West Lafayette as a “last
resort.” Strasser said it was Jerry Scott who first felt
something out of place in her back and recommended the
X-rays that diagnosed the vertebrae problem a year after
the injury.
Strasser began specific exercises to strengthen the back muscle
and improve her stroke. While there were times the
injury kept her from practicing last year, Strasser said
the muscle is much stronger this year.
“She wouldn’t quit,” said Sharp, who was also the club coach of
Strasser’s mother, Jane. “In her quest to be the best,
she’s very reluctant to back off and quit. She knows
that if you’re going to get ahead you have to work hard at it.”
Last year, Strasser teamed with Meaghan Huston, Paige Kelsey and
Amanda Marshall to break the 15-year-old school record
in the 200 freestyle. Strasser is back on that relay and
the 400 free relay for the Bronchos after posting the team’s top splits on both last season.
Compared to this point last season, Strasser has also cut two
seconds off her 200 freestyle individual time and about
10 seconds off her 500 free mark. She hopes to finish
her season in the top eight at the state meet.
“I don’t take it for granted anymore, because I didn’t always
like coming to practice,” said Strasser, who also is
ranked in the top three of her class at Jeff. “There’s
girls on my team right now that have injuries and watching them makes me value it even more.”
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