CALEDONIA — Aches and pains are part of a runner”s life.
Sometimes a good stretch or a long run can ease that discomfort and make everything right.
In other instances, that pain is the source of a greater problem, as Jessica Comer discovered earlier this season.
But after missing multiple meets and a good portion of the regular season with a right foot injury, Comer returned in time for the postseason. Strong finishes at the district and regional meets have helped prepare the Caledonia High School senior for her final meet as a prep standout: The Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 4A State meet on Saturday at Pearl High School.
Comer qualified for the meet by finishing first in the 3,200 meters (12 minutes, 40.51 seconds), second in the 1,600 (5:47.29), and third in the 800 (2:35.21) to qualify for the state meet. She also took sixth in the 400 (1:04.42).
For her accomplishments, Comer is The Dispatch”s Prep Player of the Week.
“I am not where I need to be, but I am getting back,” Comer said. “If I had three or four more weeks after State meet I could get there, I think. But my last shot is Saturday, so I am trying to get in shape real quick.”
Comer injured her ankle during cross country season, but she isn”t sure if that injury had anything to do with the swelling in her foot that kept her out of action until nine days before the district meet.
Comer said she felt discomfort in the foot a few days ago, but she said she started to take her prescribed dosage of medicine again, which relieved the pain.
Aside from a bout with pneumonia a few years ago, the foot injury kept Comer away from running for the longest time.
“I guess it felt good (not to run), but when you don”t run and you run all of the time, your body starts to want it again,” Comer said. “I couldn”t run, and I wanted to. It was hard getting back into it, but being off helped my foot and I was able to come back.”
Comer said her mind was glad to be back running but her foot wasn”t on her first few training days. She said everything is working together to get back to a point where Comer feels closer to 100 percent, or whenever she felt she was healthiest or in the best condition.
Caledonia coach James Reed said Comer never has used excuses and won”t start now.
“When we line up we want to win,” Reed said. “Since the eighth grade, she knew she was going after blue (as in a blue ribbon for first place), not anything else. That”s what we”re chasing, whether we”re hurt or not.” Reed said Sarah Guess most likely cracked bones in her foot competing Saturday in the discus. Still, she managed to throw 88 feet, 1 inch in the event, which was good for sixth. The top four individuals and teams qualified for the state meet.
As for Comer, Reed said she will have to deal with McGees again. After battling nationally acclaimed distance runner Cory McGee for the past three years, Comer will face Regen, a seventh-grader, in the 1,600 and the 3,200, while Devin McGee will compete in the 800. Reed said Comer should have the edge in experience but will have to run a focused race if she is going to capitalize on that advantage.
“We can”t get away from them,” Reed said. “The only way we can get away from them is to run away from them.”
Comer has a history of success at this time of the season. She won the 800 (2:27.98) at the Class 4A North State meet as a freshman. She also placed fifth in the 3,200 (12:46.03), and went on to take third in the 800 (2:28.70) at the Class 4A State meet.
Since then, Comer has won at least one event at the North State or the State meet ever since. As a sophomore, she won the 800 (2:22.38) at the North State (2:22.38) and at the Class 4A meet (2:21.75).
As a junior, she won the 800 (2:28) and the 3,200 (12:03) at the North State meet before taking second in the 800 (2:22.7) and thirds in the 1,600 (5:30.6) and 3,200 (12:18.82) at the State meet.
This season, she swept the 400 (1:04.56), 800 (2:32), 1,600 (5:58.9), and 3,200 (12:41.7) at the Class 4A, Region 2 meet with little more than a week”s worth of training. She parlayed those performances into a successful day at the Class 4A North State meet on Saturday, even though she admitted she wasn”t satisfied.
Reed sensed Comer”s disappointment, but he realizes she likely will be in a better position Saturday at the overall state meet. He said not having to compete in the 400 will help Comer be more rested for the other events. It also should help that Comer plans to eat better to maintain her energy levels.
“She is coming back. She is not where she needs to be, quite frankly, but she is going to have to get that out of her mind,” Reed said. “It is time to go to work right now. She has one more day to run, and then she has the summer workouts.”
Those workouts will prepare Comer for the cross country season at Mississippi State. She said it”s difficult to imagine her college career is so close after so many events and meets in high school.
After such so much success, Comer said it would only be natural to go out with another gold medal or blue ribbon to close her prep career.
“My goal can”t be a 12:03 anymore,” Comer said referring to her time at the Class 4A North State meet last year. “It has to be to get better than I was and to win, not to beat my personal records.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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