Bloomington North senior Griffin Bruce navigates long road back to state track meet

Getting to the boys' state track meet has never been any easier for Griffin Bruce, who needs only to drive across town to Indiana University this year.

At the same time, his journey to qualify has been filled with as many twists and turns as the bus took delivering Bruce and the Bloomington North team to last year's finals at Ben Davis.

It was worth the trip as a junior, bringing home medals after taking second in the 1,600 relay and third in the 3,200 relay and competing in the open 800 with teammate Mason Childers. He was dreaming of what his senior year could be like.

"I really expected to be one of the top guys in the state and just be the best at every meet I go," Bruce said. "Obviously, the injuries happened and altered the course of that."

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So much so, he had to convince his head coach to give him one last chance to earn a spot on the 1,600 relay this season.

"As time progressed, I thought he might get in good enough shape to be a factor for the four-by-eight," North distance coach Charlie Warthan said. "That hasn't panned out. What has happened is that he's been good enough shape to run a pretty good 400.

"He was really outstanding last year, but sometimes, you don't appreciate that fully until you have a season like this year."

In a boot

Bruce ran cross country, more so for the camaraderie and distance training. A program currently loaded with strong distance runners made it difficult to crack the top seven. His body didn't help.

"I can never seem to put together a full cross country season," he said. "I had problems with iron deficiency and different injuries."

But he was feeling better and back in his element when indoor season came around.

"I was excited for indoor," Bruce said. "I felt good, I felt healthy. I always had shin splints, all four years, so it wasn't anything new to me. I was going into indoors with high hopes for the four-by-eight, four-by-four and DMR."

Ice cup, light stretching, ibuprofen all helped Bruce manage his shins, but they worsened enough to put him in a boot when the outdoor season bloomed, but not for long.

On April 12, he hit the track at Center Grove and it went well. The next meet was four days away at the Ben Davis Relays.

Another setback

When Warthan was mulling his lineup for the various relays the unusual meet offers, he had to think twice about how to use this athletes, including Bruce.

The senior hadn't been training long enough to take on anything 800 or longer, so his shifted bodies around and put Bruce in a four-by-two.

"He likes sprinting, so I thought it would be a good fit," Warthan said. "He was running the second leg, then in the middle of the turn, pulled his hamstring."

Three weeks off would leave him precious little time to get back up to speed but he had to try, working with physical therapist Amanda Clark. He saw teammate Reece Lozano face a similar recovery path after injuring his hip, but getting back in time to join Bruce on the 1,600 relay squad at state.

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"I just didn't want to quit," Bruce said. "That would be the end of the season and my career. I kept telling myself there's still time to make it back.

"Reece went through the same thing and made it back. I used him as an example. I kept telling myself I could do it."

But there was no rushing the recovery, with three weeks of no running.

"I had to start very slowly moving," Bruce said. "The pain started going away and two weeks after coming back, I was able to hit top speed and strides."

Put me in coach

Still, his name was not on the original list of eight runners for the 1,600 relay, with any thoughts of rejoining the 3,200 relay out of reach with so little endurance work. So he talked to head coach Justin Helmer.

"I convinced him to let me be an alternate," Bruce said. "I said I'll do whatever it takes to make it back. So I appreciate him taking that risk on a guy who has been injured all season."

Bruce sat out sectional but went to his coach to ask for a time trial the Monday before regional. He finished his loop in just under 53 seconds, good enough to give him a leadoff leg with a state berth on the line.

It was already a fairly deep group with Lozano, Kyle Clark, Broc Murphy, Quincy Slaper and Jallah Barbu all capable sub-53 400 runners. But Bruce's history of performing on the big stage had to give him a leg up.

Now, his leg just had to hold up. It did as the Cougars won a regional title with a season best 3:27.13.

"I'm glad to be back," said Bruce, who isn't planning to run in college. "It means a lot. It means even more since I've been out all season and was still able to find my way back.

"I know what I did last year, taking second in the four-by-four and third in the four-by-eight. It means a lot to find my way back with all the injuries and downs and bad moments this season.

Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington North's Bruce navigates long road back to state track meet