Senior Makayla Crannell, from Adel-DeSoto-Minburn, details her journey back from an injury she suffered early into the track & field season to be apart of the first championship team in school history.

Crannell tells Raccoon Valley Radio that she came into the 2024 season with plenty of goals to accomplish to end her high school career. She was hoping to become an individual state champion as well as set school records in a couple of events. However, during the Dickinson Relays on March 5th, Crannell tore her Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL), which set her back for a few months.

Crannell feared that the injury would put her out for the entire season, making her upset that she wouldn’t be able to accomplish the goals she set out to. However, throughout the next couple of months, Crannell began to see progress by trusting herself to run 400 and 800 meter distances. She said it wasn’t easy as she returned to action later in the season with a thought of possibly reinjuring it. Despite the setback, Crannell rejoices in knowing one of her main goals was achieved.

“I was able to run at state, which was super exciting for me, I didn’t know if I’d be able to do that but it’s been a long road, lot of ups and downs, but in the end we (ADM) had a team championship, which is crazy, and that was one of my goals at the beginning of the season too that we were able to cross off.”

The Tigers were named the Class 3A Champions this year at the State Track Meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines. For Crannell, she will continue her Track & Field career at the University of Northern Iowa following graduation on Sunday.