RIGGAN RETURNS

Mid-Prairie senior back to basketball after ACL tear

Posted 1/2/20

Anticipation has been building for Caitlyn Riggan for nine months.

The Mid-Prairie senior tore her ACL in April and since then has been on a mission to return to sports.

“I knew I was …

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RIGGAN RETURNS

Mid-Prairie senior back to basketball after ACL tear

Posted

Anticipation has been building for Caitlyn Riggan for nine months.

The Mid-Prairie senior tore her ACL in April and since then has been on a mission to return to sports.

“I knew I was going to be out of volleyball and they told me basketball was a maybe. It depended on how fast my recovery is,” Riggan said.

As soon as she heard from the doctor that surgery was going to be necessary, she was determined to make it back in time for her senior season of basketball, her favorite sport.

“So, I just thought in my head, ‘No. I’m going to get back for basketball. There’s no way I’m going to be out of basketball,’” Riggan said.

The injury occurred on April 18 in a soccer game against Iowa City Liberty, and with recovery times ranging from eight months to a year it wasn’t certain if Riggan would be able to return for the basketball season.

The pain she felt after the injury was mostly in the dislocated kneecap, when an MRI revealed a torn ACL, Riggan said she knew she was in for a tough recovery.

“I know my sister went through it when she was in high school and she said it was terrible,” Riggan said. “I remember that, and she said it was the worst nine months of her life because she loved sports as much as me.”

The recovery started in earnest in May with surgery to replace her ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). The ACL helps to stabilize the knee by connecting the femur to the tibia. A ligament is often grafted from other parts of the body to replace the torn ACL.

After her surgery and initial healing period, Riggan said she quickly got into physical therapy. That started with just massaging the area and getting the little things right. At a check-up for her knee, it was determined that it wasn’t healing correctly and there was a buildup of scar tissue.

That meant going back in for a second surgery.

“Doing that surgery kind of boosted me forward to get me into basketball sooner than if I didn’t have it,” Riggan said.

She is cleared to come back for the Jan. 3 game against Northeast High School and Riggan said it is a mix of excitement and nerves as she returns to the court.

“I know when I get back into the game I’m going to be very nervous. I’m trying to push myself in practice, but it will still be difficult to get back into it,” Riggan said.

Riggan will finally get to lace up her shoes to join a shoulder and knee brace in assisting her back to the court.

Riggan has appeared in 53 varsity games so far in her high school basketball career and has averaged 4.5 points over those three years of experience.

Mid-Prairie girls basketball coach Danny Hershberger said that Riggan has been an extra coach on the bench this season, but he’s glad to have her back in the lineup.

“She has been doing an excellent job of helping the younger girls learn their position and the plays,” Hershberger said. “She has been kind of an extra coach out there, and I’m proud of the way she has stepped up to be a vocal leader for us.”

Riggan should also help provide a spark for a Mid-Prairie out to a 2-4 start through the opening month of the season. Three of their four losses have been one-possession games and Riggan’s experience should help the Golden Hawks get over the hump in those situations.

“It’s a huge deal,” Mid-Prairie junior Myah Lugar said. “She’s a huge part of our team and it definitely means a lot that she is going to be back.”

Hershberger said that her returning after the holiday break provides a week-plus of practice time to get her up to speed in the system and work on building chemistry with the current lineup.

“Just over the last couple weeks we have been working her in slowly and giving her more and more to do each day. She has shown great patience. It can be really frustrating not being able to play and she has done a great job of staying positive with it,” Hershberger said.

Riggan said watching the volleyball season and part of basketball season from the bench gave her a new perspective on sports.

“You have to go hard because it is going to end sooner than you think.”