Torn knee tendon has sophomore currenty rehabbing
Kevin Murphy/Staff Reporter
Red-shirt sophomore Zye Boey laughs while he lifts weights Monday afternoon in the weight room in Lantz Arena.(Amir Prellberg/The Daily Eastern News) |
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Zye Boey can stack up his accomplishments from last season.
The 2009 Daily Eastern News Athlete of the Year won't be able to repeat his indoor Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year honors and maybe not his outdoor OVC Freshman of the Year honors either.
Boey also qualified for both NCAA national championships (indoor and outdoor track).
Boey, a red-shirt sophomore, had a knee scope in early January.
Boey said he's trying to maintain a positive focus for the rest of the season and trying to get ready for the outdoor season.
"I felt a little bit of pain, but I didn't think of it," Boey said. "Hopefully I'm coming back stronger than before."
Boey practiced while icing and biking on Nov. 4, but Boey stopped training hard and started rehabbing. He had a follow-up MRI and found out that he had a torn tendon.
Boey's knee scope on Jan. 4 led him to a rehab phase because he said the training staff and the coaches weren't sure what was wrong before his knee scope.
His rehab stint includes leg lifts, stretching, weight lifting and calve raises. He could potentially start swimming on Thursday after starting knee flexing on Monday. He takes ibuprofen as needed.
"I'm still a little tight," Boey said. "It's tender sometimes."
In his place, junior Darren Patterson, senior Brandon Jelks and red-shirt junior Marcus Williams will fill the role of top sprinters.
Boey said last year's other top sprinter, DeMarcus Brooks, is not enrolled in school, but still has been competing as an unattached runner.
Boey said Brooks left school for a personal reason and isn't sure if Brooks will return.
Boey isn't sure of when he'll return but hopes that it's by the Big Blue Classic in April. He also isn't sure if he'll compete in all the events.
"He's chomping at the bit to get back after that," Eastern head coach Tom Akers said. "He hates sitting and watching. We don't want to rush (his return) too quickly. We're just trying to play it smart. He's doing a lot of extra work to speed it up."
Boey was the conference champion in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes at the OVC Championships during the indoor and outdoor season last year. He set two new school records during the indoor season in 6.66 seconds in the 60-meter dash and 20.93 seconds in the 200-meter dash.
In the outdoor record books, Boey ranks second all-time in the 100-meter dash at 10.20 seconds, and fifth in the 200-meter dash in 20.91 seconds.
"(Boey) was head and shoulders above everyone else," Akers said. "The success he had was really unexpected. He did a good job of handling that success. Zye is a worker. He's got things headed in the right direction."
If Boey does compete in the outdoor season, he'll know what to expect after last year's seasons and Akers said he still thinks the Panthers are a strong team without him.
"He's giving some of the young guys advice," Akers said. "He's still there and helping some of the young guys. I can't wait to get him back into practice. We're just keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for a speedy recovery."
Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or kjmurphy@eiu.edu.
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