By Mike Hogan, Staff Writer
Jake Osswald, a freshman cross country and track runner, is no stranger to adversity. With the excitement of a new beginning at St. Bonaventure, Osswald’s freshman year at St. Bonaventure University got off to an unexpected start. Osswald sustained a stress fracture in his hip, which kept him out for the entire cross country season. Posting the Bonnies best 5,000-meter time, Osswald made his return to action in style in the team’s first meet at the Early Bird invitational, hosted by California University of Pennsylvania.
While Osswald said his recovery process was tough, he has been through similar situations in the past, where he has had to deal with injuries that have kept him sidelined.
“I was on crutches for four months,” said Osswald. “It required a lot of physical therapy and exercising to get back. I have missed time before in high school when I tore my calf, and I missed time from March to June. And, now, I am just coming back from a hip injury. I really just wanted to get back and race.”
Although Osswald’s collegiate cross country and track career got off to a rough start, he said he may be in his best physical condition to date.
“I didn’t run during cross country because I literally got hurt on the first day,” Osswald said. “I am probably in better shape now than I was before I got injured.”
After going through a long recovery process, Osswald was able to come away with the team’s best 5,000 meter time of 17:10.31 back on March 24, in the team’s first track meet of the season.
“It was really good and I didn’t even expect to come close that time,” said Osswald. “I was really happy to be back. I was glad to get some races under my feet.”
Osswald is looking to build off of his impressive performance in his first meet and use it as a springboard for more success in the future.
“Hopefully I can put up a personal best at the Atlantic 10 championship in May,” said Osswald. “I just keep building on what I have done so far. In the future, I want to go to regionals for cross country, and eventually I want to move up to the 10,000 meters in track and run in longer events.
The Bonnies’ next track meet is on Saturday, April 21 at the Bucknell Team Challenge in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Osswald will be running in the 3,000 meter event.
