Back on the Beam

Gymnastics is a demanding sport, and injuries are common.

But Marianne Griffen, a sophomore gymnast at Cal Sate Fullerton, didn’t expect to have problems simply because she walked across campus.

“It was really bizarre,� said Griffen, who was sixth in the all-around at the Big West Conference meet last season and qualified for the NCAA West Regional.

A small twig about the size of a toothpick became lodged in Griffen’s right shoe. It went unnoticed until she accidentally kicked the back of her left foot while walking down a flight of stairs.

The stick punctured her foot near the Achilles tendon, and about half the twig broke off in her foot. The other part was left in the shoe.

“My teammate [Natalia Acosta] was walking with me and she pulled it out of my foot,� Griffen said. “The trainers looked at it, but they didn’t think it was serious. There was no sign of anything at the time. They thought there might be an infection, and I was antibiotics for a while, but then it got better.�

Griffen is no stranger to injury. She was unable to train during the summer after surgery to remove bone chips from a hyperextended elbow she suffered in a fall last season.

“It’s been a long battle,� she said.

After about two months, Griffen, apparently recovered from the foot injury, was allowed to resume workouts. However, as soon as she tried to tumble again, she knew there was still a problem. “The pain was just too bad,� Griffen said.

An MRI revealed that a small piece of the stick was still embedded in her foot, and she needed surgery to have it removed.

Three weeks later, she began working out again. During only her second practice, however, her foot became inflamed, and she wound up in the emergency room. Another infection had developed, and she spent nearly a month with her foot in a splint.

Then, when she returned to practice, the same thing happened. “The suture they had put in during my first surgery had created an infection, and that was what was causing the problems,� Griffen said.

It wasn’t until last Tuesday--more than four months since the original injury--that Griffen was again allowed to work out with the team, though she was able to do her normal weight training work.

Griffen also was cleared to compete in the Titans’ season opener last Friday against UCLA. She wasn’t anywhere close to being her old self in that meet, and she competed on only the beam--her strongest event.

But, at least, it was the start of comeback.

“Instead of having about four months to get ready for our first meet, I had about four days,� she said. “But I think everything is going to be fine now.�

Julie Knight, the Titans’ associate head coach, says she was pleased with Griffen’s performance in Friday’s meet.

“She really wanted to be able to compete,� Knight said. “She did all the tough things in her beam routine well, but she just ran out of endurance toward the end. She held up very well for no more training than she’s had. I was very proud of her. She’ll be doing a lot better by this weekend after a week of practice.�

The Titans will host their second dual meet of the season Saturday night against Sacramento State.

Even before the foot injury, Griffen had decided to stop competing on the uneven bars, her weakest event, because of the stress that event puts on her elbow.

“The bad thing is that not competing in all four [events] will keep me out of the all-around scoring in the conference, and that’s the only way you can make it to regionals if your team doesn’t qualify,� Griffen said. “Hopefully, the whole team will qualify this season.�

Griffen set a school record with a 9.90 performance on the beam in a dual meet against San Jose State last season.

She had the best performances of her freshman season in the vault and floor exercise at last year’s Big West Conference meet and took seventh in both events in addition to finishing sixth in the all-around.

“I expect to be able to start training on vault and floor exercise again now too,� she said.

Griffen says her goal is to be back in top form in the three events in time for the conference meet, March 27 in Titan Gym.