AJ  Brisben is a great runner, but has unfortunately been playing catch up due to injury.

AJ Brisben runs both Track and Cross Country, but has been sidelined with multiple injuries throughout his high school running career.

Due to these injuries, it has made it very difficult to make an impact on his team. “I’ve had three stress fractures, one in my tibia, femur, and fibula. The first two were Sophomore year and the third was junior year. I missed a total of around 8 months of running and it was very hard to try and come back and run at the level I was running before injury each time.” Brisben says.

It was not only tough for him to work through it was also tough for fellow teammate Jack Struss to see. “It was pretty hard watching AJ go through that, it was hard for the team too, AJ was one of our top guys at the time and having to lose an essential part of the team really hurt us.”

Not only was it tough to make an impact during those Sophomore and Junior season, those string of injuries made it tough for him to maximize his potential those seasons and prove to college scouts he’s ready to run at their school.

“The injuries have kept me from reaching full potential as getting back into shape after each one was very tough after missing so much time. I also couldn’t run as much as other high school runners since I’ve had an injury history which puts me at a disadvantage.” Brisben adds. Teammate Jack Struss adds “It definitely holds you back being sidelined while everyone else is getting better, but at the same time now that he is healthy, I think its bettering him because he knows he has to work hard to get back to where he was before and he has been so I think right now it’s for the better.” Now that the injuries are in past AJ has been working hard and now he knows what its going to take to fulfill his goal and become a Division one runner. Story by Connor Kelley