Less than one year after winning 2004 Big East Championships in the shot put and hammer throw, Johvonne Hernandez wasn’t sure if she would ever compete again for Syracuse.

Hernandez was lifting weights in the fall of 2004 when she felt something pop in her back. Thinking it was just a strained muscle she resumed her training two weeks later and injured her back again. Over winter break the senior returned home to Port Isabel, Texas where doctors told her she had two herniated disks, an injury that would sideline her for the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2005.

In her seven months off from track and field, Hernandez endured physical therapy three days per week and used the time off to complete her bachelor’s degree in social work. This summer she resumed training and began focusing on returning to championship form.

This weekend Hernandez finished third in the weight throw and fifth in the shot put at the Penn State Nationals. Her 14.65 meter shot put and 19.18 meter weight throw gave her personal bests for the season in both events.

‘At first I said I’m going to come back from this regardless of what people say,’ Hernandez said.

Hernandez credits her parents for giving her support through a difficult time. She said she was unsure of whether or not she should compete again and feared her decision could affect her walking later in life. In the end, Hernandez believed she would rather live her life without regrets and return to the sport she loved.

‘If you have goals in life you’re going to reach them,’ Hernandez said. ‘If you don’t reach them at least you fight to try to get there.’

Syracuse assistant coach Enoch Borozinski said the toughest task for Hernandez this season was not trying to do too much too soon.

‘I was mostly concerned about her mentally being able to come back and accept that she’s not going to be able to step right back into what she was doing before she got injured,’ Borozinski said.

Hernandez agreed this year has been different than in the past and said she has been putting in extra work to come back strong. The time off caused her to lose some strength, so to make up for that she has to practice longer and harder than she ever did. But at the same time she knows she cannot push herself too hard just yet.

‘I didn’t know it was going to be as hard as it was this year,’ Hernandez said. ‘I’m not trying to rush it too much because I feel like I might get injured.’

Now that Hernandez is throwing closer to her career bests, she is thinking less about her injury and more about improving every week. This weekend Hernandez and the Orange will compete in the Syracuse Invitational in Manley Field House. The senior intends to have a performance to remember in her final meet at home.

‘I don’t know what the facility record is but I’m going to break it,’ Hernandez said. ‘I don’t use the words I hope to or I’ll try to…no I will.’

Published on January 30, 2006 at 12:00 pm