Green Valley cross-country runner Shannon Ritter poses on the track the high school’s track.
Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008 | midnight
Like most cross country runners, when Green Valley High senior Shannon Ritter crosses the finish line she’s understandably out of breath. Unlike her opponents, however, taking deep breaths as her heart rate slows is a relatively new sensation for Ritter.
Born with pectus excavatum, an inward curvature of the sternum that limited the expansion of her lungs, Ritter had learned to take faster. smaller breaths when running.
After her junior season, she began to experience pain in her chest and was told her sternum was in danger of pressing against her heart and possibly killing her. Ritter underwent a long and painful surgery to insert a metal bar into her chest cavity to prevent the sternum from turning inward again.
While the surgery cost Ritter her junior track season, she has worked her way back onto the Gators cross country team and said she can breathe deeply for the first time.
“Running is kind of weird now because I was so used to short, fast breaths,” Ritter said. “I had to re-learn to breathe while I run. If I breathe like I used to I get side cramps. Making it back to where I used to be was important for me, though. I want to do well in my senior year. I don’t want my surgery to hold me back.”
Though her doctors told her to wait three months before attempting to run again after surgery, Ritter said it was too hard to stay away from the sport she loves.
“The surgery was seriously the most horrible experience of my life,” she said. “I was sore all over. I thought I would be able to take these big deep breathes when it was over but my lungs were collapsed during surgery so even small breathes were painful. As soon as I was able to breathe easily again, I started running.”
During her recuperation, Ritter attended all Green Valley’s track and field practices and meets to cheer on her teammates and be involved in any way she could. Junior teammate Morgan Oswald said Ritter’s dedication to the team served as inspiration for the Gators.
“Shannon really motivates the team. She always knows what to do and how to get everyone going,” Oswald said. “Even when she was still healing, she was at every practice. Since the day I met her she has always had so much team spirit.”
Green Valley coach Blaine Thompson said Ritter had worked her way into being one of the top two runners at Green Valley prior to her surgery and, because of her work ethic, has already returned to the Gators’ top three this season.
At the Southeast Division Championships on Oct. 18, Ritter finished 23rd in a field of 44 with a time of 22 minutes, 21 seconds on the 3.1-mile course to help the Gators finish third.
“I think she’s worked her way back because of two things — how hard she works and how tough she is,” Thompson said. “She is a very tough girl — mentally and physically. She’s always had a great attitude and a real good work ethic.”
While closing out her senior season with a state championship appearance is a top goal, Ritter said she has something larger to prove.
“I hate using my surgery as an excuse,” she said. “Everyone has something bothering them — an injury or whatever that they have to overcome. I don’t want my surgery to be a crutch or reason why I didn’t make it. I want to be better than that.”
Jared Harmon can be reached at 990-8922 or [email protected].
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