Vivek Monteiro
In a recent soccer game on January 8, 2015 MC played against El Camino High School. Senior Austin Ronningen injured himself 60 minutes into the game. He was taken to the Scripps Green Hospital emergency room where he received various scans that determined the extent of his injuries.
“The scans showed that I had a full tear of the ACL [Anterior Cruciate Ligament] and meniscus, as well as a partial tear of the MCL [Medial Collateral Ligament],” Ronningen said.
Having sprained his ankle once before, he explained the pain level of the injury as high on the pain scale
“When I sprained my ankle I would say the pain was about a five while this was an eight or nine,” Ronningen said. “At the hospital emergency room, I was just given some pain meds.”
Ronningen originally was not planning to play for MC’s boys’ soccer team after playing for MC since his freshman year. He had intended to focus on playing for Academy, a program that focuses on getting players recruited.
“Once I committed to Colorado College, a small private [liberal arts school] in Colorado Springs, I decided to play for MC as I love Coach Greene and Coach Andy as well as playing for my school.”
An injury prior to playing in college can be quite damaging to a career.
“I plan on redshirting my first year of college to regain my strength and use my fourth year of eligibility to apply to law school,” Ronningen said. “What this means is that I won’t play for one of my years in college allowing me to stay in college up to five years.”
Ronningen’s plans for playing in college seem to be intact and a successful recovery seems to be in place.
“The doctors said that I would be able to start practicing again in about seven to eight months and by nine months, I should be at 110%,” Ronningen said.
This is Ronningen’s last year playing at MC, but he will continue his soccer career at Colorado College despite this unfortunate setback.
