Big River Feature Interview: Hilary Orf

Big River Running Company co-owner Ben Rosario is now writing cross country and track articles for St. Louis Scoop Magazine. You can read his articles in the magazine as well. Ben caught up with Hilary before this year's Forest Park Cross Country Festival to talk about coming back from an injury and her chances to defend her State Cross Country Title.

Watching the Missouri State Track and Field Meet is a fun-filled two days for any fan of the sport. There are incredible athletes, close finishes and lots of drama. It is the culmination of months of hard work and the joy and elation on the faces of the athletes is as genuine a moment as exists in sports today. What is not so much fun though is watching from the stands, with a season-ending injury, when you are supposed to be one of those athletes.

Marquette senior Hilary Orf, the 2006 Class 4 State cross country champion, had to sit in the stands and watch her best race, the 3200 meter run, while she sat in a cast on the bleachers recovering from a broken leg. Orf said being at the meet was good and bad.

“I had fun watching my teammate [Maddie Harrigan] because it was her first time there,” Orf said. “It was hard though and I don't know how to explain it but it really wasn't good.”

Things are a lot better for Orf right now though. A mere four months after a stress fracture in her fibula became a full-on break the determined young distance runner is back at it and is looking forward to racing again.

“I wouldn't say I feel 100% back to where I was but I feel really good,” Orf said.

Her coaches, Missy Burger and Mike Ebert agreed. Ebert said Orf has looked good so far and should be ready to compete when the racing season begins in September.

“She has looked good so far so I don't see why not,” Ebert said.

The fact that Orf is in a position to defend her State title can be attributed to the same attitude that made her a champion in the first place. She has a tremendous work ethic and a seemingly innate drive to succeed. Like any great endurance athlete she also has a tremendous pain tolerance and ironically it could have been that high threshold for pain that made her injury as bad as it was.

Orf said that according to her doctors the problem was originally just a stress fracture which is a fairly common setback among distance runners. What made things worse was that she continued to run despite the pain and it was then that her bone could no longer take the pain that her mind had been able to overcome.

Orf received the news about the extent of the injury just before May when the championship portion of the season was set to begin. Her first reaction was not a good one.

“I definitely did not take it very well,” Orf said. “It was really hard for me to just sit around and not be able to run.”

In the end it was Orf's support staff of family, coaches and especially teammates who got her through a very tough time.

“They were always checking in on me and seeing how I was doing,” Orf said. “I was really down and they helped me out a lot.”

If it was her teammates that got her through it mentally it was her own resolve that got her back on track. She spent three full weeks in a cast and three more full weeks in an air cast before she was able to begin cross-training. Cross-train she did, spending hours on the bike to keep up her cardiovascular system while her leg continued to heal.

From the moment her cast was removed she had a very certain plan and she stuck to it. Orf said that all the work in coming back makes this season even more special.

“I've never been so happy to run,” Orf said.

Her comeback story is certainly a great one, but her competitors will not be taking it easy on her this fall. While Orf was injured several other female runners in Missouri were busy staking their claim as contenders for the individual State Championship.

At the State Track Meet that Orf watched, wishing she were out there running, Rockwood Summit's Aimee Bonte ran an impressive last lap to capture the win in the 3200 meter run. In the 1600 it was Lauren Borduin out of Rock Bridge that claimed victory and came back later to nab her second 800 crown as well. Those two now join Orf as favorites over hill and dale this season.

There are others as well and Orf knows it.

“I know there are a lot of good girls out there,” Orf said. “There is [Aimee] Bonte, [Natalie] Becker and Ashley Mark and there are others too.”

Still though, it is Orf whose name has defending champion in front of it and the other girls know that. After all that she has been through over the last four months a healthy Hilary Orf seems like a pretty good pick to come out on top once again.

Support the Store that Supports the Sport!