Karsyn Huskey keeps running down milestones.
The Polk County runner turned in a top-25 finish at the adidas Nationals back in June. She won the WNC Distance Carnival’s Invitational race, then finished her cross country career for the Wolverines with an all-state performance, coming in sixth.
Then she turned her attention to the track.
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There, she’s already shattered the school’s indoor record in the 1000 meters. For the outdoor season, she’s got her sights set on plenty more.
“I want to break the 800 record,” she said. “I’m only a second off. I want to knock some more down, too. I want the 400 record. I want to do the 1600, if I get the chance.”
Polk County assistant coach Dewayne Elliott thinks all of those are well within the realm of possibility.
“To be honest with you, it could happen,” Elliott said. “We haven’t done the 16 yet, but that’s coming. That’s part of the training.”
If Huskey’s lofty goals are possible, Elliott would definitely know. He took an interest in Huskey way back when it seemed that none of this would be.
Elliott’s seen a lot as an assistant at Polk County, including a lot of top-flight runners. Two of those were his daughters. Elisabeth was a cross country and distance champion who went on to run at Montreat College. Rebecca was part of a state champion relay team and ran collegiately at USC Upstate.
“They’re four years apart, so when Elisabeth graduated Rebecca was coming in,” he explained. “People were trying to compare them, and I kept telling them that Elisabeth was a distance runner and Rebecca wasn’t. But they had that same mentality. They hated losing. They did what they had to do at practice to get to where they needed to be.”
Where they need to be, often, is in a headspace that includes pushing themselves to be one step better than they were the day before.
“I love the kids and seeing them succeed, and individual success is what makes it special,” he said. “I ran in high school. One of the things my coach emphasized, and put in my head, is it’s actually you beating YOU. Thats the bottom line. You can be out there against so many competitors, but there are so many things that go through your mind when you’re running. You can be very distracted. You can get to certain pain levels and back out of it. Or, you can tackle it head-on and defeat it. It’s you against you.”
That mentality, and a dedicated approach to practice, is something that Elliott said marks great runners.
“Thinking of all the kids that I’ve coached over the years, I can say this. It comes down to training,” he said. “What you do out here is how you race. If you can set them up with training, they’re going to race that way, or at least most of them are. That’s one thing I can say about Karsyn. She trains hard, and she runs fast.”
That’s always been there for Huskey – training hard, running fast. But early in her career, her body would betray her. Huskey had a serious issue that would sometimes cause her knee to dislocate. It put her entire athletic future in jeopardy.
“At the beginning, I didn’t think I was going to be fast enough,” she said. “My freshman year, my knee started acting up. And then my sophomore year, I had surgery and they said I’d never be as good as I was before, and that I couldn’t do any other sports. I really wanted to focus on soccer, but couldn’t do it because of the twisting and turning. Track is straightaways, and I’m able to do that. But I didn’t think I was going to get any faster than I was. I’m grateful I got through that.”
She didn’t know it at the time, but Huskey was not going to be allowed to let her track career stagnate. Not on Elliott’s watch. He heard about the freshman who would run so hard that her knee would pop out of place. He remembers the exact spot on the track where he first saw Huskey go down due to her condition. He watched her pop her knee back into place.
“I went home and I prayed about that situation,” he said. “I’m dead serious. I asked God to give me an understanding of that situation. And I started studying.”
And studying, and studying. How much effort did Elliott dedicate to understand what Huskey was going through?
“More than you’ll ever know,” he said.
When Huskey’s condition required surgery, Elliott learned all he could. And then he took charge of her recovery.
“Her mom told me what was going to happen with her surgery, and gave me some of the details and the name of her surgeon and this and that,” he said. “I thought if there’s any female athlete I’m going to get to know, it’s her. I trusted her mom and dad already. And then I just started thinking. What’s she running? What are we going to allow her to run?
“There weren’t any specific workouts that we did with her, because we didn’t know when something might happen. How fast could she be? We were just hoping and praying that nothing happened during a race, and we tried to let Karsyn be Karsyn.”
Letting Karsyn be Karsyn, obviously, is a dynamic that benefits both runner and team. Knowing what she’s capable of and elevating that, though, is something that helps to feed the bond between runner and coach.
“My freshman year, I was close to him,” Huskey said. “During and after my surgery, he called me and asked me how I was doing, what workouts I was doing for physical therapy, and he tried some things to balance the workouts. By junior year he was finally my personal coach and he pushed me to do stuff I didn’t think I could do.”
She might not have thought it, but Elliott knew it. And soon, Huskey realized it, too.
“I never thought I could do some of these things because I was told I wouldn’t be able to,” she said. “He told me I could. He supported me through all of that. With him, I knew I could do it. And I’m proving to people I can do it. I’m proving to my doctors I can be better than I was.”
Elliott remembers those early days of Huskey’s rehab.
“The first time I saw her after surgery, indoor season had started and she was still in a cast,” he said. She told me she was coming back, so we tackled it. Look where she is now. Her career has been a great success, no matter how it ends.”
That success, no matter how restricted, is something that amazes Elliott.
“Of runners I’ve coached here since 2002, right now she’s at the top,” he said. “And being fair with her, she’s really only been able to run one year. Last year was more like physical therapy, because we never allowed her to run more than 18 miles a week. This year we got after it a little more. But as far as talent and God-given ability, she’s probably at the top that I’ve been able to coach.”
The relationship between runner and coach is undeniably a special one, and it’s one that both of them treasure.
“Coaching girls is different,” Elliott said. “You look at them differently than guys. Sometimes it’s walking on eggshells. Here’s where I’m different: coaches these days are afraid of getting to know athletes. To trust the athletes and to get them to trust you, you’ve got to KNOW who they are. She’s one of the first I ever allowed myself to get to know.”
Huskey said Elliott’s efforts to get to know her, to take an interest in her recovery, and to push her to be her best have all contributed to the performances she’s put up, as well as what’s to come.
“It’s nice to have somebody encouraging me and pushing me through sports and who’s proud of me other than family members,” she said. “He supported me throughout my surgery and didn’t want to push me too much, and we bonded because he cared. Having a coach so supportive makes me want to work harder.”
