Michelle Atherley arrived at Miami eager for a fresh start, the chance to work with an Olympic-level coach exactly what she thought she needed to improve as a multi-event athlete.
Not long after, though, doctors told her the nagging pain in her right knee was serious enough that not only would her first full season as a Hurricane come to an end, there was a chance her track career was over, too.
“That’s not an option,” Atherley recalled telling her doctors and coaches.
A little more than a year later, Atherley has emerged as not only one of the most dominant athletes at Miami and a leader on the Hurricanes’ track team, but she has become an ACC champion in the heptathlon, a two-day, seven-event marathon that can push competitors to their physical limit.