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Injury break not all bad for ISU runner Rachel Hickey

The pride of LaSalle-Peru, Hickey has shown that the bright side of redshirting a freshman season of outdoor track due to a foot injury is that one arrives at postseason meets with fresh legs.

While most 1,500-meter entrants in the June 23 USATF U20 Outdoor Championships in Miramar, Fla., were fatigued from long seasons, Hickey possessed the get-up-and-go to qualify second for the July 18-21 Pan American U20 Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Making Hickey's 4-minute, 30.93-second effort (the equivalent of a 4:52.6 mile) especially impressive was the fact it was her first 1,500, almost twice as far as her specialty, the 800.