Green Bay East star battles season-long injury to compete at State

GREEN BAY – After qualifying for the WIAA Division I State Track & Field Championships in 2025 as a junior, Faith Weatherspoon, a recent graduate of Green Bay East High School, had high expectations coming into her senior season.

Those expectations quickly dampened a bit after Weatherspoon suffered a right hamstring injury before the outdoor season even began.

“I came into the season healthy, but at our first outdoor meet, I was warming up for the long jump and tore my right hamstring,” she said. “I was basically told six or seven weeks of recovery. It wasn’t serious enough for surgery, but when I heard the word ‘tore,’ it scared me and was very painful to walk on.”

When the injury initially occurred, Weatherspoon said her thoughts immediately went to the state meet coming up in about two months.

“All I could think about was the first week of June and how I could get back,” she said. “[In terms of training], I was basically bedridden for the first three weeks. The trainers didn’t allow me to do much of anything.”

After the initial rest to reduce swelling and aid in recovery, Weatherspoon said she was eventually allowed to ride a stationary bike.

“That was probably a month after the injury,” she said. “I was trying to keep up my endurance, but it was tough. My initial rehab didn’t include any running at all. Biking was the closest thing I got to running for about two months.”

Slowly, as her hamstring healed, Weatherspoon said her therapist incorporated some short sprint work into her training regimen.

“I was pretty much allowed to run some short sprints to start at about 60%,” she said. “That was about a week before regionals. After feeling good in those, I was doing about 50 meters at about 90%.”

Running for the first time basically all season, Weatherspoon ran the 400 at the Green Bay Preble Regional on May 26, advancing to the West De Pere Sectional three days later on May 29.

At sectionals, Weatherspoon also finished second behind De Pere’s Nevaeh Randall in the 400 with a time of 58.77 and qualified for the state meet.

“I usually don’t feel the nerves, especially in the 400, but this year I was pretty scared going into the state meet,” she laughed. “Looking at the other girls’ times [for seeding at state], I knew I could run a good time, but I had barely run all year.”

In the end, Weatherspoon said her “lack of endurance” caught up with her at the state meet.
Not being able to gain much endurance and fitness between sectionals and state, she said it was more about working on her balance, staying healthy and completing shorter sprints.

“I finished 16th [out of 24 state qualifiers] and didn’t advance to the finals,” Weatherspoon said. “I wanted to do better, and I beat myself up a bit over the results, but then I thought back to the season I had and was just grateful I made it to La Crosse.”

Normally competing in the 100 and 200 as well, Weatherspoon said it was decided early on after the injury that she would simply concentrate on the 400.

“The 100 and 200 are more explosive, so we didn’t want to risk reinjury by having me run those events,” she said. “In the 400, you can slowly reach your top speed and carry that through to the end.”

Taking her talents to northeast Indiana

Hopefully, with her hamstring injuries in the rearview mirror, Weatherspoon said she is taking her talents to Indiana Tech to run track and study child development.

“Indiana Tech is an NAIA Division II school in Fort Wayne, Indiana,” she said. “I didn’t expect to face hamstring injuries, so I hope they are out of the way in time for college.”

Weatherspoon said she began touring colleges last February, and Indiana Tech stood out from the beginning.

“Lots of colleges reached out, including some Division 1 schools,” she said. “I received a couple of DI offers, but they were too far away and more expensive. I toured Indiana Tech in March, had a great practice with the team and liked its vibe and coaching staff.”

Weatherspoon said this summer, she will continue to train and, most importantly, try to stay healthy for her first collegiate season.