SPRINGDALE — Payton Stumbaugh had a brief moment earlier this year when she thought her track days might be numbered.
A back injury during the indoor season left the Springdale Har-Ber junior in a great amount of pain, so much that she missed the first month of the outdoor campaign. But what she couldn’t start, Stumbaugh finished with a flair.
She broke her own 100-meter hurdles record during the 7A-West Conference meet, then followed that by setting records in the 200 dash and the 300 hurdles during the Meet of Champs before finishing second in the heptathlon. That sort of comeback made Stumbaugh an easy choice as the NWA Media Girls Track Athlete of the Year.
“At first I thought maybe I was done with track forever because it was such excruciating pain,” Stumbaugh said. “I thought this was a bad injury for someone my age. I rehabbed and came back, but it was scary at first.”
The injury — a torn disk — happened while attempting the pole vault, and Har-Ber girls track and field coach Brett Unger witnessed what pain Stumbaugh had to endure. She had to walk up stairs backwards, and at times she had trouble sitting or even sleeping.
Unger never believed her career was finished, but he admitted at times he thought Stumbaugh might not compete this season.
“If that was what it took to get her healthy, then we’ll shelve her if we have to,” Unger said. “We want what’s best long-term for her.
“The doctor said it would heal, but it was going to take some time. She needed to get some rest and some rehab.”
Once Stumbaugh was cleared to compete, she dealt with that fine line of rushing herself to get back in shape and not pushing herself too quickly. She made her season debut April 4 at the Cyclone Relays in Russellville, where she finished third in the 100 and second in the 200.
Profile
Payton Stumbaugh
SCHOOL: Springdale Har-Ber
CLASS: Junior
HEIGHT: 6-0
NOTABLE: Broke the Meet of Champs records in the 200-meter dash and the 300 hurdles, the latter being a record she had already set last year. … Won three events in the Class 7A State Meet after falling in the 100 hurdles finals. … Broke the 7A-West Conference meet records in the 100 hurdles that she had set last year. … Missed the first month of the outdoor season with a back injury she had during indoor track.
She increased her workload to five events the following week during the Bulldog Relays in Fayetteville and won four of them. The telltale week came during the Kansas Relays, when she won the 300 hurdles.
“My times weren’t that great at Russellville, and I thought ‘Oh, this season isn’t going to be that great,’” Stumbaugh said. “I was still having some back pain, but it wasn’t horrible. I was tired, even after running a 100.
“But I kept on working, and I was able to get better as the season went on. The Kansas Relays was my breakthrough. When I won the 300 hurdles, I thought maybe I was there.”
Her training time was limited once she returned, so she placed more attention on her speed work. It caused her field events performances to suffer, which led to her second-place finish in the heptathlon despite the best performances in four of the seven events.
She made up for it, though, in the sprints and hurdles. She bounced back from a spill in the 100 hurdles to turn in her best 100 time of 12.15 seconds in the Class 7A state meet, then turned in Meet of Champs record times of 24.70 in the 200 and 43.37 in the 300 hurdles.
“What a relief it was to have a Payton Stumbaugh back on the track team,” Unger said. “It really was. She’s fun to watch.
“I had a lot of positive comments from coaches saying it was good to see her back. She was probably training harder than most people were during that time before conference. At the Meet of Champs, she finally hit her hurdle rhythm, and she ran with power and endurance. She hit times we knew she was capable of hitting.”