On Campus: Following foot injury, Dundee-Crown alum Adam Swanson sets lofty goals for junior season at EIU

For two months last spring, Adam Swanson turned his bedroom in an off-campus house at Eastern Illinois University into his whole universe.

Thanks to a stress fracture in his right foot, the Dundee-Crown graduate spent a month on crutches and another month in a walking boot, putting his blossoming track and field career on hold.

“Having the room farthest away from the kitchen, it was hard to make food,” said Swanson, who earned honorable mention All-America honors in the 800 meters at the NCAA outdoor nationals in 2021. “I had to bring my air fryer into the room and keep the window open. I was in my room a lot just staying off my foot. It was a hard process.

“I’d be in my room for weeks at a time,” he said. “People probably think I moved out.”

Swanson, a junior, has spent months easing back into shape and in late January ran his most significant 800-meter race since the 2021 nationals.

The result? His time of 1 minute, 51.54 seconds in a speedy field at Louisville’s Lenny Lyles Invitational was the fastest by an EIU athlete since 2015 and ranks as the seventh-best indoor 800 time in school history. His time is tops this season in the Ohio Valley Conference.

“Just getting the rhythm going again, I’m definitely happy with it,” Swanson said.

Running in only four outdoor meets last season, he took third in the conference finals. Swanson followed that with a strong cross country season in the fall, when he placed third in the OVC 8-kilometer race despite being a career middle-distance runner.

“It was exciting to come back and train my butt off,” he said. “It’s kind of like restarting the process.”

Although Swanson admits he has dialed back the intensity and duration of his workouts, he still has plenty of big goals. He said he will focus on the mile indoors and the 800 outdoors.

Saturday in a meet at Iowa State, Swanson continued his strong indoor season by breaking EIU’s 44-year-old school record in the mile, running a time of 4:03.56. His next aim is another important barrier.

“The goal is to run sub-four minutes,” he said. “That’s something that’s always been on my mind. I definitely think I’m in shape to do that.”

During the outdoor season, Swanson plans to chase the 35-year-old EIU school record of 1:48.62 in the 800.

Chasing goals is something Swanson missed over the past year after his recovery.

“When you run all your life, it’s hard for two months when you can’t do that,” he said. “I saw guys go to nationals, people winning conference. It’s stuff that I wanted to do, stuff that I envisioned.”

Along with his unique cooking arrangement, Swanson’s recovery allowed him to dive into other hobbies.

“I definitely learned patience, that was the biggest thing,” he said. “I started reading books. I read a lot now. I used to love Legos as a kid. I’d go buy a small Lego set and would build those. I built a Minecraft set and a small Star Wars one. I keep those with my [track] medals.”

Ritter among top-10 bats: Flo Softball named Marengo graduate Hannah Ritter as one of the top 10 hitters in NCAA Division III on its website last month.

A senior at Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Ritter batted .500 last season, raising her average 31 points over the previous season. She also set career highs in RBIs (29) and walks (14) last season while leading the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in batting average and on-base percentage (.554).

Rock Valley moves up: After winning eight consecutive NJCAA Division III softball championships, Rock Valley College is moving up to D-II this season.

The Golden Eagles were ranked No. 19 in the national preseason D-II poll last month and will open the season Feb. 24 at Highland (Kansas) Community College.

Rock Valley’s roster features three local players, including returning starters Bella Crimaldi (Prairie Ridge) at third base and Jenna Turner (Marengo) at second base. Courtney Jasinki (Marengo) is a freshman utility player.

Turner batted .413 with 14 doubles, six triples and 44 RBIs last season. She also stole 23 bases while earning National Fastpitch Coaches Association first-team All-America honors.

Crimaldi hit .391 with 11 doubles, seven home runs and 35 RBIs. For the season, almost 40% of her hits went for extra bases.

Turner and Crimaldi were named to the all-tournament team at nationals for the Golden Eagles (48-11) last spring.

Best at Wesleyan: Huntley grad Ryan Sroka is averaging a career-high 10.8 points this season as a junior guard for D-III Illinois Wesleyan’s men’s basketball team.

Sroka has started every game for the Titans (11-10), ranking second on the team in rebounds (5.3 a game) and steals (24). Sroka has scored in double figures 13 times this season, including a season-best 18 points twice.

• Barry Bottino writes about local college athletes for the Northwest Herald. Write to him at barryoncampus@hotmail.com and follow @BarryOnCampus on Twitter.