For Abby Arnold, being able to swim competitively is just another way for her to continue on her path of success.
At Jay County High School in Portland, Ind., Arnold was a four-time all-conference soccer player, 15-letter winner in four separate sports and set school records in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard backstroke, and three different relays in swimming. She received Academic All-American honors, and was inducted into Jay County's Hall of Fame her collegiate freshman year in the fall of 2002.
Before her high school graduation in May 2002, Arnold made the decision to have her first corrective surgery on her ankle.
While playing soccer, she collided with another person that made a piece of bone chip off of her lower tibia in her right leg. This razor sharp bone began to slowly shred her Achilles tendon to the point that she could hardly walk eight months later.
It was after this injury that Arnold decided to focus on her swimming career. A career in which quitting and walking away from the sport she grew up with and loved was never an option.
"If I would have ended on a bad note anywhere, I probably could have walked away," she said. "But it seems like right before I get injured, something great happens in my career. And you always think that if I can do that, I bet I can do better."
And she did.
She finished her freshman year of collegiate swimming with five top-three finishes along with having season best times in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke, and a career best time in the 100-yard freestyle. However, she was just two meets into her sophomore season of swimming when she made the choice to have a second surgery.
"The doctors had told her that if she would quit swimming, she wasn't going to have any more problems," her father Steve Arnold said.
And after 18 years of swimming, Abby's right shoulder finally began to hurt her so badly that she couldn't compete. She was suffering from acute subluxation, which is the result of the overuse of the muscles, ligaments and tendons surrounding the shoulder.
"My arm would pop out then pop right back in, which caused my ligaments and tendons to stretch out," Abby said.
Being the Jay County swim coach for 38 years and Abby's mother, Bev Arnold knew just how much her daughter was suffering from her injury. Bev knew that surgery was the best option, and provided guidance for Abby's decision.
"It got to the point her sophomore year, where she wasn't going to get any better; she needed to get it done," Bev Arnold said.
Abby had the surgery.
As a result, she had to become a red-shirt member of the team to finish her sophomore season and was not able to compete with the team. She worked through her healing process by helping the coaches at meets by keeping scores and times, setting up recruiting materials and motivating her teammates to swim their best.
Laura Seibold-Caudill is a co-coach for the swimming and diving teams and has been coaching the team for 27 seasons. She has dealt with this type of injury with other swimmers and believes Arnold's surgery was a success because the doctors were able to shrink the shoulder joint and make it strong enough for Arnold to swim again.
This is the first season graduate assistant coach Erica Janssen has been a coach for the swimming and diving teams, and she too has noticed some of the precautions Arnold takes to make her shoulder stronger.
"She visits the training room daily," Janssen said. "She's always doing her rehab work and icing her shoulders; she knows her limits and she knows when enough is enough."
After hours of rehabilitation and working with her trainers and doctors, Arnold is now a senior and was voted captain for the women's team by her teammates. She still swims with some pain in her shoulder, but the times she is turning in are almost as fast as before her surgery.
In the double-dual meet against the University of Illinois-Chicago and Illinois State on Jan. 13, she placed first in the 200-yard relay with teammates Brittany Sayler, Ashley VanOsdol, and Michelle Huang. She also placed fourth overall in the 50-yard freestyle event and sixth overall in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:02.90, which is only 2.73 seconds slower then her freshman year.
Arnold attributes most of her success to her family. Both Steve and Bev have been to all but one of her collegiate meets. They also made the trip to Chicago for the double-dual meet that lasted five hours. Just an hour after returning home, Bev then went to Jay County High School where her team hosted a meet of their own.
"I know my parents love to watch me swim," Abby said. "They give up so much for me, and I love watching them go to my grandparents and talk about how I'm doing."
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