Senior Spotlight: Sami Heathcote / Heathcote was ready for track season following last year’s setback

Columbus North’s Sami Heathcote competes in the 100-meter hurdles during a track meet against Franklin at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, May 8, 2019. Mike Wolanin | The Republic Mike Wolanin | The Republic

Editor’s Note: With the coronavirus outbreak shutting down spring sports, The Republic is featuring senior athletes from Columbus East, Columbus North and Hauser whose final seasons were affected by the decision over the course of the spring.

Columbus North’s Sami Heathcote was doing what any other ordinary athlete would do in the offseason — training and practicing for the next season.

But in 2018, Heathcote’s athletic career hit a roadblock. During the summer of that year while practicing gymnastics, Heathcote fell back and hit her head on the spring floor.

Heathcote started showing symptoms close to the time that her junior year of high school was about to begin. She was later diagnosed with a concussion.

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Heathcote, who also is a pole vaulter and runs hurdles on the track team, thought she could be back to competing and practicing again after a couple months. However, that ended up not being the case. She went back to the doctor again, where she was then diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome. That diagnosis would wipe out her entire junior year of gymnastics.

“It was pretty disappointing, but I knew I would get back to it eventually, so that kept me going,” Heathcote said.

Even though it was tough for Heathcote to not compete alongside her teammates that year in 2019, she always found ways to help her fellow gymnasts in many other ways.

“What stands out about Sami is that she is as concerned or even more so of others as she is about herself — complete selflessness. It epitomizes her,” North gymnastics coach Sandy Freshour said. “During the entire junior year, she was unable to compete, she acted as manager, mentor, helper, doing whatever she could. It was a really tough time for her but that humbleness and selflessness and just wanting to help in any capacity that she could. She was a champion at that.”

Heathcote briefly came back in the spring of 2019 during track season, but said she didn’t feel the same as she did in previous years due to missing a lot of training.

Last summer, Heathcote went to Chile for a Language Immersion Program. She hopes it will help her down the road. She plans to attend Purdue and major in engineering with a minor in Spanish.

Heathcote came back for her senior year of gymnastics to finish seventh at state on the floor and help the team to a fifth-place finish. She also was presented the Mildred M. Ball Mental Attitude award following the state meet.

Heathcote had big goals for this spring. She cleared 10 feet, 2 inches in the pole vault as a sophomore and was hoping to reach the 11-foot mark this year. She also planned to run the 100-meter hurdles again for the Bull Dogs.

After qualifying for the state finals in the pole vault as a sophomore in 2018 and earning The Republic Girls Track Athlete of the Year honors, Heathcote was eager to make another appearance at state. Unfortunately for her, she will never get that chance to make another run to state due to the shutdown of spring sports because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It definitely would have been a goal to try to get back to the state meet,” Heathcote said. “I would have liked to go 10-6 or 11 feet.”

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Q: Can you describe how you felt when you heard that your season was canceled?

"I was fairly disappointed. Last year, I wasn’t quite at my highest strength because I had been recovering from a concussion, so I was looking forward to having a really strong season this year."

Q: What is your best memory with the program?

"One of my favorite memories would be just going to meets, sitting on blankets and watching my teammates vault and vaulting myself."

Q: What will you miss most about your school and team?

"I’ll mostly miss my teammates and the good bonds I’ve formed while a part of the team."

Q: What lesson(s) did you learn from your time with the program?

"I learned perseverance and how to believe in my abilities."

Q: What are your plans for college or the future?

"I’m going to be majoring in engineering, most likely civil engineering (at Purdue) and get a minor in Spanish."

Q: What is your final message to the team?

"I would just say thanks for all the great memories and keep doing awesome next year."

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