So high school cross country runner Sarah Glidden is complaining because she collided with a deer during the Division I cross country sectional meet in Wisconsin on Friday, perhaps costing her first place. Obviously she’s not aware of how lucky she really is; there are worse things that nature could have thrown at her. Examples:
- Bear.
- Skunk.
- Bison.
- Confused, inebriated Charlie Sheen.
- Wasps.
From the Appleton Post-Crescent:
Glidden, a sophomore cross country athlete for Hortonville High School, is a good runner who ran into bad luck in last Friday’s Division 1 cross country sectional at Wausau’s 9-Mile County Forest course.
Glidden, Hortonville’s No. 1 runner, was in the latter stages of the girls’ 4,000-meter run when she was thrown off course by a furry, four-legged speed bump. With a little more than 100 meters to go, an antlerless deer suddenly bolted from the woods and collided with Glidden, hitting her in the shin.
A stunned Glidden was thrown off stride and partially spun around, but managed to maintain her balance and didn’t fall to the ground,
After quickly composing herself, Glidden kept on trucking and so did the deer.
“I could see something out of the corner of my eye and I thought it might have been a dog that somebody had on a leash,” Glidden said. “Its hoofs kind of kicked me in the shin. I felt it pretty good when it hit me, but it didn’t hurt real bad. I could feel its fur on my legs. It startled me more than anything.”
Wildlife authorities were unable to locate the deer, so Hortonville cross country coach Kevin Sours was tranquilized and relocated further back into the woods.
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Runner misses state qualification because she hit a deer … on foot [Prep Rally]