After major ACL surgery, Valley's Emma Havighurst returns to claim first Drake Relays title

A little rain storm wasn't going to hold back West Des Moines Valley's Emma Havighurst at the Drake Relays on Friday.

"It wasn't a big deal to me," Havighurst said while cracking a smile. "I'd rather be wet than cold."

That's been the mentality for Havighurst throughout her junior season. After taking third in the 100-meter hurdles at last year's state track meet behind a crop of talented seniors, she was laser-focused this year, no matter the obstacle. As the best-returning runner in the state from the event, it was quite apparent to the naked eye that she would be the favorite.

That was the case until she tore her ACL in June and had major reconstruction surgery on it in July.

As she sat through the summer and fall with a full brace on her leg, going through the motions of rehab on her knee, she stewed on how she would find her way back to the track in time to finally break through.

"Missing out on all that offseason training that I knew can help me in the end, I knew I had to work hard during the season to get to where I knew I could be," Havighurst said.

She wasted little time, with her first day back training coming on Feb. 19, the first day of the track and field season. Within a month, she was winning an indoor track and field title in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.93 seconds.

She has nearly surpassed her own school record time already this season despite the recent surgery, with the Iowa-leading time in 2024 of 14.52 seconds, which she posted at the Johnston quad meet. Her personal best comes from last season's Class 4A state track meet, the 18th-best time in Iowa history at 14.47, which earned her third place that day.

More: Drake Relays 2024: Weather delay underway in Des Moines. Follow for updates.

After the season-best time at Johnston, she set her sights on the Blue Oval, never having the honor of hoisting a white flag of a Drake Relays title either. In the preliminaries, she ran an event-leading 14.67. In the finals, she got off to a blistering start and glided her way to victory over a Des Moines-heavy field. Her time?

14.67.

Despite the major knee surgery, despite the downpour of rain that delayed the Drake Relays just minutes after the conclusion of her race, Havighurst found a way to be the state's most consistent force in the 100 hurdles.

Through it all, she's proud of her toughness and perseverance through adversity as she gears up to attempt to win her first state championship next month.

"It's something that I work on internally," Havighurst said. "It's just something that I'm really proud of myself that I can show to everyone in the stadium and get to share that with other people."

Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Valley's Emma Havighurst overcomes ACL tear to win at Drake Relays