BYU track star Brenna Porter says she had been taught one very important thing when it came to running hurdles— keep going.
And she took that advice to heart after she finished her 400-meter hurdle race with a 7-inch gash slicing up her leg.
Before reaching 100 meters in her 400-meter hurdle race at the NCAA West Regionals, Porter's leg clipped the first hurdle, sending her sprawling before her head hit the ground.
Though it most likely meant Porter would not advance to the NCAA track and field championships, Porter pressed on, determined to finish the race and completely oblivious to the gash below her left knee.
"I remember coming around the fourth turn and my leg felt super wet," Porter says in a BYU video. "I was like either I'm sweating really bad or I'm bleeding really bad."
I guess it's always good to end with a bang 😂 Gotta finish that race though yo. What a year with the most amazing people. Keep it weird Austin. A post shared by Brenna Porter (@brennascar) on May 28, 2017 at 8:54pm PDT
It wasn't until she finished the race and was talking to her mother and her sister that she looked down at her leg. "I was like, 'Wow, my muscle is falling out of my leg,'" she says in the video.
The laceration was so bad, BYU assistant track and field coach Kyle Grossarth says he almost passed out when he saw it.
"I've never seen anything like that," he says. "Really, it was a freak accident, what happened."
Even though she did not win the race, Porter's incredible perseverance has gained media attention from a few publications, including Runners World and Running Magazine.
"It's the struggle, not the success, that matters," Porter says in the video. "I think there's more to running than winning."
Warning: the video below contains graphic depictions of Brenna Porter's injury.
Lead image from Instagram.
