Good form: Deja Young finds a place to run at Wichita State

Sprint coaches revere form in a constant quest to shave fractions of seconds on the way to the finish line.

Deja Young runs fast. College coaches liked her high school times and her potential, until they saw her run.

Born with a deformity in her right shoulder, resulting from nerve damage, Young’s arm movement is limited and creates an unconventional running form.

“When I was born, the doctor pulled on my head too hard … pretty much dislocating (the shoulder) as I was being born,” she said. “A lot of (Division I) schools in Texas shied away from me. They didn’t want to deal with my injury.”

Wichita State coaches recruited her off those times at Horn High School in Mesquite, Texas — 12.08 seconds in the 100 meters and 24.50 in the 200. They noticed her unusual arm action on video. They met her on a campus visit, where she explained. WSU coaches decided to believe the results at the finish line.

“The good thing about our sport is that the stopwatch doesn’t lie,” WSU sprints coach John Wise said. “It doesn’t matter what you look like or how tall you are. The stopwatch will tell you a lot about what you need to know as a sprinter.”

Young will wrap up her freshman season as part of WSU’s 400-meter relay team that runs Thursday in the NCAA championships semifinals in Eugene, Ore. The Shockers qualified in late May in the NCAA West preliminaries with a school-record time of 44.30 seconds, with Young running the second leg.

“I came here and told them about my injury … and they took me with open arms,” she said. “It’s been a blast from there.”

Young underwent three surgeries on the shoulder before coming to WSU. She requires regular treatment to minimize the pain, especially since she separated the shoulder last month when she picked up a backpack and tossed it over a fence. That will force her to undergo another surgery this summer.

“I’ve pretty much competed with a dislocated for two months,” she said. “Even though I’ve been told to stop and not compete and get surgery, but I just feel like my contribution to the team is so important and I don’t want to let anyone down.”

When she runs, her right arm moves across her body, counter to typical running form. Her left arm pumps straight back and forth. The more the right arm moves, the more it hurts. Athletic tape attempts to help hold it in place. She said most coaches weren’t willing to deal with her unique circumstances.

“They would try to fix it, and I can’t fix it,” she said. “It’s something I have to do to compensate to make it work. Track coaches see that and say, ‘I can’t fix that.’”

She compensates with powerful legs and work ethic. Her favorite practices, Wise said, are the days when the Shockers run two 300s, rest for eight minutes, and run three 200s. Her best times as a freshman are 11.92 in the 100 (ranking 11th in the Missouri Valley Conference) and 24.43 in the 200 (10th).

“She’s talented enough she’s been able to fight through some of those things and now I think she’s starting to realize how good she can be,” Wise said. “She loves the hard practices, and that’s pretty rare. She can’t wait for Tuesdays, which are the really hard days.”

Young’s season won’t end in Oregon.

On June 19, she runs in the U.S. Paralympics track and field championships in St. Paul, Minn. In September 2016, she is scheduled to run in the Paralympic Games in Brazil. This will be her first experience in this realm; an athlete from Texas-Arlington noticed her during a meet and suggested she look into running in the Paralympics.

“That’s really exciting to get to represent my country doing something I love and with people I can relate to,” she said.

This week, Young is focused on WSU’s relay team, believed to be the first female relay to qualify for the NCAA championships.

Leadoff runner Shanice Andrews joined the relay in the middle of the season and she and Young struggled passing the baton. Young, because of her shoulder, must run either second or fourth to take the baton in her left hand from the previous runner’s right. The second handoff is challenging because it takes place on a curve and in traffic.

In the NCAA West meet, they connected perfectly. Without the distractions of preparing for other events, the relay team, which also includes twins Nikki and Taylor Larch-Miller, had time to focus on their assignments and find the right rhythm on the track in Austin,.

“When she put her hand back, I didn’t have to try to put it in there,” Andrews said. “It just connected.”

In the MVC championships, the lack of timing relegated the Shockers to second place with a time of 45.23 seconds. Young and Andrews knew their handoff cost the Shockers.

“This time I waited for her,” Young said. “I didn’t leave early and I didn’t get excited.”

With a smooth exchange, the team knew something special loomed. Shaving off less than a second put a surprise spot in the NCAA championships into play.

“I didn’t stop running after I handed off to Taylor,” Nikki Larch-Miller said. “She kept running and I kept running. We jumped on each other and started hugging. Then we ran over to them and jumped on them. It was a big mess of emotions.”

This story was originally published June 10, 2015 at 10:01 AM with the headline "Good form: Deja Young finds a place to run at Wichita State."