Lindsey Stuckey is an athletic sophomore (academic junior) track and field and cross-country runner for Wayne State College. She graduated from York High School in York, Nebraska. At York, she was a four-year recipient of athletic letters in both track and field and cross country. She has always been described as someone who is very motivated, having an internal motor that keeps her churning.  

However, Stuckey has suffered many setbacks in her athletic career. Injury after injury plagued her high school seasons, but that didn’t bring her down, Stuckey said.  

“My mentality in high school was just to have fun. I really enjoyed the team atmosphere,” Stuckey said. “Going into my last race in high school, I just wanted to enjoy it. I knew that I’d probably never lace up my spikes again.” 

The athlete decided to take a break from running and focus on her health. She could barely race after high school and was not able to train the way she wanted to. Stuckey never saw herself running or competing at the college level. 

Yet, once she arrived on the WSC campus, she got back into running. She found herself with a lot of free time her freshman year and would run miles for fun. After a while, she started to miss the competition and team aspect. Wanted to get back into running competitively, Stuckey signed up and trained for a half marathon later in her freshman year.  

“I really enjoyed training for that and seeing my progress,” Stuckey said. “When I was training by myself, I found myself being able to listen to my body more and was more able to back down when I didn’t feel good.” 

Stuckey entered her sophomore year of college still unsure if she wanted to get back into the competitive running scene on the collegiate level. After much deliberation, she decided on training for another half marathon. One day, during training for this half marathon, someone noticed her running many miles on the treadmill. They immediately asked her if she ever thought about running competitively for Wayne.  

Stuckey knew at point, she had to contact the coach, she said. This was her sign, her calling, to finally run competitively again. In late January of 2022, the runner finally reached out to the head coach of the track and field and cross-country teams, Marlon Brink. 

“I knew Lindsey had the potential and skill,” Brink said. “We were focused on first getting her healthy.” 

After months of training and getting healthy, Stuckey finally laced up her spikes again. On March 25, 2022, Stuckey ran the 5,000-meter race for the Wildcats at the 2022 Wildcats Invite for the track and field team, where she placed sixth out of eight runners. She was back to running competitively. 

“I was pretty terrified at first,” Stuckey said. “These were Division I athletes I was competing against, and I had just joined the team a week ago. But it was so much fun to be back out there running.”  

Unexpectedly, shortly after that track meet, Stuckey caught mono, putting her out for the rest of the year while she recovered.  

Heading into the 2022-2023 academic school year, Stuckey felt as healthy as she had felt in a long time. She entered this year’s cross-country season as the women’s team number one runner. She was the top Wildcat finisher at both of the teams’ first two meets, but another injury had her sitting out of the Wildcat Classic on September 23. 

This time, it was a foot injury, one of the worst injuries possible for a competitive runner. She healed up and ran in the Dordt Invite on October 8, but did not feel like herself, Stuckey said. She could not run like she wanted to and finished fourth on the team. Stuckey is slated to get an MRI on her injured foot on later this week.  

“The MRI should tell us a lot,” Brink said. “Once we find out the results of that, we will better be able to see what steps we should take next.” 

The Wildcats’ next race is scheduled for October 22 at the Mount Marty Invite in Yankton, South Dakota. Stuckey is not expected to compete in that event while awaiting the results of her MRI. 

Stuckey still participates as an active member of the team, attending practice and encouraging the other runners.  

“If I’m going to do something, I’m going to give 100 percent,” Stuckey said. “I came into the season thinking even if I can’t compete the way I want to, I just love being on the team and being with my teammates. They keep me going.”