Rapid City Stevens' Haylee Weisgram is going to be a key component to the Raider girls' chase for their 13th straight Class AA track and field title this year - even if it hasn't gone anything like she envisioned.

Unfortunately for the junior, the season started with a torn glute while she was stretching, and the subsequent cool weather hasn't exactly been conducive to getting her back out and competing.

"They said it would be three to five weeks," Weisgram said of the doctor's original diagnosis. "But right now, I'm on my sixth week. It's getting better but I can still feel it. It's just going to be sore. The colder weather makes it ache all day, but you've just got to get through it and stay strong."

Weisgram has done that thus far, qualifying with a time of 15.20 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles on Monday in her first action of the season. Her time is, remarkably, the fifth-fastest time in the state thus far, and will give the Raiders that much more of a boost heading into the season's stretch run.

Weisgram also provisionally qualified in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 48.90 seconds. She ran the 100-meter dash just to get the feel of exploding out of the blocks back last week - her first competition of the season. As is often the case, the pain of the injury didn't equal the doubt in the mind.

"It didn't hurt but I was a little slow out of the blocks," Weisgram said. "I was a little scared that it was going to hurt, but now I know that it's not going to and I can work on getting out of the blocks a little faster."

The injury hasn't just affected Weisgram on the track. She is an avid soccer player, both for the Stevens team in the fall and the Rushmore Soccer Club year-round. Being unable to run for the past month or so has also taken away from her the ability to play her other favorite game.

"It's definitely been hard," Weisgram said. "It's getting toward the end (of the season) and I've only got this meet and one more to get qualified for state."

Now that she's qualified in at least one event, Weisgram can breathe a little easier. But she still feels a little apprehension about just how fast she can go.

"For me, I feel like I'm behind," she admitted. "I feel like I'm going to be in the back, behind everyone else, but I've just got to keep my head strong and stay positive."

The only lesson that she has taken away from the time spent on the sidelines is to not spend a whole lot of time dwelling on it.

"You've got to live with it," Weisgram said. "That's life. It happens, and you've just got to try to get through it. Things happen and there's really not much else you can do."