Henry Wiseman’s high school athletic career flashed before his eyes.
During Fort Madison High School’s hard-fought 17-14 win over Keokuk on Sept. 29, 2023 at Richmond Stadium, Wiseman sustained a knee injury and had to be helped off the field.
In the blink of an eye, the Fort Madison senior’s football season was over, his wrestling season wiped out and his final season of track and field in peril.
Upon further examination, doctors discovered that Wiseman had torn the anterior cruciate ligament and partially torn the medial collateral ligament in his left knee.
Wiseman, who plans to attend Southeastern Community College in the fall and has decided against playing sports in college, was staring down the barrel of surgery and a long, grueling, painful nine months of recovery.
Remarkably, Wiseman is back and better than ever.
“It’s surprising. I didn’t think I would be back this early, but I am. So now I am just making sure I am healthy, making sure I’m feeling good so it doesn’t happen again,” Wiseman said.
Wiseman already has made a huge impact, especially on the Bloodhounds’ shuttle hurdle relay team. The Bloodhounds have run 1 minute, 1.36 seconds this season and are on the cusp of getting into the top 16 to qualify for next week’s Drake Relays.
Fort Madison boys track coach Keith Helling is easing Wiseman back into things, not wanting to push too hard, too fast.
“Right now I’m trying to limit him to one or two races a meet,” Helling said. “Especially at the beginning of the year I was taking extra precautions. As the season has gone along, we have added one more race. I just want to make sure he is healthy and safe.”
Wiseman ran a 15.40 in his first race in the 110-meter hurdles last week at the Denny White Relays in Mount Pleasant.
Wiseman was in the midst of a stellar senior season of football when he was injured. He caught 36 passes for 318 yards and five touchdowns, made 24 tackles on defense, returned 15 kickoffs for 234 yards and had seven punt returns for 102 yards.
His absence left a big void, not only on the football team, but on the Bloodhounds’ wrestling team, as well.
“Football is definitely my favorite sport,” Wiseman said. “Wrestling is a tough sport. After (the injury) I was a little bummed out. Watching it is fun, but competing in it isn’t always as fun. I definitely missed wrestling, for sure.”
Wiseman worked hard during his rehabilitation to get back in time for track season.
“I didn’t anticipate he would be able to run track this year,” Helling said. “Before the season started, he came up to me and said he thought he would be ready to go maybe by districts. It happened to be even sooner than that. It’s really amazing.”
With Adam Sobczak, Kiawante Smith and Gavin Callahan also back from last year’s shuttle hurdle relay team which qualified for state, the Bloodhounds have high hopes in that event.
“Last year at the beginning of the year we got this squad together and we went to state,” Wiseman said. “We were all coming back, so we knew if we worked hard in the offseason, we would have a good squad coming back. We’re just going to keep pushing on the rest of the year.”
The Bloodhounds have improved their shuttle hurdle relay time at every meet.
“He has helped our shuttle hurdle ream quite a bit,” Helling said. “He ran a really good time in the 110 highs at Mount Pleasant. That was a great time for his first run of the year.”
Wiseman isn’t the only one making a comeback from a knee injury in football to contribute to the Bloodhounds’ track team.
Junior Brody Cashman has been down the same path as Wiseman. Cashman, who caught two passes for 81 yards and a pair of touchdowns in football, has helped the 4x200 relay team run a 1:46.86 this spring.
“We have some unbelievable surgeons in our area who have done a great job with these kids,” Helling said. “Both Henry and Brody returned within five months after their injuries to run in track competitions. Brody began running right away. It’s just been amazing to have them both back and helping out the team this year.”
