Runner survives ATV accident, runs for Lakeville South again

It was only two minutes of slow jogging on a treadmill — a tiny fraction of what Hannah Moland used to consider a "nice run."

"But it was amazing," she said. "I can't even describe the feeling."

That short jog in early November 2014 had been 91 days in the making. Moland had counted carefully, mentally marking the days that brought her from the ATV accident that nearly took her life to the moment she would find some semblance of normalcy by returning to the sport she loves.

Running always had been a passion for Moland. Now, it's become more of an obsession for the Lake-ville South senior, a co-captain of the girls' cross-country team, who has defied long odds and endured a long, painful recovery to return to racing this fall.

"Just to be able to see her out here, I can't even explain it," coach Jessica Just said Tuesday, fighting back tears after Moland, a regular in her team's top seven, helped the Cougars to a second-place finish in the South Suburban Conference meet in Eagan.

"She means so much to all of us. To think back to last year — this is pretty special."

Many of the details are a little hazy.

"We just think of what could've happened," Moland's mother, Lucinda, said before a long pause. "It's just — we feel very blessed."

Moland had a transverse fracture in her femur that required major surgery to place a rod and four screws. She had multiple, small fractures on her pelvis and required blood transfusions.

She was airlifted to the Vancouver Children's Hospital, where she spent the next 14 days, including the start of the 2014 cross-country season.

Just's phone started receiving text messages nonstop. It wasn't surprising, not to Just, who simply sent out a mass text to her athletes asking if they had any thoughts on Moland for this story.

One read, "Through overcoming her injury, she taught me that when you have a passion for something, nothing is impossible."

And from sophomore Bailey Brewster: "Hannah is the epitome of perseverance. She could [choose] to listen to the lies that are thrown at her, that her best is behind her, that she won't be as fast as she used to [be]. But she has found strength and has come further than I've ever imagined."

It went on and on.

Moland said she would not be where she is now without her team's support. Teammates sent her videos and messages while in the hospital. Just left a vacation early to fly to Vancouver to visit her.

But as those moments of running normalcy for Moland have steadily grown from two minutes to two hours, it's her teammates, coaches, parents and friends that are more inspired.

"Every day, she runs with purpose," fellow captain Hannah Oechsle said. "Every obstacle that has stood in her way she has overcome. … Every person on the team is inspired by her."