By From Injury to Inspiration
Life will flip our script, but the real power is in how we rewrite our story.
Before coming to Carroll, Kailen Herbstritt spent eight years walking across balance beams, flying through the air in the vault, swinging across bars, and completing floor routines.
From the start, Kailen was focused and dedicated. For seven years she trained five days a week, more than three hours each day.
Thanks to gymnastics, she developed discipline she would apply to all aspects of her life – academics, sports and hobbies.
“Once my mind was set to it, I was going to achieve it,” she said. Once my mind was set to something, I knew I was going to achieve it.
Kailen is a graduating senior, majoring in health sciences with minors in public health and communications.
Kailen came to Carroll College from Corvallis, Montana, to compete in track and field and discover new ways to help others – on campus and in the community.
Kailen’s signature is her ability to persist – to face challenges confidently. Throughout high school and college her mindset has been to stay positive and work hard.
“I knew that with hard work and a positive mindset that I could do anything I set my mind to.”
Her resilience isn’t just about helping herself. It’s about using her strength to help others push through their own obstacles with the same optimistic outlook.
She remembers coming in as a high school freshman for soccer tryouts.
“I was dead set on being on varsity.”
She channeled all that gymnastics discipline and focused on her goal. And, of course, she earned her spot.
As a freshman on the varsity team, Kailen initially was stressed, uncertain.
“I felt so unsure of myself or my place on the team.”
To overcome this, she adopted a mindset of “fake it till I make it” to know what she was doing, which eventually led to confidence and competence.
She focused not just on footwork and free kicks, but on building the team culture. She became part of the glue that held the women’s varsity team at Corvallis together.
“My goal was to leave more than who I was as a player on the team,” she said. “I wanted to leave a culture, leave it better than before.”
This determination set the tone for her next four years at Carroll College.
Kailen was poised for success in college on the field and in the classroom.
However, she didn’t plan on the bumps along the way.
Kailen joined the Carroll track team, focusing on pole vault, after a successful high school career. While she had been a standout athlete in high school, the transition to college track presented new challenges.
Nothing felt quite right that first year.
“I could feel the disappointment from coach,” she said. Kailen knew her coach was hoping she would qualify for nationals that year.
Even though coach never said anything, Kailen was disappointed and sensed her coach was, too.
But when Kailen is down, she gets back up again.
Sophomore year started with new commitment, new goals. She got her stride back. There was a pep in her step.
“I was excited and ready. I had finally started to feel like me again.”
Kailen was a pole vaulter, and she was raising the bar and getting stronger. Nationals was a bar she was ready to clear.
Then, in March 2023, during practice, she sprinted down the runway and threw her feet high. She knew instantly she was not making it into the pit.
“I was on a heavier pole that day,” she recalls. “I got shot back out of the pit! I landed on the concrete below. And I remember thinking my knee wasn’t supposed to move that way.”
She had felt this type of pain before.
Her ACL was torn, forcing her into the harsh certainty of surgery once more. She was told she wouldn’t be cleared to compete in pole vault for the upcoming track season, or any season after.
“I had made so much progress from freshman year,” she said. “I was thrown back, and I never got to show what I was truly capable of.”
Kailen came to college to use all her self-discipline to reach her goals, chase her dreams.
Instead, she had to direct all her energy towards a new goal: Recovery.
Kailen didn’t just recover, she reinvented herself. She turned every setback into a springboard for success and inspired everyone around her to do the same.
“Seeing her accept the challenges that come her way and make the most of the trial she is in amazes me,” said Kailen’s sister Rylee, a sophomore health sciences major. “She attacks every challenge with the same optimistic strength which allows her to succeed in any situation.”
Kailen faced the challenges by reimagining her future in sports.
After her surgery, Kailen began physical therapy, but found herself isolated from her team and uncertain about her path forward. Progress was slow. She struggled with feelings of frustration and doubt.
After a rehab session one day, she faced her reality that she might never pole vault again. The next day, the trainer came in and helped shift her mindset.
“Let’s stop sitting in the unknown and make a plan.”
“It was those big talks that got me through,” Kailen said. “I am not going to let this moment define my experience.”
Knowing that her sister would be a future Carroll teammate inspired Kailen.
“I knew Rylee was coming to Carroll, and that thought kept me going,” she said. “I wanted one more chance to compete alongside her and make the most of it.”
Sharing the track with her sister again reignited her drive and gave her a renewed sense of purpose.
“You get to choose the direction that something goes,” she said.
Although Kailen had to give up pole vaulting, she chose to continue competing on the track team as a runner, focusing on the 400-meter dash and the 4×400 relay.
Kailen worked through the recovery process. She remembers the first time she got to run after her injury.
“I was on Speed 5 on the treadmill in the clinic. That is pretty darn slow… but I couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear.”
She knew she had a long way to go, “but the spark was there.”
Her personal experiences with injury fueled her passion for helping others through their recovery journeys.
“Everyone’s recovery process in physical therapy is unique,” she said. “Everyone’s mindset during recovery is different. I enjoy brightening other people’s days even if it is only for a small part of their session. The last five minutes of their session.”
Although her own recovery process was slow and painful, Kailen did her best to find the positives.
“I get nothing out of saying this hurts,” she said, remembering how she changed her mindset from the negative to positive. She gave herself and others grace during the rehab process.
After one of her first workouts after returning, she shook her head. She knew her times were awful that day. But that wasn’t the point.
“I was ecstatic. I did horrible, and it was not a good workout at all, but I did it,” she said. “You can’t let a bad day turn into a bad week, turn into a bad month. What matters is finishing the race.”
Kailen’s friends here at Carroll have witnessed her resilient mindset firsthand. They admire her unwavering determination and her relentless drive – and her compassion.
She never turns away when someone needs help.
“Kailen exhibits unwavering loyalty and deeply cares for everyone around her. She is willing to drop everything to help someone out when they need her, even if she is super busy,” said Maggie Young a senior, ANZ major, from Las Vegas.
With college about to end, Kailen is looking ahead. She knows she’s at a crossroads, with lots of possibilities.
“It’s so exciting I get to do the things I want to do, to take the risk, and really just see where life takes me.”
All those battles with injuries have pointed her towards a career helping others recover – passing on the gift she received.
“My goal is to become a physical therapist. I want to make an impact on the people in my community. My community has given me so much growing up and I really just want to be involved in giving back to them.”
Reflecting on her journey here at Carroll, she’s aware of how much has changed from when she first arrived as a freshman.
“The team we have today is not the same as when I came in as a freshman,” she said.
Just like in high school, she put in the effort to support her friends and teammates even during the time she couldn’t compete. She hopes she’s helped build a culture of hard work and care on the team.
Even while recovering, she wishes she could have done more, but she made sure to attend home meets, hoping her presence made a difference.
Kailen’s friends, coaches and teammates will miss her, that’s certain.
“Us younger girls aren’t her actual sisters, but we all look up to her as an older sister!” said Rebecca Middleton, a sophomore biology major.
Life flipped Kailen’s script, but she rewrote her story.
Thanks to help from friends, doctors, coaches and family, she’s ready for a new chapter. It’s time to pass on that gift to others.
“I want to make my community better with the education I have,” says Kailen. “Helping people live their lives to the fullest, all while making opportunities more accessible to the people who need it most.”
