Going the distance: Emma Dewey takes a longer path to victory

There are times when Emma Dewey’s competitive fire pushes to the front, when the numbers and the expectations don’t match and frustration bubbles to the surface.

“I just forget there’s a reason I’m running slower,” said the May River High freshman. “Why am I running these times? Stuff like that. I have to remind myself.

“Sometimes I forget that I was in a car accident.”

Not just any accident. A horrific, sorrowful one. It was 52 weekends ago that the Lowcountry was jolted by news of the hit-and-run wreck on Interstate 26 that killed Dewey’s best friend, Grace Sulak, and left both Emma and her mom critically injured.

Dewey spent four days in a medically induced coma, then nearly the entire summer in a back brace while two broken vertabrae were given time to heal. She’s still reluctant to talk about that day, and sometimes tears up when an emotional nerve is suddenly exposed.

But for the sadness that naturally comes with such a one-year mark, there’s also the lift of seeing Emma Dewey run again.

And not just running. Competing. Even winning.

Two weeks ago, Dewey captured the 3,200 meters at the Beaufort County championship, with a time of 13 minutes, 4.92 seconds that was more than four seconds ahead of her nearest pursuer. She ran even faster at the Region 8-3A meet, though she took second behind Bluffton’s Perla Jimenez.

On Saturday, Dewey and her May River teammates compete at the Class 3A Lower State qualifier in Charleston. Booking a spot at next weekend’s state meet in the 3,200 might be a tall order, but she’s also part of the Sharks’ 4x800 relay that is favored to advance.

Some year, huh?

“It’s amazing,” said Dewey’s mother, Andrea. “There was such a long period this summer where she was not able to be active. It’s just a joy to see her running again.”

Emma, for her part, classifies it as a year filled with frustrations, albeit getting better as she’s gained her footing again.

“Really frustrating,” she said, recalling the long rehab period. “But it’s nice to be able to run again. I have to remind myself that I’m lucky to be able to run.”

A race she dislikes

And those complaints about slow times? After initial struggles to regain her pace in the 1,600 meters, she’s found success after switching her focus to the longer 3,200 — a race she initially balked at running but has now come to tolerate.

“I still really don’t like the two-mile,” she said. “But I run it.”

Said May River coach Katherine Rosenblum: “She hates the two-mile. She does. But you know what? She’s successful in the two-mile right now. She can hate it all she wants. She doesn’t hate it when she gets a good time.”

Dewey’s personal best, in fact, came in her first two-mile of the year at the prestigious Bob Jenkins Coaches Classic in Columbia. Needing to put down a time for heat-classification purposes — 81 runners were signed up for the 3,200 — Rosenblum wrote down 12:40.

“Coach! I can’t believe you did that!” the coach recalled of Dewey’s reaction. “I’ll never run that.”

“Just go run,” Rosenblum responded. “I did it based on what I believe you can do.”

Dewey ran 12:41.13, finishing in the top half of a talent-laden field.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” Andrea Dewey said. “I never expected her to get a (personal record) this season.”

Emma’s reaction? “Wow, that’s pretty cool. I wasn’t super excited about it, but I was kind of happy I did get that time.”

That’s the competitor in Dewey seeping out. “She just wants to be better and better and better,” Rosenblum said.

Later on, though, Dewey acknowledged it was the positive result she needed to see. “It kind of helped to know I had an event I could do well in,” she said.

For Dewey, the past nine months since getting out of the back brace created a season of adjustment. There was a new post-brace set of rehab — limited miles, no speed work. Some fall days, all she could do is walk the cross country route as Rosenblum was setting it up.

“It made me feel like I’d never really run before,” she said.

School also required adjustment, moving from middle school to high school. A brand new school in May River. New coach, new team after wearing Bluffton’s colors last year.

“A lot of people were new to running and didn’t know that much about it,” she said. “I love them all now, but it was kind of annoying at first.”

And there was the notoriety from last May. Even if classmates didn’t know Dewey herself, her name instantly triggered an image.

“At first it was a little overwhelming – oh my gosh, this is too much,” she said. “But now it’s died down. ... Probably for the school part of things, it felt routine once I got into October. But for running, it’s probably just coming together now.”

‘G’ and ‘S’

Watch Dewey on the track, and the “G” and “S” written on her shoulder blades are inescapable.

Grace Sulak.

Then again, the entire 4x800 quartet has Sulak’s initials written in the same spot. As do a number of other May River runners. “It’s just to represent that we’re running for her,” said Dewey.

It’s a tradition that actually began during cross country season, when Dewey couldn’t race and all she could do was stand on the sideline.

“I don’t know who started it. It just kind of happened,” she said. “Even people who didn’t know her did it, which is pretty cool.”

And when Dewey was ready to race again this spring, there was comfort in wearing the “GS” among teammates. “It just felt normal to do that,” she said.

As for the running, it remains a work in progress. Physically, Rosenblum said, Dewey has no limitations lingering from the accident. Complicating matters, though, is a growth spurt that has added four inches to her stature.

“She got out of the brace,” Rosenblum said, “and all of a sudden she had gotten very tall. And a lot of it was in her legs.”

Now in the 5-foot-5 range, Dewey’s long stride actually works against her as a distance runner. Want a reason for the slower mile times? Rosenblum points there.

“That burns a lot of energy,” she said, “without necessarily getting you where you want to go. Her stride has altered her ability to conserve that energy.”

That’s something to really focus on in the offseason. Now comes Lower State, where Dewey is ranked sixth among those runners entered in the 3,200. Only four will advance to the state meet, and the time gap is significant.

“I’d have to shave off 10 or 15 seconds,” she said. “Yeah, that’s a pretty big drop. I’m just going to try to get a personal best and see what happens from there.”

Whatever does happen, there’s plenty of reason to declare victory.

This story was originally published May 5, 2017 at 11:00 PM with the headline "Going the distance: Emma Dewey takes a longer path to victory."