Coach Gives Concerning Update on Livvy Dunne’s Status
LSU gymnastics has had a successful regular season so far and is currently ranked No. 2 in the country. However, injuries have taken their toll on the squad and senior Livvy Dunne hasn’t performed in a meet since January 24th.
Coach Jay Clark talked about the severity of Olivia Dunne’s knee injury. He said, “It’s about her pain. It’s an unusual thing. I had to look it up, I didn’t even know what the retinaculum in your knee was. She put it on social media so it’s okay, I guess, for me to talk about it. The little avulsion fracture that she has, she and I were talking about it yesterday, that generally happens to people that have been in a car accident where some sort of blunt force trauma has happened. She can’t recall anything like that. It’s an extremely unusual thing that she’s dealing with and it just hurts. She can force herself to function with it but it’s very painful. [We’re] trying to figure out how to get her comfortable. So we shut her down and immobilized it, trying to get it to calm down. I think there’s been some progress and I still remain cautiously optimistic that she could become available again at least on bars. But it’s just hard to say.”
Clark continued, “I think we’ve got another follow up this week and just trying to monitor it and turn over every rock we can to try and get her in a place where she’s comfortable. You know, she started out the year in a really good spot for us and contributed on three events. She was, in many ways, doing as much or more than she had done ever at any point in her career…But the thing about Liv is, her attitude has been so good about it. She’s been staying engaged and supportive of her teammates. Not allowing it to sour her experience, at least outwardly…We talk about embracing the role you find yourself in and being the best at it you can possibly be. And she’s doing that.”
Whether Livvy has the opportunity to compete again or not, she’s been a huge part of the LSU Tigers’ quest for back to back National Championships.
