Erica Lynn walks down the white hallway in the ARC toward the pool. On her way, she passes two guys drenched in sweat returning from the sauna room as well a campus recreation employee. As she enters the pool, she greets head coach Sue Novitsky with a smile and a hello and heads toward the locker room. She spends one hour in the weight room, then another in the water. Novitsky yells out swim orders and yardages, and the team begins practice.

This has been the routine for Lynn, a fifth-year senior, during her time on the Illinois swimming and diving team. She continues to work hard after a first-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke in the Nov. 9 meet against Kansas. Hard work now will lead to success later, a motto she learned after breaking her back in her freshman year. The injury transformed her and taught her to be a leader.

Nov. 5, 2009, was just like any other day before a meet for the Illinois swimming and diving team. The Illini were in the weight room. Lynn was doing box step-ups with 100 pounds of weight on her back. As she went up, she lost her balance and fell. After that, her memory goes fuzzy. But the 100-pound weight had been driven into her back as she hit the ground.

Lying on the weight room floor, not realizing what happened, Lynn opened her eyes to find all the coaches and swimmers hovering over her. She attempted to get up but was unable to; the smallest movement caused her pain. At first the thought was that it was just a pulled muscle, but she then realized this was pain she had never felt before; she knew it was her bone.

“It was one of the scariest moments as a coach,” Novitsky said. “Throughout the whole time, she stayed calm. She looked up at me and said, ‘I don’t think I’ll be able to compete tomorrow, coach.’ I told her that it was fine and to forget about that; she had more important things to worry about.”

The rest of the swimmers were stretching as Lynn was taken away on a stretcher, and all sent well wishes and support as the stretcher left. Lynn could hardly keep her eyes open on the ride to the hospital. The pain was too great. Novitsky accompanied Lynn to the hospital, where the diagnosis was a fractured vertebrae.

Lynn’s family in Swansea, Ill., received the call soon after the incident. Her sister Lori Lynn, now a sophomore on the swimming and diving team, remembers the moment quite well.

“I was in my room and my mom came in and told me that Erica broke her back,” said Lori, who was not able to visit her sister right away because she had a swim meet that weekend. “We were shocked and scared, but thankful that she wasn’t paralyzed.”

Erica remained on campus because she was in a brace and could hardly move. Although the team was in shock over the incident, Erica received the full support of the team and coaches. Teammates helped carry her lunch tray, open doors and carry her backpack. Novitsky drove her to her classes for nearly two months.

Near the end of December the brace came off. Erica recovered at home for a month, rather than the six days around Christmas that swimmers normally receive. This was a major benefit in the recovery process.

Rehabilitation began in January. The process was slow at first. Along with the trainer, they would exercise for a couple hours a day. She started working on her core and back. As she progressed, they continued to add different parts of the body: legs, arms and shoulders.

“There were moments when I wondered if I would be able to come back to swimming again, especially at that fast speed (of collegiate competition).” Erica said. “Swimming has always been a staple for me and having it taken away from my life was difficult.”

Part of what guided her during difficult times was her faith. Raised a Christian, Erica began to grow in her faith as she became more active in the spiritual community. She led Bible studies as she read the Bible more and received inspiration, developing a closer relationship with God. She came to believe that everything happens for a reason and memorized her favorite verse, Romans 8:28: “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

Erica began swimming again, competing in club meets during the summer. But once she was finally cleared to practice for Illinois, she was excited to get into the water; however, Novitsky wanted to work her in slowly. Gradually she began to do more, until it was time for her to compete.

Novistky and others find it humorous that she returned exactly a year after the injury, Nov. 5, 2010. The team competed against Michigan State, and Erica raced in the 200-yard breaststroke. In her first collegiate race since injuring her back, Erica won. Her first emotion was a sigh of relief — she would be able to still do it.

She continued to compete and finished the season with four individual first-place finishes. Erica was awarded her first of three Academic All-Big Ten honoree and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Awards. The team also awarded her with the Fighting Illini Spirit Award at the team’s banquet for her courage to return and be successful in the pool.

Looking back now, Erica is happy that she went through the experience. She learned the value of being vulnerable and asking others for help. It taught her how to push herself mentally and emotionally, as well as how to relate to other swimmers on the team going through their own difficulties. Had she not gone through this experience, she would not have learned the values that make her one of the greatest leaders on the team, who has earned the respect of everyone.

“She was able to value swimming since she was taken away from it,” Lori said. “It helped her realize that you can’t take anything for granted.”

Michal can be reached at [email protected] and @mdwojak94.