College Bound: No Setbacks here, but rather a Comeback for Chelsea Student-Athlete Carley Grabarczyk

From the academics to the athletics, signing with Purdue University Northwest gave Carley Grabarczyk that right feeling.

Hearing about this, the Sun Times News connected with Grabarczyk, a standout on the Chelsea Track and Field team, to ask about the exciting news. She will run on the track team at Purdue Northwest.

“I feel amazing after signing, it was a big physical stepping stone to show that I am really going to be a student athlete at Purdue Northwest,” Grabarczyk said. “I am so excited to begin this new chapter and I would be lying if I wasn’t a little nervous about it.”

She said when she first “walked onto campus at PNW, I was told by so many people that I was going to have ‘that feeling’… as if it’s a feeling where you know you belong and it feels like a second home. That’s exactly what I experienced.”

“They have amazing professors and coaches that made me feel so welcome,” Grabarczyk said. “The people are so nice and the programs for all sorts of majors are amazing.”

This signing is an important moment because it also marks another big step in her comeback from being told she might be done with competitive athletics.

Grabarczyk is a sprinter and specializes in the 100 meter dash, indoor 60 meter dash, is part of the 4x100 relay as anchor, and now for her senior year she will be running the 200 as well.

In her freshman year, she was diagnosed with FAI bilateral hip impingement. She said she played soccer and competed at the national level of dressage horseback riding along with track, which happened to be in the same season and horses all year round.

“My sophomore year, I had to have double hip surgery, two months apart from each other, over 12 months of physical therapy, all in all I was told that I would no longer be able to play sports or at least not at the level I was before,” she said. “I wanted to defeat the odds and the motto became that the comeback is greater than the set back.”

Being a Bulldog has helped in her comeback.

“Chelsea has helped me so much through great coaches, teachers and mentors who never let me give up,” she said. “The patience and commitment to help me succeed in the classroom and on the athletic field will never be forgotten and always appreciated.”

She has a list of people who she wants to thank for their support and help along the way.

“I want to thank my coaches, coach Thorburn, Kruse and Houle. My parents Justin and Rebecca Grabarczyk, my friends, especially my best friend Emma Ward for always pushing me to be the best,” and “Mentors Nick Schumann and Rebecca Bastianelli.”