No. Burlington junior currently dealing with a lower back injury

By Kevin Cranston
Runningco.com Writer

Northern Burlington High School boys’ cross country coach Steve Alustiza said Tuesday night that junior Mike Bowden is currently experiencing a lower back injury and that there’s no clear timetable as to when he’ll return to racing.

Bowden, who finished third at Central Jersey Group 3 sectionals in 2006, is one of the top returning runners in South Jersey.

According to Alustiza, the injury occurred on the weekend of Sept. 8. The team had practice that Saturday and Bowden went on a long run by himself on Sunday. Alustiza said he isn’t sure which day Bowden tweaked his lower back, but when he showed up for practice on Monday, he complained of discomfort. Bowden then raced in the team’s batch meet on Tuesday, Sept. 11, but by Wednesday’s practice, the pain in his back had become worse.

It’s due to the injury that Alustiza held Bowden out of last Saturday’s Cherokee Challenge, as well as Northern’s batch meet on Tuesday, Sept. 18. Alustiza said that Bowden is still training a little bit, but wants to give him some time to recover before he puts him in a race.

“He can run, but it’s difficult for him to sustain a hard pace,” Alustiza said.

“We want to be cautious. If we were at a part of the season where we really needed him to run, he could probably go. But it’s still early, so we don’t want to rush him back and have him hurt for the entire season. He wanted to race at Cherokee, but we figured why make it worse.”

Alustiza added that Bowden is expected to meet with a sports chiropractor today to learn more about his injury and possible ways to treat it. Alustiza said he hopes to have Bowden back racing by the Shore Coaches Invitational on Oct. 6. But he can’t be certain.

“We’re going to reevaluate everything after he meets with the chiropractor,” Alustiza said.