When Texas A&M makes its SEC track and field championship debut this Thursday in Columbia, Missouri, one name will be conspicuously absent from its roster.

Such positions seemed to miss the central point, in Rogers opinion 10,000-meter champion and runner-up at the Olympic Trials last summer, will not be on the starting line for Friday night’s 10,000. Rogers has not worn the school’s maroon and white uniform since last June after a severe injury limited her ability to train and compete. In February, Rogers left the A&M team.

“I had a freak accident where I just fell while running and kind of destroyed my knee on the cement,” Rogers says, noting that her cross country season had already been wiped out by mononucleosis. “I probably should have gotten stitches but I didn’t for some reason. Ever since then I’ve had a knee injury.”

The first official commentary on Rogers’ departure was found in a Eugene Register-Guard preview of the NCAA indoor track and field championships. Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry was quoted as saying the Aggies’ chances of winning another NCAA title indoors were hurt by Rogers’ decision.

“It’s a tough situation for our team,” Henry told the paper on March 7. “One of the best distance runners in the U.S. decided she doesn’t want to compete anymore.”

Henry’s quote spread via Twitter and sparked a large debate on the Letsrun.com message board, where people alternately derided Rogers for being “selfish, ridiculous, and short sighted” and Henry for “throwing her under the bus.”

Such positions seemed to miss the central point, in Rogers’ opinion.

“It’s a frustrating situation from both sides, clearly,” she says. “[My coaches] were understanding. They gave me my time and tried everything to help, but at some point you just have to embrace the reality of it. That’s what I had to tell them. ‘I can’t train with this. I can’t give my 100 percent effort. I don’t want to limp around the track.’ I like to do things with my full heart and I didn’t feel like I could do that with this problem. We just had to bite the bullet.”

While the decision to leave the Aggies was heartbreaking, Rogers didn’t see continuing as an option. Physicians and trainers have been unable to come up with a definitive diagnosis for Rogers’ injury, further slowing her recovery. The extent and degree of the injury also goes well beyond anything Rogers has experienced, leaving her few choices.

“I’ve run with pain before,” she says. “I’ve run entire seasons with stress fractures. I know the difference between running with pain and running with something that will bring you to a halt. That’s my call, no one else’s.”

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After a highly successful career at Dakota Ridge High School near Littleton, Colorado, Rogers chose Texas A&M and put together two solid if unspectacular seasons. “I think it was just developing a passion and a work ethic,” she says. “My freshman and sophomore year, I was kind of just doing it to do it. I didn’t understand what it means to have a passion for something. I went through some things that really stirred up the fire for me, and I wanted to achieve all that I could achieve.”

With that fire stirred and a good amount of accumulated training, Rogers put together a memorable first six months of 2012. She set school records in the first six races of the indoor season, added four more outdoors, then won Big 12 titles in the 10,000 (in her debut) and 5000. After qualifying for nationals, Rogers took home her first NCAA title by winning the 10,000m in 32:41, then placed sixth in the 5,000 later that week. Her 10,000m time of 32:41 qualified her for the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon.

“I had no clue what to expect, not even five minutes before the gun went off,” she says of the Olympic Trials, where she finished one second behind race winner Amy Hastings in only her fourth 10-K.

“I think during the race I just realized where I was and what I had the potential to do. It didn’t take me to London {she was 14 seconds off the necessary Olympic “A” standard], but it made me realize what I’m capable of.”

Fulfilling that potential will have to wait for her knee to heal. In the meantime, Rogers is looking forward to studying abroad in Buenos Aires this summer.

“I definitely believe life is more than running,” she says. “Runners have that personality where they forget about that sometimes. I’m a religious person as well, and I think that’s why running was taken away from me, because I need more balance in my life and to get grounded and experience other opportunities and passions that life can give you.”
Within that balance, Rogers still believes there is room for a professional running career if the knee is willing and able.

“Running is my biggest passion,” Rogers says. “I believe I was born to run. That’s why I fought the injury for a very long time and kind of tried to wait it out. We tried everything, but to be honest it kind of just broke my heart. I just had to move on from it, embrace my situation and the circumstances I was dealt. Ever since I’ve done that I’ve been so much happier.

“I do believe I’ll run again,” Rogers says, “but it’ll be on my knee’s terms when it’s ready so I can give 100 percent.”