With one hurdle to go in a preliminary heat of the Class 1-A West Regional 110-meter-high hurdles at Shoshoni on May 10, 2024, Dubois sophomore Zander Hawkins had a decision to make, a decision all hurdlers face many times during their careers.
“I was off on the last hurdle,” Zander said. “It was either stutter step or stride out.”
He decided to stride out.
There is more to sprint hurdling than any other event in track and field. Boys and girls alike face 10 hurdles spaced evenly on a 110-meter course for boys, and 100-meters for girls. To compete, you need to three-step between each flight of hurdles. In taking three steps between each hurdle, you bring up the same lead leg every time and follow with the same trail leg. Some hurdlers alternate, meaning they throw up their right leg, then their left leg, between each hurdle.
Almost every hurdler can alternate if it’s needed, but everyone has a stronger lead leg they prefer to use.
Zander had the correct lead leg that day in Shoshoni, but he didn’t have the momentum to clear the hurdle, bring down his trail leg, and snap it onto the track to propel him forward. Instead, something else snapped.
“I landed on my front leg and rolled my ankle,” Zander said. “It went numb.”
He was lucky it went numb. It wasn’t a sprain, but a compound fracture of his lower leg. It was one of the worst injuries veteran track officials and observers had ever witnessed. Zander lay on the track for a long time until he was stabilized and transported to the Sage West Hospital Emergency Room in Riverton.
“They tried to put it back in place in Riverton,” Zander said. “They told me to come back on Monday, and they’d evaluate.”
Zander’s parents, Bev and Jake Hawkins, were having none of that.
“We loaded up and headed to Jackson,” Zander said. “We got there, and they found skin caught in the break where they’d tried to set it in Riverton.”
The prognosis was grim at first.
“The Jackson doctors said the worst-case scenario was they would amputate,” Zander said. “I don’t remember a lot of it. I was on some strong drugs. I went into surgery and they put in a plate and four screws.”
He was out of action for the next few months, but he was able to keep his lower leg.
“The week before I rolled it, but I don’t think that was the problem, I just had bad hurdle form,” Zander said.
The surgery was successful. But as an active 15-year-old athlete, his summer was spent gingerly taking care of his injured leg.
“It took me a long time to walk,” Zander said. “I was on crutches all summer.”
The most difficult part of any orthopedic surgery is recovery. Around the time school started, Zander began physical therapy with a clinic in Jackson.
“They worked me hard,” Zander said. “It was the hardest workout I’ve ever done.”
He started with ankle circles, worked up to walking, and became familiar with an assortment of balancing and strength equipment at the Jackson facility. Physical therapy on the other side of Togwottee Pass took a big part of his day twice a week.
He left before dawn to make therapy fit his academic schedule.
“I had therapy at 7:30 in the morning,” Zander said. “I missed my first three classes twice a week.”
As he grew stronger and more confident, he started to think about football again.
“My parents tell me to go for it if I want to do something,” Zander said. “Moms are always a little nervous.”
He started going to football practice late in the season.
“I wasn’t 100 percent,” Zander said. “I couldn’t make a cut or run hard.”
He played more with each passing week and caught six passes against Ten Sleep. He finished the season with a touchdown and 174 total yards. He also had 29 unassisted and 11 assisted tackles, all while his leg continued to heal.
“Bootleg and running out of the pocket was tough,” Zander said. “It was frustrating.
The Rams’ playoff run ended in Baggs against the eventual state champion, Little Snake River, in the semifinals.
Zander had the entire winter to heal since he doesn’t play basketball or wrestle.
“Track was nerve-racking. My body was close to 100%,” Zander said. “The first four hurdles would go really good, then I’d get scared and five-step the rest of them.”
Five-stepping the high hurdles doesn’t get you many medals.
I’m better at the 110s than the 300s,” Zander said. “I’m more confident with them.”
A year after his injury, he returned to the same track in Shoshoni.
He finished second in the regional 110-meter-high hurdles with a time of 16.23 and advanced to the state finals. He was third in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles. At the state meet the following week in Casper, he finished fifth in both races.
Zander moved to Dubois just before his freshman year with his family from Sun Valley, Idaho. He has an older brother, Noah, who is 19, and a younger brother, Baylor, who is 12 and in 7th grade at Dubois.
He carries a weighted 4.1 grade point average and plans to graduate early.
“I unenrolled from Dubois and take classes online from the Cowboy Virtual Academy,” Zander said. “I plan to graduate on December 11.”
When not running track or playing football, Zander is helping his father build a new house. He is also an avid golfer, spending many afternoons at the Antelope Hills Golf Course in Dubois.
Zander’s post-high school plans start with going on a mission for his church.
He has plans to become an electrician.
“I don’t think college is for me,” Zander said. “I’m keeping my eyes open for opportunities. My parents are very supportive. They gave me everything I needed.”
For now, Zander has a final season of 6-man football playing quarterback for head coach Dan O’Brien and the Rams.
The story of Zander Hawkins’ disastrous injury and return to the field just a few months after a major break of both bones of his lower leg is the stuff of Hollywood, but it’s no movie. It’s simply the story of a tough, determined young man who won’t let happenstance stand in his way.