Sanford High senior Delaney Tanguay is happiest when she’s swimming. And she’s not going to let anything keep her out of the pool.

Not even a serious knee injury that has required two surgeries.

Tanguay, who also plays lacrosse, has been the Spartans’ swim team captain for two years and is being recruited by several NCAA Division III programs in Pennsylvania.

Q: How long have you been swimming?

A: Ten years. I’ve always been a member of the (Sanford YMCA). My mom used to do music and movement classes here. I did water babies. I did swim lessons. I just naturally went into swimming and stuck with it.

Q: And is having success at swimming at a young age part of why you love it?

A: It was definitely a nice thing to be successful, but there’s that team/family thing that kept me here, always having someone you can count on, always having a coach who has your back. And it’s also very nice to have individual goals. Like, I love my team sports but it’s nice to have a sport where you can individually know you’re getting better.

Q: Let’s talk about the knee injury. I hear you injured it while … ?

A: I was playing tag with my cousins at my grandma’s in Pennsylvania and I jumped down four steps off her porch. I dislocated my knee, chipped my kneecap and tore my patella sleeve.

Q: What happened next?

A: I went to the ER that night, then we left for Maine the next day. The day after that we immediately went to a doctor and within the next week we were in surgery.

Q: When did this happen?

A: The last week in August (in 2017).

Q: So you missed field hockey but rehabbed and were back in time for swimming?

A: Originally the doctor said they weren’t sure I would make it back into the pool until February, and that was bad news. Southwesterns are in February. States are in February. I was basically going to miss my whole season. I ended up being able to get back into the pool in late November. It was baby steps but it was great to be back in the pool.

Q: How did you recover so fast?

A: It was healing a lot quicker than they thought and the PT was working wonders. The scars were all healed and it was a matter of me being able to push through the pain and get back in.

Q: But you needed a second surgery?

A: Actually just four to five weeks ago. It was doing great. I had my lacrosse season last year. We had stopped the PT. It was feeling better. Then I think I hit it at some point in the summer and it started hurting again, a lot. I tried to ignore it and let it go. We ended up going back to the doctor took an X-ray and found that a chunk of my knee cap was still stuck in my knee and the fatty pad (that lies below the knee cap) was swollen and being pinched. We tried six weeks of physical therapy, went back, and nothing was better. It was still hurting to do all the simple things. So we scheduled surgery, took out the chunk of kneecap, took out some of my fatty pad, and took out a bit of the scar tissue that was there.

Q: And you’re in the pool faster than expected?

A: I was not supposed to be going this hard, but the doctor said it’s up to me. If I want to push through the pain, then I can. And that’s my goal, to push through it a little bit.

Q: What does the future hold?

A: I want to go to school for occupational therapy. Maybe swim, maybe not. I’d love to do a sport. That’s how I meet my friends; that’s how I have a social life.

Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or:

mlowe@pressherald.com

Twitter: MikeLowePPH

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