Samantha Cerio.Photo: Tony Gutierrez/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Samantha Cerio, the Auburn University gymnast whosuffered a devastating knee injurywhile competing, Friday, is on the mend after undergoing surgery.
Auburn head coach Jeff Graba said Cerio’s surgery was an “extreme success,” and that she is on the road to recovery.
“Sam’s surgery lasted two and a half hours and was an extreme success,” Graba wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “We know the road for full healing is going to be a long and difficult one, but we are confident that she’ll be able to make a complete recovery.”
Graba, Auburn’s head coach since 2010, previously said on social media that Cerio would undergo surgery Monday with Dr. James Andrews.
Cerio’s 18-year gymnastics career came to a tragic end Friday after she dislocated and tore ligaments in both of her knees while competing at the NCAA Regional Semifinal in Baton Rouge.
The 22-year-old student-athlete sustained the injuries after she touched down badly while doing a blind landing on a tumbling pass.
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Despite Cerio’s injury, her teammates went on to earn an overall score of 197.075 — the second-highest for the Tigers all season, theTimes-Picayunereported. It earned them a spot in Saturday’s regional final, according to theTimes-Picayune.
Cerio addressed the sudden end to her days as a gymnast in an Instagram post Sunday, writing that she “couldn’t be prouder of the person” gymnastics has made her.
“It’s taught me hard work, humility, integrity, and dedication, just to name a few. It’s given me challenges and road blocks that I would have never imagined that has tested who I am as a person,” she wrote. “It may not have ended the way I planned, but nothing ever goes as planned.”
The Huntersville, North Carolina, native is set to graduate Auburn in May with an aerospace engineering degree, and already has a job lined up at Boeing in Seattle.
source: people.com
