From motorcycle accident to the Summit League meet, Gray fights through tragedy

Tristan Gray is a shot putter, discus and hammer thrower and the first in his family to go to college. He is making his way through life inspiring those around him by serving as a terrific example of taking on adversity and moving forward.

His South Dakota track and field teammates and coaches are witness to a reclamation project fueled in part by his ability to ignore pain.

“It’s been great to see the way he pushes himself,” said USD throws coach Kyle Long. “I don’t think he sees himself as an inspiration exactly, but it’s something that every other athlete we have can see. He’s been a great addition. It’s unfortunate what happened to him but he’s done a phenomenal job of taking care of the things that are in front of him and doing the best he can do.”

So what happened to this 2021 Nebraska high school shot put state champion from Omaha?

It started with a motorcycle ride home from work during the summer after a promising freshmen season at USD. On this day a car in front of him cut across six lanes of rush hour traffic on I-680 to get to an exit ramp and then, inexplicably, decided to stop.

Gray slammed into the side of the car at 70 miles an hour. Remarkably, he never actually fell off the bike because half his body went through the glass and was inside the car he had hit. Perhaps that was fortunate, but it was still a pretty grim scene.

“I blacked out but somehow I managed to stay on the bike,” Gray said. “When I came to, I could see my leg flapping in the wind.”
Gray had shattered his tibia and fibula. He was rushed to the hospital and had extensive reconstruction surgery the next morning. It would be a long, tough way back, he knew. He didn’t know how long, however, or how tough.

His rehab got off to a good start but infection ground the healing process to a halt -- the screws holding him together had started to push outside of his leg. His body began to shut down and he was in danger of losing his leg below the knee.

This led to a second major surgery where, in Gray’s words, “They took everything out of my leg and cleaned it out.”

They pumped him full of antibiotics around the clock to combat the infection but the complications continued, necessitating another attempt at reconstruction. For his third surgery he had the option of repeating what took place for the first surgery, or removing the persistently infected areas of his leg.

The latter option would mean a year-and-a-half recovery.

“I chose to put everything back in my leg,” Gray said. “Then I hoped and prayed it wouldn’t get infected again.”

Gray dropped out of school to focus on healing his body and sat in a recliner in the downstairs living room of his mother’s home for two months. Other than welcome weekly visits from his girlfriend, USD women’s thrower Kenzie Campbell, the days got pretty slow. To hear Gray tell it, two months in a recliner rivaled the three surgeries as bummers to avoid in his next life.

“My girlfriend came to visit every weekend and I really appreciated that,” Gray said. “One weekend we were going to watch my high school football team play a home game. It ended up being the highlight of my year. Just getting out of the house and being able to do that was memorable.”

His first step was getting back into school. By his own admission, he’d not been a very good student that freshman year. Regardless of whether he was able to get back into throwing the shot put, he was going to get better with the books. When the recovery from his injuries got a little less calamitous, he resolved to get better academically and start pestering his providers about resuming normal physical activities.

“My doctor probably hated me for it,” Gray said, laughing. “I was bugging her every single meeting – when was I going to be able to start pushing myself and working out again?”

Returning to the team became a target that would motivate him and help him endure the physical discomfort that has accompanied his climb back to what for him is now closer to normal.

The struggle continues to be real for Gray, but so is the progress.

At the recent indoor Summit League meet in Fargo, North Dakota, Gray finished fifth in the shot put and fifth in the weight throw, signaling a return to being a full-fledged contributor to the program. The Coyotes edged out North Dakota State on the Bison’s home turf to secure South Dakota’s second-straight team title. His weight throw effort of 59-11 (18.26m) was a personal record. Track meets often include dozens of PRs for competitors but it’s doubtful any of them meant more to an athlete than the PR in the weight throw meant to Gray.

“I was really down in the dumps about how I was doing until that throw,” Gray said. “My spark really came back. I was like, ‘You know, I’m still here. I can still do this.’”

Reminders of the accident and ensuing ordeal make regular visits via persistent pain. His knee was torn up, he’s had three surgeries on it, and it still hurts. He continues to deal with numbness in his lower leg and when he travels it swells up. He has been told he should anticipate a total knee replacement at some point and accompanying arthritis. The fight is far from over, in other words, but he will proceed knowing he has already taken on hardship and has done an inspiring job of enduring it.

“The big thing is that no matter what hand you’re dealt, you just gotta roll with the punches,” Gray said. “You have to make the best of it. I’ve had great support from the team, my parents and my girlfriend. They’ve been patient with me when I was pretty down.”

His throws coach wasn’t at USD when Gray first entered the program but has been part of the second half of his return to competition and his dramatic improvement has a student. The freshman that was in danger of washing out is now regularly making the dean’s list.

“The people on the team would always tell me about Tristan,” Long said. “It was always about what Tristan was. He was this, he was that. The more he chips away at it now, it’s no longer what Tristan was. It’s much more, ‘What can we accomplish as a group here?’ It’s great to see that happen.”