No quit in this Tiger, two ACLs later

As a three-sport athlete, it takes a lot to slow down Timberlake High senior Peyton Kronenberg.

She’d shined on the volleyball court, played on the varsity basketball team for the past three years and has also been a pole vaulter during track season.

Then, before she knew it, all that stopped.

KRONENBERG SUFFERED a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during a summer league basketball game.

“It definitely sucked,” Kronenberg said. “I knew when it happened my senior year was going to be different. I’d put a lot of time in to get better at basketball. Having to take that much time off had a big effect on me, because I’m not as quick as I used to be.”

Getting injured meant missing the entire volleyball season this year.

Kronenberg still attended all the volleyball games, but ....

“I really wish I could have been out there with them,” Kronenberg said. Timberlake went 1-2 at state in October at Mountain View High in Meridian.

YOU’D THINK tearing an ACL once would be enough.

However ...

“I re-tore it after surgery in December,” Kronenberg said. “It’s kind of hard to do a lot without it gimping out.”

And while Kronenberg is still not 100 percent, she’s playing for the Timberlake basketball team again — albeit sparingly.

“I’ve gotten a few minutes each game here and there,” Kronenberg said. “I didn’t want to re-hurt it, but have gradually been playing more and more. It’s kind of scary. I can’t do a lot of moves that I used to be able to do.”

Kronenberg mentioned a game against Kellogg, where a move toward the basket that she used to make, caused her to come out of a game.

“I was in a lot of pain, and it really hurt for a few days after,” Kronenberg said.

SO WITH all the nagging injuries, why keep going?

“Basketball has always been my favorite sport,” said Kronenberg, a reserve guard on state 3A championship teams in 2016 and ’17, and the third-place finisher last year. “I really don’t think I could have sat my entire senior year. I got to the point where I figured, ‘why not, and I just went for it.’”

Timberlake has been the top-ranked team in the state 3A girls basketball media poll for most of this season.

“We all get along really, really well,” Kronenberg said. “We still try to encourage each other, even though I’m not on the court as much because of my knee. We’ve got a lot of good team chemistry. We all know we’ve got to continue to work hard to get where we want to get.”

“She’s really tough and a really high-character kid,” Timberlake coach Matt Miller said. “We love having kids like her in our program. For her to have just a devastating injury, and fight through it, for her to still come to practice and work really hard, it’s a lot to ask.”

And that includes building on that offseason work she did before she was injured.

“Coach (Matt) Miller and I have had a lot of talks about how I’m going to have to adjust to what I can do on the court,” Kronenberg said. “Everything from when I get into the paint and what I do on the court in general, I might not be able to do anymore.”

While athletically, Kronenberg might not be scoring in double figures, or making that key steal in the final moments, one thing that hasn’t slowed is her dedication for her teammates.

That’s full speed ahead.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.