Track & Field : Illness only defense against Orange’s behemoth thrower Pribula

It’s hard to imagine anything stopping someone as big as Dan Pribula. But that’s exactly what a case of mononucleosis did, keeping the junior thrower out of practice and competition for three weeks.

After only two days of practice before the Big East Championships in Akron, Ohio, the 6-foot-6, 340-pound Pribula finished a surprising fifth in the shot put and was just six centimeters from finishing in the top three. Now that he has had two full weeks of practice the thrower from Strongsville, Ohio, is ready to have a top finish this weekend in the IC4A Championships in Boston.

After competing in the Penn State Nationals on Jan. 28, Pribula went to the training room to look for sore throat drops. When the trainers examined him, they told Pribula to see a doctor because it looked like he had mono.

At first Pribula did not mind getting some time off from working out every day, but he soon felt the effects from the sickness. Though the sickness passed fairly quickly, he was unable to return to the team right away.

‘Once I started feeling better, I automatically assumed I could get back into the swing of things,’ Pribula said.

Along with causing a sore throat and fatigue, mono enlarges the spleen and makes it vulnerable to rupture. The trainers would not allow Pribula to perform physical activities until they were certain he would not hurt himself.

The monotonous lifestyle of not going to practice or competing in events began to take its toll on Pribula. All he could do was watch television and do homework every day.

‘It was worse when I was physically fine, except they just wanted to give me a little more rest,’ Pribula said. ‘I was just sitting in my apartment anxious to get back into it.’

Even when Pribula was able to come back to the team, he was not able to practice as much as he wanted to. He had to hold back so he would not get sore or hurt himself from being inactive for so long.

Though Pribula was not particularly pleased with his performance in Akron, his coach was very impressed with how he responded to a tough situation. Assistant coach Enoch Borozinski was amazed Pribula did as well as he did considering his timing and strength were not ideal coming into the competition.

‘I’m proud of him,’ Borozinski said. ‘If he wouldn’t even have made finals, that would have been understandable.’

Pribula believes if he had at least a week to train before the conference championships, he would have fared a lot better. That is why he is so excited for the IC4A Championships.

This week, the track team had its first hard week of practice since the championships in Akron. Pribula said he is not back to where he was before getting sick but believes he is on the right track.

While Pribula said he would like to set a personal record this weekend, the distance of his throw would not determine if he was satisfied with his performance.

‘Last weekend I felt like I didn’t have everything,’ Pribula said. ‘I just want to come out and feel good about my throwing.’