Throughout the past six months, Mackenzie Caquatto’s ankles have been on a roller-coaster ride.
Caquatto, a sophomore, has struggled with severe pain from a bilateral ankle sprain she suffered in September during the final selection camp for the 2011 U.S. world team. She sprained and tore ligaments in both of her ankles after landing short on a double-pike dismount on balance beam.
The ankle injuries held her out for four months and have hampered her progress on multiple events. As an uneven bars and beam specialist her freshman year, she has been limited to only eight appearances on bars this season.
“I know she’s in a tremendous amount of pain,” coach Rhonda Faehn said. “They’re hurting, they’re bruised and they’re sore. She’s just tough.”
When Caquatto returned on bars in late January, she made an immediate impact, winning four straight titles from Jan. 27 to Feb. 17 and averaging a 9.92 within that span.
Then, UF experimented with Caquatto on beam exhibitions against Auburn and Georgia. But the result wasn’t too promising.
“If she would take a short landing on beam, she would re-aggravate it all over again,” Faehn said. “That’s why we decided we’re going to shut down the beam and focus on letting her heal.”
Due to the pounding from beam dismounts, Caquatto experienced a reoccurrence of intense discomfort in her ankles and sat out Florida’s final regular-season home meet against Utah on March 16.
The week before, she received platelet-rich plasma injections in her ankles in hopes of healing them quickly before the postseason.
“She was just having so much pain that we really just felt with the trainers and the doctors that [the PRP injection therapy] was something she’d be able to benefit from,” Faehn said. “We opted to do it to see if it helps take some of the inflammation away and ease her pain a little bit.”
The therapy proved to be effective as Caquatto bounced back at the Southeastern Conference Championships the next weekend. In an under-the-radar performance, she posted an impressive 9.9 on bars after hitting most of her handstands and sticking her dismount.
Caquatto, who only practiced two bars dismounts leading up to the competition, tied for second place behind only UF sophomore Alaina Johnson (9.925).
“I did one of my best bars routines this season,” Caquatto said. “After my ankles, it’s especially that much better because it’s been a hard and long process coming back.”
Faehn said Caquatto would only see bars again when No. 1 Florida heads to the NCAA Regional on April 7 in the Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C.
After being named to the All-SEC Gymnastics Second Team, her first SEC yearly honor, Caquatto will enter next Saturday’s meet with her head held high.
“She’s just a fighter,” Faehn said. “She’s not going to let [her ankle injuries] affect her mentally. She’s pushing through and making the absolute best of the situation.”
Mackenzie Caquatto sticks a dismount in a quad meet Jan. 27. She rebounded from ankle pain to post 9.9 on bars at the SEC Championship.
