Georgia freshman gymnast tears Achilles ahead of Friday’s meet, out for season
Georgia freshman gymnast Amanda Cashman suffered a torn Achilles and is out for the season.
Cashman is the second GymDog to suffer the season-ending injury this season. Rachel Dickson, who also suffered a broken ankle, went down prior to the team’s season-opening meet Jan. 1.
She was seen during Friday’s meet at Stegeman Coliseum — which Georgia (7-5) scored a 197.075 to beat Ball State and Eastern Michigan — in a leg cast and crutches.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s hard,” senior Sabrina Vega said. “You don’t want to lose a teammate to injury. Especially a freshman, because she’s so young and was gaining those experiences of competing in Stegeman.”
Cashman’s injury happened during Thursday’s intrasquad on floor exercise. She was supposed to only perform one tumbling pass, head coach Courtney Kupets Carter said. Cashman felt good and wanted to do more — then the muscle tore.
Cashman has dealt with a lingering injury over recent weeks, but it was one that Kupets Carter continued to reference as a “calf strain” along with some shin issues. She competed on uneven bars, scoring a 9.725, in the loss to Arkansas on Feb. 7.
The week prior, Cashman competed on vault, floor and bars against Auburn. She had emerged as a viable option for the floor exercise lineup after the Feb. 2 meet after scoring a career-high 9.925 on floor and competing in three events in consecutive weeks.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Kupets Carter said. “The nature of the injury is difficult to track. These kids fight. It’s hard to have it happen a second time to this team. We have to keep moving. Cash rallied and was around the entire time.”
As of Tuesday, Kupets Carter seemed precautionary with Cashman, but didn’t have a pessimistic demeanor. She indicated that the GymDogs would be careful with resting Cashman, and also keep her vault routine at a Yurchenko full rather than increasing start value.
Georgia and athletic trainer Doug Contaoi had a plan to manage Cashman’s workload. The GymDogs based it off of the freshman’s tolerance and ability to perform effectively. At times, however, there’s an uncontrollable factor.
“It was sore in that area the whole time, and I liked to say calf rather than Achilles,” Kupets Carter said, in regard to referencing the injury as “calf.” “I don’t like to use the word. It’s from tightness when you compete, and you never really know except for the individual and what that pain feels like.”
Georgia had to shuffle its lineups again in Cashman’s absence, and added a flurry of changes ahead of the tri-meet against Ball State and Eastern Michigan. Emily Schild returned to the uneven bars lineup, Sabrina Vega performed all-around for the first time since Jan. 10, Sterlyn Austin was slated to make her GymDog debut on floor exercise and Soraya Hawthorne made her debut on balance beam after previously specializing on vault and floor.
After suffering another Achilles tear, Georgia finds itself in a rare state of adversity. But it knows depth plays to its advantage.
“We have to focus on the positives,” Vega said. “We have each other’s backs and must be there for each other.”
This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 8:00 PM with the headline "Georgia freshman gymnast tears Achilles ahead of Friday’s meet, out for season."