Senior Justin Wood Continues to Excel After Heart Surgery

Justin Wood photo courtesy of Trackshark.com.

If one were to look at Seton Hall senior Justin Wood’s cross country performances this season, they would see a runner having one of the most successful years in the school’s recent history who is constantly improving in just his second season at the NCAA Division I level. What is not apparent, but what makes it all even more impressive, is that Wood began this season only six months removed from undergoing an operation to repair a hole in his heart.

Wood has won two cross country meets this year, and was Seton Hall’s top-finisher at the BIG EAST Championship last week. In March of 2005 his racing future was placed in jeopardy, when he was told he would need to have surgery to correct a condition known as atrial septal defect, a malformation of the developing heart that interrupts blood flow to the body.

Wood transferred to Seton Hall from NCAA Division III SUNY-Delhi in the fall of 2004. He had two stellar years there, helping lead SUNY-Delhi to the 2002 Junior College National Cross Country Championship and the 2004 Junior College National Outdoor Track Championship where he was named the Most Valuable Track Athlete.

After transferring, Wood made an immediate impact at Seton Hall, becoming the school’s most consistent cross country runner, leading the team with a 52nd place finish at the BIG EAST Championship meet, and coming in 11th at the ECAC/IC4A Championships.

Wood also ran middle distance for the track team, and he continued to excel once the indoor season started, winning the 3,000-meter run at the Seton Hall Open in December and following that up with a pair of second-place finishes, in the 1,000-meter run at the Fordham Invitational, and in the mile run at the Great Dane Classic. He also ran a 4:11.99 mile at the Boston University Invitational.

However, it was around the time of the Boston meet that Wood began to notice several physical changes following his races. He felt faint, he was vomiting and he was having trouble breathing. Wood’s problems were normally indicative of insufficient training, but he knew he was in good enough shape to avoid being hindered by such pitfalls.

“For the work I had done and the fitness that I had, I just wasn’t able to compete and something wasn’t right,” Wood said.

“When it first started happening, as a coach, you don’t know what the problem is,” Clinton Bell, Seton Hall’s assistant track coach for cross country and distance, said. “You just know that according to his training, he shouldn’t be having these kinds of problems, he’s in better shape than this. As a coach you try to figure out is it over training, is he sick, what is the problem?”

Wood continued to compete, initially thinking the issue may be mononucleosis or a vitamin deficiency, but the problems simply would not subside. Throughout the indoor season he underwent several tests, including a pulmonary and heart test, and eventually the source of the problem was determined: he had a hole in his heart.

The dime-sized hole in Wood’s heart was pumping blood into his lungs instead of to the rest of his body. Wood had the atrial septal defect since he was a child, but symptoms are usually not recognized until adulthood. He was recommended to Dr. Robert J. Sommer, a CHD expert, who explained to Wood what kind of operation he would need to undergo and the risks associated with not fixing the problem.

“I was concerned, but fortunately I was referred to Dr. Sommer, who is supposed to be the best doctor in the United States for doing this procedure,” Wood said. “He made me feel really confident, told me everything that he was going to do, which made everything much better.”

What Dr. Sommer told Wood is that he would have to endure a procedure called interventional catheterization, which consisted of entering a coronary artery in his leg and following it up to the heart, where a balloon/stent would be used to close the hole. Having the surgery would reduce Wood’s chances of heart disease, stroke or heart attack by 60 percent, and without it, by the time he was 35 he would be unable to walk up a flight of stairs without becoming short of breath.

In March, after the indoor track season, Wood underwent the operation, with a full recovery expected, and considering the magnitude of the problem, surprisingly only expecting to miss a few weeks of training.

“We understood the whole process and so we weren’t too worried going into the surgery because we felt very comfortable with what the doctor was saying,” Bell said. “That it’s pretty much a quick patch-up and that once it’s done it’s done.”

Wood’s surgery was successful, and after only two weeks he was running again. He did sit out the outdoor track season, but because the operation did not keep him from continuing to run, he did not lose a lot of aerobic conditioning.

“I spent my entire summer working and running,” Wood said. “I ran over 1,000 miles before I got to school, from May to August, I was running every day. I took maybe six days off in the four months. So I was excited to see what I would do when I raced.”

The intense training has certainly paid off. Wood has won two cross country meets this fall, the season-opening Wagner Invitational on Sept. 10, and the George Washington Invitational on Sept. 24. He narrowly missed his third title, with a fifth-place finish at the Lafayette Invitational on Oct. 15.

Most recently, Wood finished in 33rd place at the BIG EAST Championships, running only 40 seconds behind the time he needed to make the All-BIG EAST Team, and finishing 19 spots higher than he did a year ago.

Although the cross country success has been nice, according to Wood his best efforts are yet to come. With track season right around the corner, he has fully recovered from his heart condition and expects to improve as the year goes on. Bell said that his goals for Wood are very lofty, hoping that he can qualify for nationals at the end of the year.

“He’s training well and in my opinion he’s a four-minute-miler - if not faster,” Bell said. “If a healthier heart is any indicator of how he’s going to do, then hopefully we are going to get the maximum achievements out of him.”

Wood knows that he has put in the training he needs to continue to excel, and is looking forward to finally taking full-advantage of the opportunities he expected Seton Hall could provide him when he transferred over a year ago.

“I really set myself up to have a great track season with all the work I put in this summer, I am in a great position to run fast,” Wood said.

By Vincent Novicki
Sports Information Intern

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