Publication:Idaho State;

Date:Mar 22, 2000;

Section:Undefined;

Page Number:1

ISU pole vaulters surgery successful

By The Journal Staff



    RENO, Nev. Ricci Kilgore, the Idaho State University freshman pole vaulter who was injured in a car accident on Sunday as she and two other freshman athletes returned home from a trip to Reno, Nev., underwent surgery Tuesday morning to relieve pressure on the injured part of her broken back.

    The surgery was termed a success by hospital medical staff. Feeling was restored throughout her legs and the medical team that performed the operation said she should regain full use of her legs.

    Kilgore, who attended Reno High School, was driving back to Pocatello with Nick Herald and Paul Litchfield, when their van encountered black ice about a mile east of the I-84/I-86 junction and flipped.

    Kilgore, who was sent out of the back window of the van, was thrown 30 feet and broke her back upon impact. The affected vertebrae is located in the lumbar region, almost straight back from the belly button. Herald, who was driving, and Litchfield did not require medical attention.

    Kilgore was taken to Cassia Hospital in Burley, Idaho, then Life-Flighted to Washoe Medical Center in Reno.

    Her surgery began at 11 a.m. local time and entailed cleaning out the bone fragments from the ruptured vertebrae, straightening out the two vertebrae above the injured one to relieve pressure, and grafting bone from her hip to reconstruct the damaged segment.

    Paul Heglar, her high school track coach, said that everything could not have gone better, regarding the surgery Tuesday.