CHESTER — Zach Moyer suffered a devastating knee injury on Sept. 6, 2024 during a football game, and immediately thought about his favorite sport — track and field. 

The Chester High School junior sustained a left knee injury during the second game of the season. Moyer landed awkwardly when attempting a tackle along the sidelines and “I just felt the knee cave in and I didn’t really feel a pop. I just felt it locked and I knew something wasn’t right.”

Moyer described the injury as “a stabbing sensation,” and was in disbelief as he grabbed his knee. That’s when thoughts crept into his mind about his junior season of track and field. 

“I wasn’t really thinking of football in that moment,” Moyer said. “I was thinking of track. I was laying on a football field just thinking about track and how my future possibly just got altered.”

At the next day’s doctor visit, Moyer hoped for the best and feared for the worst. The MRI revealed Moyer tore his ACL, meniscus and partially tore his MCL. 

Moyer said he felt deflated when he was delivered the devastating news. 

“I didn’t really know what to think,” Moyer said. “It was just kind of like a loss of words. I was lost in the moment.”

But Moyer found positivity in attacking his rehab. He made a list of goals for himself, including regaining full extension of his knee, walking without crutches and then a brace. 

Moyer missed the basketball season, but continued to attack his physical therapy and asked his surgeon Dr. Nathan Skelley about competing in track and field this spring. 

“He’s like ‘I think there’s a higher risk of you tearing something again,’ ” Moyer said. “He’s just like ‘I don’t think you should do it.’ ” 

Moyer, however, progressed and Skelley’s opinion changed a month later. 

“I asked him again and he’s like ‘It would be one of the quickest recoveries I have ever seen,’ ” Moyer said.

Chester's Zach Moyer, right, hands the baton to Micah Oechsle, left, at the Dan Clarke Relays on May 22 in Bridgewater. (Ryan Deal / 605 Sports)
  

Moyer was cleared on May 12 to run and competed the next day at the Sioux Falls Roosevelt Quad. Nerves settled in as he stepped into the starting blocks, roughly eight months after sustaining the knee injury. 

“I was definitely a little nervous,” Moyer said. “Definitely feeling like I hope the knee holds up. I knew it wasn’t going to feel normal. I just was hoping everything was going to work out, but after the first race of each event that I did, my nerves kind of settled and I was like ‘OK, we are back. You have been here before.’ ”

He ran :17.57 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles at the quadrangular, and sliced his time to :16.64 seconds at the Dan Clarke Relays in Bridgewater on May 22. Moyer ran a :17.68 seconds the next day at the Arlington Last Chance Meet. 

But more than anything, Moyer was focused on clearing mental hurdles of competing again and improving his technique. 

“The first race, we were really just trying to finish,” Moyer said. “We were trying to get to the finish and get a time down, and so now that I have two other races under my belt, I’ve been able to get technique down a little bit better. The speed is not where it was last year or previous year — sprinting wise. But I am still feeling pretty quick. We just know there’s still work to do.”

Moyer’s time at the Dan Clarke Relays earned him the No. 10 seed entering the state track and field meet. He also runs the lead leg on Chester’s 400-meter relay team, which also qualified for state. 

Moyer’s first goal at the state meet is to qualify for the finals in the 110-meter hurdles, and said anything can happen from there.

“It’s the state track meet, in my opinion, it’s one of the best events that the state of South Dakota has all year,” Moyer said. “You get to watch so many things. So many great athletes and I just want to be a part of one of the good finals that occur on Saturday.” 

And it all culminates in a quick recovery after being told he wouldn’t be able to return so soon. 

“It just means the world to overcome the obstacles that I have had to overcome with the support that I have had around me,” Moyer said. “It’s just so rewarding to have that opportunity to do what I love again.”