Deeter races for her life
By KATHLEEN O'BRIEN
Assistant Sports Editor
When senior Irish runner JoAnna Deeter began her four years at Notre Dame, she had her sights set on winning national championships in cross country and track.
But to attain her goals, Deeter would have to do more than achieve greatness on the track. She would need to continue along the path to recovery from anorexia nervosa, a potentially deadly eating disorder which she said had a "dramatic effect" on her life.
"It's been a horrible thing," she said. "As a distance runner, you can fall into it really easily and it can progress really fast. It was seriously just a snowball effect."
Deeter thought that she had put her anorexia behind her, only to have it brought to the forefront this season as conflicts arose between her and team physicians over her treatment.
"Basically, the medical team worked with JoAnna," associate athletic director Tom Kelly said. "At a certain point, there became an impasse regarding their recommendations. We met with JoAnna and her parents, and again, the bottom line was the medical team's advice based on her welfare."
Earlier this year, Deeter appeared well on her way to her best season ever. She brought home individual titles in the adidas/Notre Dame Invitational and the National Catholic Invitational, and showed no signs of letting up.
Then, her race toward a national championship, the first ever by an Irish woman runner, came to a crashing halt.
The first obstacle was a sprained foot arch in mid-October. But a minor injury morphed into a season-stopping, if not college-career-ending injury.
Deeter was sent to physicians at University Health Services, who reopened a set of concerns about Deeter's eating disorder, which Deeter thought had been sealed.
As a scholarship athlete, she needed to receive clearance from the Notre Dame doctors to be allowed to compete. But as a recovering anorexic, Deeter had her own support system, including a psychologist, a nutritionist, trainers, doctors, coaches and her parents.
This fall, University physician's opinions conflicted with those of Deeter and her team.
"There were just some conflicts that couldn't be worked out, some personality conflicts, some conflicts with me feeling like University Health Services was not working with me," Deeter said. "They definitely had my best interests in mind in their mind, but not in my mind, and not in my family's mind, and not in my other people's mind.
"The conflict tried to be worked out for two weeks and just couldn't," she continued. "No one could come to an agreement, and I just felt like it was in my best interest to get out of the situation."
University Health Services wanted her to continue its method of treatment, while Deeter and her support team thought she no longer needed such an intense approach. They thought the University treatment might even threaten her recovery by bringing anorexia to the front of her mind when she had moved beyond constantly thinking about her eating.
"They wanted to continue more treatment, and I feel like I'm far enough along that I don't need that treatment any more," Deeter said. "And I felt like if I kept doing that treatment that it would push me back into anorexia.
"I'm fully recovered from anorexia," she added. "But this incident was hinging on pushing me back into anorexia and I didn't want to go that path. Running is not important enough to risk going back into anorexia. So that was the reason that I had to quit. They were forcing me to think about issues around anorexia that I didn't want to think about, that were not helping me to continue my progress."
Team physician Jim Moriarity, M.D., said the University attempts to focus on the welfare of the individual, rather than just her athletic ability. Because of Deeter's eating disorder, doctors had to be careful how they handled the situation.
"We have very specific concerns for athletes with eating disorders, and we have a whole protocol we go through," Moriarity said. "We try to individualize cases."
According to head trainer Jim Russ, team physicians have the sole responsibility of deciding whether an athlete competes.
"The physician has to make the medical decision, and a lot of times, those decisions are made with the athletes," Russ said. "It's not like it's a blind decision. If they object, we talk it through. It's open to discussion; some things are."
Running for her life
Deeter has not competed for the Irish since mid-October, and she will not race with the rest of her team at the NCAA Championships next week.
Although Deeter does not see herself returning to the Irish for track, she said about a 5 percent chance of returning exists.
"That door has not been closed [to JoAnna's return]," associate athletic director Tom Kelly said. "Clearly everyone wants her best interests at heart. Clearly she is a fine, fine athlete, and everyone would love to see her compete."
Deeter attended the district meet in Terre Haute, Ind., last weekend, to cheer on her friends and teammates.
"It's extremely disappointing. I thought that I could win an NCAA Championship this year, I really did," Deeter said. "I really felt like it was pulled from under my feet. So it's extremely disappointing, but like I said earlier, that balance is important in life. I did lose something that was dear to me, but I don't want this to happen to anyone else."
At districts, the team managed to qualify for nationals behind the performances of Klemmer and the rest of the Irish squad.
Deeter began displaying signs of an eating disorder during her junior year of high school. An all-state cross country runner and a four-time all-state track selection, Deeter developed her anorexia as an attempt to eat healthfully and to achieve her optimal performance. It soon took on a life of its own.
"Society's telling you that your optimal performance means that you eat bagels and Snackwell cookies and zero fat, and I thought, `Ooh, I'll do that,'" Deeter said, "And I did it and I wasn't getting enough fuel. And I didn't realize that it was taking me over."
Deeter's anorexia spiraled until she required hospitalization.
"It was a jump start, but I thought it was going to be the cure-all," Deeter said. "It definitely wasn't the cure-all, obviously, because that was my senior year of high school, and I struggled until the middle of my sophomore year in college."
Although many people recovering from eating disorders prefer to remain anonymous, Deeter chose to go public with her story, appearing in YM magazine and the USA Today.
"I realized how important it was that people start recognizing this in distance runners and recognizing it in the whole population," Deeter said. "People need to be informed —information about how horrible an eating disorder is and how much it can affect your life and how preventable it is. Not ever falling into it is the first step in prevention.
"I also didn't want people to look at pictures and see how good I was running and think, I want to be like that," Deeter added. "I wanted them to realize that was not the way to go. Through the whole recovery process, I wanted them to realize that I was recovering."
Since her hospitalization, Deeter has continued to fight against anorexia, growing tougher in the process.
"I've been through horrible things, but it's made me a very much stronger person," Deeter said. "You know, `Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.' That's a great quote."
A run-away winner
With the support of her family and coaches, Deeter developed into one of the top female runners at the collegiate level.
"For more than three years, I experienced the way the [the coaches] balanced the success of the team with what was best for me as I worked through many recovery issues," Deeter said. "If there was any question, they chose what was best for me."
As a freshman, she placed third at the NCAA Cross Country Championships to capture her first All-American honors.
She was again one of the top Irish cross country runners as a sophomore. That year, Deeter began to make her mark in track as well, performing well at the Big East Championships in the 3,000-meter run and qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Coaches Joe Piane and Connelly recognized Deeter's potential early on, and believed she would succeed if she could overcome her eating disorder.
"She has all the potential in the world," Piane, head cross country and track coach, said in April 1998. "She's a national-class athlete."
That same season, Connelly, the Notre Dame women's coach, told The Observer, "She's just a great competitor. She keeps driving herself to succeed. Obviously, she's been given a whole lot of ability, but she's not afraid to work and has overcome a whole lot of problems."
Last year, Deeter had a break-out season and was named an All-American in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.
By finishing 14th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, Deeter became the first repeat cross country All-American in Notre Dame history. She set school records in the 3,000-meters, 5,000-meters and 10,000-meters in outdoor track, finishing among the top four at nationals in the latter two distances.
Deeter places a premium on team success and unity over individual accolades, naming her selection as a team captain both in high school and college as her greatest achievement.
"You can stand up there and get an award on the podium, but that goes away so fast," Deeter said. "But if you're a leader, there's nothing better than that."
Deeter is no longer sure whether a competitive racing career, including the 2000 Olympic trials, is in her future. But she knows there is more to life than track.
"When I came here, I thought that if I ran well, I would be happy, and as the years went on, I realized they're totally separate things," Deeter said. "I think to be a champion, you have to realize that."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, November 18, 1999
