Character — and Grayslake Central's Brewster — never quit

When Grayslake Central cross country runner/trackster Will Brewster looked at an X-ray of his shattered right tibia nearly two years ago, the image resembled a haphazardly snipped chain of paper angels.

But it wasn't a heavenly sight.

“It looked,” Brewster recalled, “like someone had used scissors to cut up the bone into three pieces. A doctor asked me, ‘Did you get hit by a car?' ”

Brewster, now a senior, had not lost a battle with an auto as a sophomore in early 2010.

But he was driving fast, in a lane, right before the injury.

A lane on a Grayslake Central basketball court … in the fourth quarter of an intramural semifinal playoff game.

“I landed on my foot weird, really weird, after a layup,” added Brewster. “I felt, right away, vibration up and down my shin. I had to crawl to get out of the gym. Then I remember sitting on a chair, in a hallway.

“I also remember feeling the sharpest pain I'd ever felt in my life.”

His coaches — Jimmy Centella (cross country) and Brent Pitt (track) — had practically begged Brewster to skip the game.

“I told them not to worry,” Brewster said. “I promised them I wouldn't get hurt.”

The Ram broke a bone that day.

And a promise.

Tough day.

The next eight months: tougher. Brewster got a cast and had to use a wheelchair for a couple of months. Some doctors suggested surgery; others did not.

Brewster waited.

His tibia, somehow, healed on its own.

A doctor told Brewster's parents, Bill and Jodi, that their son would probably never run competitively again.

Bill and Jodi did not relay the opinion to Will, the No. 1 freshman cross country runner in the U.S. in 2008, as a member of the Belvidere Tornados Running Club. Brewster had also sped to eighth place, as a freshman, in the 3200-meter run (9:49.96) at the Class 2A track and field state meet in '09.

“That was tough, so frustrating, not being able to do anything for the longest time,” said the 5-foot-9, 135-pound Brewster. “That first week, after the injury, I stayed on a couch at home. Lived on it. I could eat only a little bowl of cereal each day, because of the medication I was taking. And I had a bell.

“I rang that bell when I needed something from my parents.”

He wouldn't hear the bang of a gun — the sound at the start of a cross country race — until a race before the Fox Valley Conference meet on October 2010, his junior season. Brewster finished third that day.

Among Rams.

“From No. 1 in the country to No. 3 on my team,” said Brewster, whose right leg, because of the break, is a tad shorter than his left leg. “Pretty humbling. But you know what? It changed me, this injury … changed me for the better.

“Faith is a big part of my life,” he added. “God took a backseat to running before the injury. Running is now No. 2.”

The No. 1 boys cross country team in Grayslake Central history is this fall's squad. The Rams qualified for state for the first time in program history at the Class 2A Belvidere Sectional on Oct. 29.

Grayslake Central took fifth at the sectional, with 208 points.

Burlington Central placed sixth, with 209 points.

Only five teams advanced to state from each sectional.

Brewster finished first among Rams and ninth overall (15:38), a week after topping the Antioch regional field in 16:06 and helping Grayslake Central capture the team championship.

Junior Kevin Boyle — Central's new No. 2 runner, after a leg stress fracture ended standout Luke Zygmunt's season — clocked a 16:18 at the sectional. Efforts from freshman Tommy Zygmunt (16:34), sophomore Kevin Orozco (16:37) and senior Daniel Glenn (16:50) also counted for Grayslake Central.

Glenn turned it on in the final 200 yards of the race at Belvidere High School, passing at least 10 racers. His impressive kick, essentially, prevented Burlington Central's team from competing at this weekend's state meet at Detweiller Park in Peoria.

Brewster's best kick to date this fall occurred Sept. 17, at the Warren Invite.

But he chose to kick off his kick early.

Really early.

“Will,” said Centella, “heard what his time was after 1 mile. He didn't like what he heard. So he took off, right then, with 2 miles left. Then he got way ahead of the field.”

Brewster crushed the field, winning the race by 14 seconds.

“That's Will … willing to take a risk and go after what he wants,” Centella said. “He showed the same desire and determination throughout his rehab, which wasn't easy for him. Will, for all those months, put so much time into stretching, strengthening that leg, icing it, heating it. He came early (to practice); he stayed late.

“Will,” he added, “wanted so badly to get healthy, to run well again.”

To win again, as well.

In September, nearly 19 months after team Rocket Power lost its best intramural hoopster and lost in the championship game, Brewster finished first in a cross country race. The previous spring, near the end of track season, his parents had relayed that doctor's gloomy opinion to him.

“Right after winning that race, I gave a little fist pump,” Brewster recalled. “I remember thinking, ‘Finally, I'm back.' I had proved people wrong, doctors wrong. Doctors, when they look at an injury, can't determine the desire, the character and the heart of the injured person. One of my favorite sayings is, ‘Character never quits.' ”

One of Brewster's biggest fans is Boyle, who knew Brewster had the necessary resolve to reign again in forest preserves and other kinds of cross country courses.

“Will showed people — a lot of people — what he's made of, as he came back the way he did,” said Boyle. “He was, basically, nothing after that injury. Now look at him, look at what he's doing for our team.

“Will,” he added, “likes to take things to the next level.”

Will Brewster, ranked fifth academically in his class, wants to run track and cross country in college.

And sprint, between visits with patients, as a doctor.

“I'm interested, really interested, in the medical field,” Brewster said. “The human body fascinates me, especially the way it heals.”