SThursday, August 8, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Greg Garno: From walk-on, to broken records,
to agony: Matt Campbell's tragic end to a career
Thursday, August 8, 2013
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
3
Researchers find
donor personality
a factor for patients
By GREG GARNO
Managing Sports Editor
This isn't the heartwarming
story you're looking for.
There's no climactic finish.
There's no record broken or lasting
legacy. There isn't even the agony
of defeat or coming within inches
of victory.
For Matt Campbell there were
tears shed, a surgery to sit through
and a moment in front of his com-
puter to follow what could have
.hcen his season.
But it needs to be told. Really, it
deserved to be told months ago.
After all, his story, according
to his biography on the Athletic
Department's website, ends like
this: "Helped the 4x100-meter
relay qualify for the finals (40.34)
before tearing his Achilles tendon
in the 200-meter prelims."
That's it. It's easy to glide over
that and not recognize the weight
and the gravity that it carries. Of
course it doesn't catch your eye
ight away - that someone tore
their Achilles. There are hundreds
of thousands of people who tear
their Achilles every year and the
injury is most common in runners.
But the former men's track
and field sprinter won't be able to
return. He wasn't even on the team
in August before he began run-
ning as a member of the team. And
he was so close to accomplishing
something he couldn't have imag-
ined.
Don't let me fool you into think-
ing his story is that of any other
walk-on. It doesn't end with
unimaginable dreams being real-
ized like so many other stories.
It's more than that.
Matt Campbell was fast com-
ing out of Rochester High School,
but he'll be the first to tell you he
wasn't "that fast." Even though he
was faster than many of his team-
mates in high school, he was still
just an above-average runner who
won two regional championships
in the 400-meter dash and was
named an All-State selection in the
4x100-meter relay.
Campbell didn't have the indi-
vidual accolades of a state champi-
onship, or school record in a sport
where the individual accolades
separate the best from the rest of
the pack. But he knew that his time
running wasn't up.
There wereother,smallerNCAA
Division III schools that offered
him an opportunity to run, but they
weren't what Campbell was look-
ing for. So, like thousands of other
students, he applied as a preferred
walk-on, and entered the program
that way.
"I just went for it," he said.
There was no scholarship
for Campbell and certainly no
acclaim when he entered school.
He ran during the indoor season
of his freshman year without turn-
ing heads, filling in wherever he
received a chance. He was red-
shirted his outdoor season.
Of course, that doesn't mean it
slowed him in the slightest.
"I justkept on looking at people I
wanted to be faster than, or people
I wanted to be like," Campbell said.
"I kept on trying to be like them."
Times dropped, top-10 finish-
es piled up, the number of races
increased and Campbell's impor-
tance jumped in the span of a year.
On a team that needed depth in its
sprint squadron, Campbell's charm
and never-ending work ethic made
him a natural selection to fill relay
teams or contested spots in open
'events.
"You want to come to prac-
tice every day when you see Matt
Campbell," said former Michigan
coach Fred LaPlante. "He's atten-
tive, he's going to listen, he gets
your message, he's not afraid to ask
questions, he's going to support his
teammates. All the things that you
want."
By the end of his junior year,
still a redshirt sophomore in the
outdoor season, Campbell had
qualified for the NCAA Outdoor
Championships as a member of the
4x100-meter relay. The team fin-
ished with an All-American hon-
orable mention, but no matter - it
was already more than he was sup-
posed to contribute.
And he continued to contribute
as a leader. Not as the vocal, in-
your-face leader, but the one that
told you the truth and then led by
example.
Against Ohio State, also known
as "The Dual," you could see what
made Campbell such a polar-
izing leader. After winning the
CSG
From Page 1
Mays said while he did not
dispute Proppe's executive powers
to establish new commissions, he
believed that convening available
assembly members to discuss
commission matters would have
been appropriate given the history
between the two parties.
However, recent developments
have proven the executive commis-
sions to be open to Senate Assembly
input. Through a new provision that
allows studentsto pitch ideas for the
creation of new commissions, Mays
will be working with Proppe to
establish a commission that would
encourage more University interac-
tion with the Detroit area. ,
Wednesday, the Executive
Board opened up applications for
Commission Chair positions.
Hays said forUM would work
with the board to nominate suitable
candidates for the positions.
"We're going to have an open,
positive dialogue about this," Hays
said. "That's what forUM's all
about and that's what we've always
wanted to do - have transparency
in government."
Moving forward, Proppe said
meetings will need to be held to
determine whether last year will
be considered a valid year for the
expired commissions.
"We'll work to correct and move
forward," Proppe said. "We can't
change what happened (last year)
but I'm really happy to work with
the Commission chairs."
COURTESY OF FACEBOOK
200-meter dash, Campbell jogged
around the building to cool down
like the other competitors. Yet
Campbell wasn't cooling down, but
warming up for his final race of the
day - the 4x400-meter relay.
As he battled fatigue, Campbell
bolted out of the starting blocks
with 30 minutes of rest. His legs
chugging in short steps like the
earlier race, and Campbell held on
to second place, hoping to hit the
second gear. But the second gear
wasn't enough and Campbell fell
behind.
He continued to swing his arms,
the grimace across his face failing
to acknowledge defeat. The time to
quit would have been well before
the race started, when the Buck-
eyes had wrapped up the meet, but
there was Campbell, running on
fumes.
Exasperated, he stretched his
arm to pass the baton, and cheered
for the rest of the relay. His team-
mates watched on.
"If you work hard, it's just one
less variable in how good you're
going to be," LaPlante said. "There
are a lot of great instances out
there, and to point those out to the
team - he's just a great example for
people."
16 ***
Michigan's 4x100-meter relay
record was set in 1978, when Doug
Hennigar, Charles CroutherArnett
Chisholm and James Grace ran a
39.92. The next two fastest times
were run in 40 seconds or slower.
Matt Campbell and the 4x100-
meter relay team were three-tenths
of a second away from breaking
that record.
He led the 4x100-meter relay
through the season, perfecting the
exchange of the baton, the timing
of his first step and the lunge at
the end. Campbell and his team-
mates - sophomore Codie Nolan,
senior Aaron Taylor and junior
Justin Clarke - had dropped time
slowly and steadily along a path set
to break the record as the season
wound down.
For many, the Big Ten Out-
door Championships in Columbus
would be the last chance to com-
pete for the year. For Campbell
and the 4x100-meter relay, it was
a stepping stone before the NCAA
preliminary meet and the NCAA
Outdoor Championships. Two
races before a shot at scoring points
on the national stage and three
total to break the school record.
Pain is inevitable in track.
Campbell wasn't surprised
when he started feeling pain in
his Achilles during the season. It
became chronic, but nothing he
hadn't felt before.
He sat down in the starting
blocks for the preliminary heat of
the 200-meter dash at the Big Ten
championships, in spite of the pain,
after successfully qualifying in the
4x100-meter relay earlier.
"I was confident it wasn't going
to be a problem at Big Tens," Camp-
bell said. "It hurt after the 4x100,
but I was loosened it up and was
ready to go."
So he went on it. Out of the start-
ing blocks he came, pushing off just
as the gun sounded - just as years
of experience had taught him.
Around the turn he came, running
near the front of the pack, his right
arm swinging harder for balance
with the short breathes.
"Then, I feel someone kick me
in the back of my foot," Campbell
said. "I'm suddenly tumbling for-
ward and I'm on the ground. I'm
hitting the ground angry, asking,
'Who is the person that kicked meT'
"Then I tried to get up."
There was a tingling pain;
something didn't feel right as the
trainers rushed to the track. They
picked him up and carried him off
to the side. His teammates ran to
the track to see.
Confused and frustrated, Camp-
bell waited until the trainer work-
ing for the Buckeyes informed him
hehadtornhisleft Achillestendon.
His own trainer was too afraid to
pass on the bad news to an.upset
athlete.
He was done for the year. His
career had ended without being
See CAMPBELL, Page 11
Survey shows organ
recipients more likely
to prefer givers with
similar characteristics
By ARIANA ASSAF
Daily StaffReporter
It's not every day that a Sher-
lock Holmes story inspires an
important psychological study.
When University researchers
began discussing "The Adven-
ture of the Creeping Man," in
which a youth-seeking professor
starts acting like a monkey after
using a drug derived from mon-
keys, they became interested in
the belief that inner bodily sub-
stances can affect personality
characteristics.
Researchers from the Depart-
ment of Psychology studied how
people felt about receiving an
organ donation from someone
who is different from them in
any way, and examined whether
they believed receiving an organ
could change a recipient's per-
sonality traits to be more similar
to that of a donor.
Psychology Prof. Susan
Gelman said her team were
particularly 'interested in
how responses from Indians
and Americans might differ,
because of the heightened
cultural concerns surrounding
contamination in India and
the country's history with
transplant operations.
"There was a period of time
where you could pay to get a
transplant, and that led to ter-
rible situations where somebody
might give up an organ just for
the money," Gelman said.
She also said the team expect-
ed India's rigid caste system to
affect thoughts on transplants
more so than in a country like
the United States. However,
there were more similarities
than expected between respon-
dents from both countries.
Participants were asked -to
rank the desirability of a given
organ donor based on Character-
istics such as gender, age, back-
ground and sexual orientation.
They were also asked if they
were looking for characteristics
they see in themselves - positive
or negative - and were asked
to state their beliefs concern-
ing whether or not a transplant
would cause a recipient's per-
sonality or behavior to become
more like that of their donor.
Ultimately, the study found
that people are not in favor of
receiving an organ from a per-
son who is different from them,
or from someone who they per-
ceive as having negative charac-
teristics. The desire to.receive a
donation from a similar person
appeared to be the most wide-
spread, but receiving a donation
from a perceived "good" person
was also an acceptable option.
A blood transfusion scenario
yielded similar results: the study
showed that people much prefer
to receive blood from someone
who is similar to them.
"This was interesting, and
surprising," Meyer said. "Blood
transfusions are pretty common,
but people have this sort of
discomfort about getting blood
from someone different from
them."
The researchers noted that
neither the gender nor country
of origin of participants seemed
to be differentiating factors. The
same beliefs were found equally
in men, women, Indians and
Americans.
Gelman said the question that
yielded the strongest opinions
were related to cross-species
transplants.
"Animaltransplantswere seen
as particularly troublesome,"
she said.
Though the transplant of a
full animal organ into a human
has never been done successfully
and is still a heavily debated topic
in the medical field, Gelman said
receiving even part of an organ
- like a heart valve from a pig -
was generally looked down upon
by participants.
Rackham student Sarah
Stilwell, who also co-authored
the study, wrote in an e-mail
interview that that there are
upsides and downsides to
xenotransplantation, or animal-
to-human transplants.
"There are a ,tremendous
amount of individuals in need
of transplants, but a widespread
human organ shortage in clinical
implantation," she wrote.
"However, there is a very high
risk of organ rejection due to
the foreign animal tissue being
rejected by the body's immune
system, even with anti-rejection
medication."
With the final publication of
this study, the team is moving
on to examine these beliefs in
children.
"Children lack formal scien-
tific knowledge that would be
incompatible with intuitions
about transplants," Meyer said.
While participants were
asked to provide demographic
information, the study did not
take into consideration medical
past. Namely, it did not pointedly
examine how beliefs change
when a person is actually in need
of a transplant or has received a
transplant.
Small samples of people who
have had organ transplants
have reported that these
people experience "a nagging
worry" that they will take on
characteristics of their donor.
Gelman said behavioral
changes can result from having
a major surgery more so than the
actual organ.
"We don't think there's any
good evidence for it, but just
because there's no evidence
doesn't mean that it's not true."