For most college athletes, playing a sport at the collegiate level has been a life-long goal. They spent countless hours practicing and preparing for the opportunity to suit up for a college team. But four seasons of college athletics also marks the end of the road for the majority of athletes who began that trek with a catch with their dad or by playing a game of magnet-ball in the park. Participating in college athletics is, at best, an emotional roller coaster.

For Amherst athletes, there is an additional factor: academics. Successful Jeffs didn't spend their entire childhood shooting hoops or running laps; they were also serious bookworms. Amherst athletes have devoted their lives to being outstanding students; that they are still able to compete as members of some of the most elite athletic programs in the country speaks volumes for their athletic passion.

Since the finish line for nearly all Jeffs is their senior season, one can imagine the frustration and devastation that ensues when an injury forces them to sit out that final stanza. This scenario unfortunately unfolded for two Amherst stars-Ian Lovett '07E and Ray Corrigan '06-but both have found a way to fulfill their athletic dreams while maintaining their high academic standards.

Lovett and Corrigan each were eligible for a medical red shirt waiver after catastrophic injuries prevented them from participating in 33 percent of their games. However, since Amherst won't allow students to enroll for an extra semester, the only way for Lovett and Corrigan to return for their final season of athletic eligibility was to take time away from the College. This was not a simple decision to make, as it required Lovett and Corrigan to give up graduating with their respective classes, and didn't guarantee that these athletes would be in their typical peak athletic shape when they returned.

Because this is such a difficult decision for Amherst students to make, Amherst rarely has athletes that choose to red-shirt. For example, before the fall 2002 season Katharine Shipley '03, a senior co-captain for the women's soccer team, was a leading candidate for All-America honors. However, she broke her leg in the first five minutes of the first scrimmage. "She could have made the decision to play again, but she decided to finish with her class," said former women's soccer head coach and current Senior Woman's Administrator Michelle Morgan.

Corrigan and Lovett each had very similar experiences, but chose the less-popular option of postponing their academic careers. "What you find out when you get older is you have a lot of time and you should do what you want to do when you can," said Co-Interim Athletic Director and Head Coach of the men's basketball team David Hixon '75. "I admire kids for putting themselves through the physical pain of coming back."

And that is exactly what Corrigan and Lovett have done.

Corrigan, a co-captain on the men's basketball team, suffered a debilitating injury in just the third game of his senior season. He drove to the hoop for a lay-up, and on his way down he landed in a heap, clutching his ankle. Corrigan's Achilles tendon was completely ruptured.

It seemed obvious that Corrigan's season, and presumably his career, was over. "It was devastating," Corrigan said. "It took a while to get over."

A ruptured Achilles tendon is as serious as injuries come. Corrigan needed surgery to reconnect the tendon. After the surgery, the floor general had to work hard to restretch the shortened tendon to its normal length. Because this injury was so severe, it was particularly difficult to make the decision to come back this year.

"First of all, he wanted to graduated with his class, and second there was no guarantee that his rehab would be successful," said Hixon. "I had Ray and his mom and dad and the arthroscopic surgeon in the room to talk about the down and upsides of returning."

Once he decided to use his final season of eligibility, Corrigan was much more focused.

"It made it a lot easier to deal with the injury knowing that I would be coming back," he said. "It also helped me to rehab much harder."

The rehabilitation process took a full year. Meanwhile, Corrigan, a resident of Queens, got a job working for a law firm in Manhattan. After being away from Amherst for two semesters, Corrigan returned this spring. He rejoined the team on its Interterm trip to California and has been playing with the squad ever since. "He gets better with every week," said Hixon.

Despite the complexity of the decision, Corrigan feels it was the right choice. "I am very happy with my decision to come back," he said.

Lovett, who was a senior co-captain for the men's soccer team this past fall, was injured on the final night of the team's preseason trip to Europe. "Our last night there, we took advantage of one of the many large, open fields on the Chateau grounds to play a midnight game of capture the flag," said Lovett. "Aided by the darkness, I [found] one of the many stone walls on the Chateau grounds [by running] blindly into it at full speed. One of the stones pierced just above my knee, which bled pretty heavily. I assumed I just needed some stitches, but when we got to the hospital, they told me I 'touched' the tendon."

Lovett tore his left quadriceps tendon, which is an uncommon injury among young athletes. He had surgery the following morning, stayed in a French hospital for a week, and for over five weeks his knee was totally immobilized.

Finally, Lovett got the green light to start rebuilding. "I slowly started working to regain range of motion and strength in the quad muscle," he explained. "The strengthening stuff I didn't mind: all sorts of one legged lifting, etc. But range of motion therapy is brutal. It's essentially an exercise in how much pain you can endure. You bend it as much as you can, and then you force it to bend a little more."

The recovery wasn't immediate, but Lovett progressed enough to practice soccer-albeit with soreness-by late October. He had to decide if he was going to try to force a comeback for the 2005 season. "I wasn't at my best, but even so, I was a captain, and I thought I could help the team," he said.

But according to Head Coach Milton Gooding, Lovett was already helping the team. "Ian was there to help on and off the field," said Gooding. "He is an extremely strong student and he provided a good role model for the younger players, proving they could succeed at a very high level both academically and athletically."

In the end, Lovett decided to take this spring semester off and finish both his academic and athletic career next fall. "This was probably [going] to be my last season ever of seriously competitive soccer-something I'd always had since I was five years old. I realized I would regret not graduating with my class, but I would regret not having a full season, playing at full strength, much more," said Lovett. "I had been pretty depressed early in the semester; I didn't want to do anything except the one thing I couldn't do, and that was play soccer. Once I decided to red shirt, I felt much better, I felt fully like myself for the first time since I'd gotten hurt."

During this time away from Amherst, Lovett is doing the two things he has been doing his entire life: going to school and playing soccer. He has moved to Los Angeles, Calif. where he is taking a class at UCLA, working as a youth coach and playing soccer.

Although being injured and giving up a season certainly wasn't ideal, Lovett has managed to find the silver lining. "There have been a number of positives I've taken away from this injury. Namely, I had been dreading giving up competitive soccer. I couldn't really imagine life without it, since I've played basically since I can remember," he said. "I've learned that there are a lot of other things I can throw myself into and enjoy. There were things I had been missing out on because of my devotion to soccer. This isn't to say that it won't sting when my season-and probably my career-ends next fall. But I think I'm more prepared for it, and the prospect doesn't fill me with the same doom and gloom feelings it once did."

The medical red-shirt option is seldomly used at Div. III schools such as Amherst, but it provides student-athletes the opportunity to achieve their life-long athletic and academic goals.