By MATT GOLDBERG

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

It's strange how a vivid memory can occur on such a foggy night.

Jessica Deters will never forget one particular trip down Highway 6 in Durham, Mo.

One second she was heading eastbound alone.

In a blink of an eye, another vehicle heading in the opposite direction -- attempting a pass in the low-visibility conditions -- changed Deters' life.

The first Emergency Medical Technician on the scene of the head-on collision assumed the worst when he found Deters crushed inside the wreckage.

Knowing every second was crucial, the EMT requested a helicopter to rush her to Quincy.

The heavy fog, however, kept the AirVac grounded.

Deters is used to racing for Highland on an oval track in 400-meter intervals. But on Dec. 21, 2006, the finish line stood 17 miles away in a Quincy emergency room.

Deters didn't have much time to spare.

It was the most important race of her life.

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"I was screaming, because I hurt so bad," said Deters, who was diagnosed with a fractured rib, concussion, torn muscles which used to connect her spine to her clavicle and a severely dislocated right shoulder -- miraculously avoiding any life-threatening injuries.

The accident forced her to spend Christmas 2006 in the hospital. Reconstructive shoulder surgery in September 2007 forced her to miss her senior homecoming weekend.

But Deters drew the line there -- refusing to have her senior track season taken away from her this spring.

Her shoulder still throbs and is in constant pain.

It hinders her running technique and makes handing off the baton an arduous task in the 1,600 relay. While competing, Deters sometimes needs to hold her shoulder in place to make sure it doesn't pop out of the socket. Taping it up can only do so much.

"So I'm restricting my running," Deters said. "I can't go all out. It hurts when I'm running really bad, so therefore I try to baby it. And I don't want to; I don't mean to. I just do."

Despite the invariable sting, she begged her surgeon to clear her to run track this spring.

"I was like, 'I've had this injury for a year and a half, it's my senior year, you've got to let me run. I'm having another surgery -- you've got to let me run,'" Deters said.

Just the mere fact that she is out on the track competing should be a successful season. But Deters, who finished seventh in the 400 meter dash at Centralia this week, doesn't see things that way.

"I have work to do. That's not good enough for me," Deters said. "Everybody's like, 'That's good Jess. You're doing great for your injury. You pretty much can't use your arm. So, that's great.' But I'm not happy with it at all."

Her times are slower and the lack of improvement is frustrating. But she still pushes herself.

Deters just wanted the opportunity to try in her final season at Highland.

She got that, and more.

"I'm putting more effort and more time in this year than I ever was and I'm still not doing as good as I want to be," Deters said.

Her best 400 time this season is around 1 minute, 9 seconds. Before the accident, she said her career-best time was a 1:03.8.

And with some additional improvement, Deters still has a chance to earn her first trip to the state meet. The top four runners from the May 3 district track meet advance to sectionals on May 10.

"She's going to have to shave off probably five or six seconds," Highland coach Michael Allgood said. "... It's kind of a tall order but I'm not saying she wouldn't possibly be able to do that."

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It's been more than 16 months since the accident that changed her life.

The fractured ribs, cuts and bruises healed long ago.

But she is constantly reminded of the incident every time she drives past the accident site.

Or tries to move her right shoulder.

"I've lost mobility in my arm," Deters said. "I used to be able to put it all the way up over my head. Now I can't. I can't put my arm behind my head to do stretches and stuff."

On May 23, Deters is scheduled to have a second shoulder surgery to shorten her stretched out muscles.

She hopes it will heal her problems so she can run pain free at Culver-Stockton College next year.

That's a luxury she hasn't had since the accident.

"You can tell when she's running that she is still in some pain because she'll be struggling as she's finishing a race," teammate Josie McCracken said. "She's done it forever, so she doesn't want to give up on it. She's just going to keep putting off the surgery because she loves the sport so much."

-- mgoldberg@whig.com / 221-3367