Wilk Inspires - Again - as 2nd Injury Comeback Helps Spark Historic Midland Run
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
May 28, 2025
The physical feeling of tearing her ACL was familiar to Theresa Wilk.
She tore the ligament in her right knee while playing soccer not long before starting her freshman year at Midland. So, when she suffered the same injury, to the same knee, in the same fashion, during the District Final her sophomore year, there was little doubt in her mind what had happened.
What was unfamiliar, however, was the feeling that came along with it.
“As soon as I felt the buckle, I knew,” Wilk said. “Honestly, I didn’t think I would ever come back to soccer. I really wanted to quit everything. I didn’t want to go out and see people. It was definitely a lot harder than the first time around. The first time, I was able to think, ‘I still have three more years after this.’”
Those injuries cost Wilk two full high school seasons, but not, as she had feared, her career. After a second long rehabilitation process, and nearly two full years away from the field, she’s back in the Chemics’ midfield and has helped lead her team to a 19-0 record heading into Friday night’s Division 1 District Final against Midland Dow.
It’s a comeback that required special types of resilience and determination – and anyone who has watched Wilk play is well aware she possesses both.
“It’s unbelievable, for the size of her, how much of a scrapper she is,” Midland coach Rico Barassi said. “She’s great at stealing balls. She will see the player, and they’ll try to shield the ball, and she’ll just take it, then the other player will push her and we’ll get a foul. It’s uncanny. She also sees the field very well and is very unselfish. She’s very often the assist behind the assist. But with Theresa, you just let her float on the field. She always finds the ball and finds the player. She will chase somebody down. She could be on the 18 (yard box) on the other side of the field, and she will chase a player down.”
Barassi has always seen the potential in Wilk, so much so that despite her suffering her first injury seven months prior to what would have been her freshman season, he saved her No. 20 jersey and a spot for her on the varsity team.
Saving a jersey and spot is something Barassi said he does for all players on his team when they suffer a serious injury, but it’s still a massive statement for a freshman who has yet to play a high school game, and one that meant a lot to Wilk.
“That was the biggest part – I had my number, he gave me a jersey, a bag and everything,” Wilk said. “He told me that in my sophomore year, when you’re ready, you have a spot on the team. That really pushed me through.”
Wilk was one of several freshmen to earn a spot on the varsity team their first year, as nine were brought up and made an immediate impact. That year, while Wilk served as a team manager, the Chemics finished 7-7-4 – and Barassi knew the future was bright.
“I thought they’re small, they’re little, but they’re very good,” Barassi said. “Wait until they get to be juniors and seniors, they’re going to make history.”
The following two seasons resulted in District titles for Midland, including with a shootout victory over Dow in 2023.
Wilk’s second ACL tear came during the second overtime of that game, on a cross she played with her left foot. The familiar buckle was enough to tell her what had happened, even if the initial MRI results were inconclusive.
Due to her familiarity with the injury, Wilk said she recovered more quickly the second time. She was even given clearance to return to action in March of her junior year. But knowing that she still had a ways to go to build up her strength and be the player she was capable of being, she decided to keep working on her recovery and sit out last season.
Once again, her spot and her number were safe, and she served as a team manager while the Chemics went 16-2-3, claimed a second-straight District title and advanced to the Regional Final where they lost 3-2 to eventual Finals champion Spring Lake.
Watching it all happen without being on the field was difficult for Wilk, but the support system around her helped get her through.
“I think the biggest thing was they didn’t treat me any differently than if I wasn’t injured,” she said. “My family still had me do my chores, they let me be independent and only came (to help) if I asked. Same as my team, they didn’t constantly bring it up and talk about it, or be like, ‘Oh man, that’s really sad.’ I think they knew I didn’t want that. Everyone was so amazing and nice, and I didn’t ever feel like I wasn’t part of the team.”
On March 19 of this year, Wilk returned to the field for the Chemics in a 2-1 win against Grand Ledge. She admits there’s a bit of a difference in how she plays, and that she isn’t always as aggressive as she used to be. But her game has evolved, and while she continues to be a defensive force in the midfield, her ability as a passer has shined through, leading her to first-team all-Saginaw Valley League honors.
It also helped her to feel like her return to action was complete.
“The biggest moment for me that was like, ‘I’m back,’ was during the Dow game (April 28) when I had an assist to Alahna Beckett,” Wilk said. “She scored our second goal, and that got us up a little bit and we got the momentum. That was a really big moment where I was proud of myself. That’s when I felt I was fully back.”
This past week, Wilk graduated summa cum laude from Midland, and she will attend Grand Valley State University in the fall, where she plans to study nursing.
“I think that I kind of knew before my experience that I wanted to do healthcare,” she said. “But my experience set in stone what I wanted to do.”
Before she leaves for Allendale, there’s more work to be done on the soccer field, starting with Friday night’s match against Dow which will be a bit of a full-circle moment for Wilk.
As it approaches, though, she’s more focused on what she and her teammates have been able to accomplish together, and what could still be ahead.
“I’m really proud of the team,” she said. “I’ve known all these girls basically my whole life, and seeing us all grow up together and all accomplishing this amazing task together is wonderful to see. I think we can (make a postseason run), we just have to play our style and continue doing what we do, and work together. We have an amazing connection on the team, and I feel like it really shows on the field.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Midland's Theresa Wilk (20) and her teammates celebrate during a game this season. (Middle) Wilk takes a quick photo from her hospital bed after her second ACL tear. (Below) Wilk, left, shares a positive moment during physical therapy. (Soccer photo provided by the Midland athletic department; hospital and therapy photos courtesy of the Wilk family.)
Lessons from Multi-Sport Experience Guide Person in Leading New Team
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
August 1, 2024
PARCHMENT — When Amanda Person was in sixth grade, her family hosted an international student from Japan.
Until then, soccer was the main sport for her family – but that soon changed.
“Naoki wanted to play tennis,” Person said. “He started playing and then my sister (Marissa) started playing, and then I started playing.”
That passion for both sports only increased during her four years at Parchment High School.
“Soccer was really fun, but when I look back on my high school career, tennis was the most prominent thing I remember,” the 2008 grad said. “I think it’s because I played year-round: our regular tennis season and then our summer tennis program and winter tennis program.”
Although it has been 16 years since her glory days at Parchment ended, Person has no trouble recalling the best parts of her Panthers sports career.
In fact, coming up with memories from those days is no problem — she has a folder full of photos called “I Miss Team Sports” on her Facebook page.
Playing intramural soccer at Michigan State University, she graduated with a degree in social work, then stayed in the Big Ten. She is the campus tours and ambassador coordinator at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., where she supervises 80 to 100 student tour guides who provide information for families considering the school.
Her ties to the Spartans sometime makes for interesting conversations with her colleagues.
“They give me a hard time,” she said with a quick laugh. “I say Michigan State will always be my No. 1. That’s my alma mater I spent four years of time, tears and money at Michigan State. But I really love Purdue, so I’ll root for the Boilermakers second.”
She is also working on her master’s degree in higher education at Purdue.
Her office in the welcome center shares space with the alumni association, leading to an unforgettable experience.
During a lunch break, she went home to let out her dog, Tessa. When she returned, a trophy and a bucket were sitting on her desk.
Confused, she asked what they were doing there.
“The tour guides I was working with said (during an event) they had to put them somewhere before putting them out (to the public), so they just put them on my desk,” she said.
Turns out, one trophy was the NCAA Final Four runner-up men’s basketball trophy the Boilermakers took home last year after losing to Connecticut in the championship game.
The other was the Old Oaken Bucket, the trophy that goes to the winner between Purdue and Indiana University’s annual football grudge match.
“I didn’t know anything about the Old Oaken Bucket,” she said. “They were like, what do you mean ‘what is this?’ Then they told me the story behind it.”
Creating core memories
Recalling her years at Parchment, Person becomes animated, smiling and laughing at all the memories.
“The first thing I remember is that my sister was really, really good at soccer,” she said. "I was always trying to keep up with her a bit.”
Her dad, Dave Person, noted that “all of our kids (Adam, Marissa, Amanda) had some success in sports during high school while realizing that it was secondary to their education.
“My only input was that I insisted they treat officials, coaches and opponents with respect, which they did. I always thought that while Marissa did very well in tennis, she was a natural at soccer. Amanda, on the other hand, was very good at soccer, but was a natural at tennis.”
Amanda said her soccer memories come down to “we might not have won a lot, but it was still a lot of fun.”
She said while several on the team, including herself, had years of soccer experience, players also welcomed those who wanted to try the sport for the first time.
“Our team had a home for those people, too,” she said. “The games were always fun, but I feel like a lot of being on a team like that is the outside things you do together: the team dinners, the traveling on the bus, even practices.”
Her freshman year, the team advanced to the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 4 Girls Tennis Finals, finishing 19th.
Her senior year was a transition when several sports seasons were switched, putting girls soccer and tennis at the same time during the spring.
Person and the other three two-sport seniors juggled both.
“All of a sudden we were playing soccer and tennis in the spring,” she said. “Thankfully they let us do both, and our coaches were very good in terms (of) making sure nothing important overlapped.”
Person played doubles all four years and was at No. 1 with Kelly Drummond her final two seasons.
“If my memory serves me correctly, I believe we only lost two matches the whole (senior) year, so it was a good year for us,” she said.
It was a very good year.
She and Drummond won their Regional Final, but that ended her prep career since the team did not qualify for championship weekend.
Preparing for life
The best thing about high school tennis, she said, was that it was a combination team and individual sport.
“You can do really well individually and maybe the team doesn’t do well, or maybe the team does well and you don’t do well personally,” she said. “It has the aspect of wanting the entire team to do good.”
Competing in both sports prepared her for the “real” world, she said.
“Playing soccer and tennis and being part of a team helped me cheer other people on,” she said. “The world is a competitive place, so having that foundation of team sports is really good to teach a plethora of things you can use in the real world.
“Even at work, you have your individual job but you’re also part of a team. If one person isn’t doing well, then your whole team isn’t doing well. If someone else is having a hard time, helping them out is helping the team.”
She added that losing also teaches important lessons.
“You’re going to lose at things your entire life,” she said. “Being able to handle losing, handle rejection, is a good skill to have for anything in life. I’ve learned it’s not what happens to you but how you respond to it. That’s a huge lesson. There are a lot of life lessons you can get from playing team sports in high school.”
Her advice to high school athletes today: “Enjoy it, first of all. Don’t take it too seriously in wins and losses.
“When I look back, most of my core memories are being part of a team, having fun with the team, having fun playing the sport. Enjoy your time,” she said.
“Now I miss it.”
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PHOTOS (Top) At left, Parchment’s Amanda Person plays a 2008 tennis match with doubles partner Kelly Drummond; at right, Person and her dog Tessa. (Middle) A pair of beloved trophies sit temporarily on Person’s desk at Purdue. (Below) Person also was a soccer standout at Parchment. (Photos courtesy of Amanda Person.)