AUBURN – Emily Dodge handled a fracture in her back – suffered freshman year by some combination of gymnastics and outdoor track and field – like a trooper.

But something so relatively trifling as a nagging leg injury? At the start of her senior indoor track season? Dodge didn’t have time for the pain.

While the rest of her Edward Little High School teammates went about the business of weekend meets in late December and all through January, Dodge agonized and waited for February to arrive.

“I told myself, you just have to come back. It’s not really a question,” Dodge said.

After what Dodge achieved in the two EL meets that mattered most – the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference and Class A championships – every question was answered affirmatively.

That included any debate about who was the most valuable girls’ track individual in the Sun Journal’s coverage area. For her run of three KVAC titles and two state crowns, Dodge is our indoor track all-region performer of the year.

EL also won the KVAC team championships and finished second to Scarborough at states. Dodge was the catalyst, particularly in the latter showcase.

By winning the 55-meter hurdles and triple jump while placing third in long jump, Dodge was responsible for 26 of the Red Eddies’ 56 1/2 team points. That translated to the difference between second and sixth place.

Dodge’s injury, which she attributed to over-use, might have been a blessing in disguise. Already safely qualified in her three individual events, Dodge was well-rested for the home stretch after being out of commission from the week before Christmas through the middle of January.

“Thinking back to it, I took a month off, so to come back and perform the way I did, I was pretty lucky,” said Dodge. “It definitely refocused me. I just came back knowing it wasn’t one of those things where you go into a meet hoping you’re going to do well. It was, ‘This is KVACs, and I need to perform my best.’ It kind of pushed out the mental problems that could have arisen at a big conference meet.”

Senior year was Dodge’s chance to shine after spending most of her career chasing one of the state’s all-time greats.

Dodge finished second in triple jump and third in hurdles at the 2008 state competition. Jesse Labreck of Messalonskee, now at the University of Maine, swept both events with ease.

This time around, Dodge was everyone else’s measuring stick. Her winning distance of 36 feet, 11 1/4 inches in the triple jump was nearly two feet ahead of runner-up and EL teammate Ashten Hackett.

“Pretty much my whole high school experience (Labreck was) the model to look up to, setting the standard way high,” Dodge said. “It was definitely weird going into meets as the first seed for triple jump. There was always such a gap. Last year it was Jesse, and then a big gap to me, and then even another gap, although obviously not as big.”

Where Dodge led, there were plenty of EL understudies sure to follow.

Jessica Nyholm (seventh) joined Dodge and Hackett as a scorer in triple jump. Hackett and Chyla Hoitt also placed for the Eddies in hurdles.

“We just had a lot of people working hard,” Dodge said, “and it finally paid off for us.”

Track is a major component of Dodge’s future plans, both immediate and long-term. She’ll try to make it a clean sweep of the championship hardware at the outdoor meets this spring.

By then, she’ll also know where she’s competing in 2010 and beyond. Dodge has applied to Division III schools in the New England Small College Athletic Conference and expects to finalize her choice in April.