SLIPPERY ROCK — Bre Northcott tries not to think “what if?”

Sometimes, though, it is too difficult for her not to.

“I think about it all the time,” said Northcott, once a three-sport star at Slippery Rock High who has had to overcome two devastating knee injuries in two years. “I keep thinking if I would have done this differently, maybe I wouldn't have blown out my knee the first time and then things would have been different.

“But then I realize I can't think like that. Everything happens for a reason.”

Sometimes, though, Northcott has a hard time understanding what that reason is.

Two summers ago, Northcott, now a senior, was playing in a basketball game when an opponent fell on her left leg, buckling her knee.

Northcott tore the ACL and MCL in that knee and had to undergo reconstructive surgery. The injury wiped out the talented player's volleyball season in the fall and half of her basketball season in the winter.

Northcott returned for her junior track season, but was merely a shadow of her former self.

By this past summer, Northcott had completely healed from her knee surgery when she tore the ACL in her right knee during another summer basketball game.

Northcott was devastated.

“I love volleyball so much and all I wanted to do was step out onto the court and play again,” Northcott said. “Volleyball season was horrible, sitting there, watching from the sidelines again.”

Northcott wanted to play volleyball in college. At 5-foot-11, she was a feared hitter at the net before her injuries wiped out two full seasons.

Now, she is getting no interest from college coaches.

“It has made playing volleyball in college so much harder,” Northcott said. “It has had a major impact on what I wanted to do in college.”

But there may be a happy ending to this story.

While Northcott is not 100 percent, she is dominating in the discus, shot put and javelin early in this track and field season.

She has the best throws in Butler County in all three of those events and has already reached the PIAA-qualifying standard in the discus and shot put.

“I am so shocked I've started off like this,” Northcott said. “I knew it was going to be tough because I hadn't had a chance to work out much. But I've been working hard because this is my last chance to do what I love to do in high school. I've been pouring myself into track season.”

Kent Uber, a Grove City High graduate and Slippery Rock's throwing coach, has been impressed with Northcott this season.

He said he believes her injury history has been a blessing in disguise.

“She doesn't take anything for granted,” said Uber, who is also Northcott's cousin. “I think (her injuries) are definitely a big factor. There are days when I have to tell her to stop and go get treatment. All she wants to do is stay out there, throw and get better.”

Northcott's goals are lofty. She wants to reach the PIAA Track and Field Championships in all three events.

She is well on her way with a throw in the discus of 36 feet, 8 inches, 114-10½ in the shot put and 118-8½ in the javelin.

Her throw in the discus is 16 feet farther than anyone else in the county.

“The sky's the limit for her,” Uber said. “Every day I tell her, ‘Not bad, but let's work on this.' I think she is going to do some very big things this season.”

For Northcott, who said her knees ache when she wakes each morning — “I feel much older than 18,” she said — winning a state title won't get back two lost volleyball seasons, but it would help.

“I gave a speech to our basketball team (this winter),” Northcott said. “I told them to go out there every day and give it everything they have because you never know when it will get taken away from you. Any game may be your last. I learned that the hard way.”