It can be a real mental battle to temper expectations, especially when you’re coming off an exceptional debut campaign. That’s a reality Jersey Shore’s Aaralynn Kimble has been forced to take on throughout her sophomore campaign, one which has been greatly impacted by an array of injuries.

At the start of the season, Kimble endured a hip flexor injury, which didn’t hold her out completely but heavily influenced her races. Once that got healed, she sprained her toe, which held her out for the weeks leading up to PHACs.

“I feel like my injuries have held me back a lot this year,” said Kimble. “I didn’t even hit any PRs in any of my events yet, but we still have districts to get better.”

Despite the shortcomings, that latter clause represents the mindset she’s carried into postseason. Those shortcomings would make finding optimism difficult for just about any athletes.

But though they sting in the case of Kimble, she isn’t letting them affect her mindset, instead choosing to adjust her expectations. Heading into districts, she’s simply pushing to do the best she can currently do and looks to be content with the end result no matter what.

“It kind of just puts me in the mindset of, ‘I don’t care about my time. I just want to see what I can do right now and then improve later’,” said Kimble. “It’s not how it should be. I should just want to run mt best right now, even though I know I can’t do that yet because of my injury.”

Despite being held back, the Jersey Shore sophomore still stands as one of the team’s defining standouts heading into Day 2 of districts. Her 200 and 400-meter dashes at PHACs featured the rust expected from two weeks off, but she still managed to take home two league medals within a stacked field.

At districts, she’s already qualified for the 100-meter dash finals. On Saturday, she’ll look to build off her two top four finishes at districts last season and hopes to help Shore’s 1,600-relay team reach the heights they’re anticipating.

Then, barring a state bid, she looks forward to what should be an impactful offseason.

“I think it’s going to help me a lot to just put me back in the right mentality for next year,” said Kimble. “It’s only my sophomore season, and I’m going to train a lot over the summer.”

Alongside Kimble, Shore’s Khani McCray has also dealt with injuries throughout his junior campaign. A hip injury held him back through the weeks leading up to PHACs and kept him from competing in the triple and long jump throughout that span.

However, he was able to return to both events in the first week of May and has since been able to make immediate strides. At PHACs, he hit of PR of 20-1 ½ in the long jump to finish just outside the top eight. And in the triple, he just hit a PR of 41-1 to place fifth at districts.

“I think he’s been hungry for it because he hasn’t been able to do all of his events,” said Kendall on McCray following his long jump at PHACs. “He’s pumped and ready to go, and he’s been looking a lot better.”

McCray heads into Day 2 of districts with three more chances to medal and possibly make that jump to states, with the Class AAA high jump, long jump and javelin set for Saturday. As a junior, he’s made considerable strides in jumps, strides which could propel him to a strong all-around outing.

“I think districts will go well as long as the weather holds up because when the weather’s good, I’m good,” said McCray. “So, as long as I’m not having injuries and the weather’s good, I’m excited for districts. I think it’s going to be a fun time.”