As Miranda Volz crossed the finish line, the Tecumseh senior had outrun all her competition in the 100 Hurdles at the Tecumseh home track meet recently, and was a part of the Arrows capturing the girls team title.

But for Volz, it was more than just earning a victory on the track, especially after what the Arrow athlete had been through.

It was a victory in resilience.

Volz has recovered from what was a life altering surgery as she had two rods placed in her back to correct a curved spine, after the former athlete missed all her junior year recovering and rehabbing to get back to life as normal for the teenager.

“In junior high, one of the gym teachers did an inspection on her back and discovered she had a curvature,” Miranda’s mom Edie said. “We took her to Dr. Albert and her back was at that time about a 17 curved and a bit rotated.” After a couple of years, Volz would have to sleep in a back brace for a year which didn’t help according to Miranda’s mother.

“No matter what she would do, her jeans were so strong for the scoliosis and you couldn’t stop it,” she said. “In the middle of her junior year, they took another x-ray, and her back curved all the way to 48, and a rotation of like 27 and at that point, the doctor said they had to do surgery.”

After playing sports and dealing with the issue as both a freshman and sophomore, she would have to shut it down as a junior to get the surgery and address the situation. While she couldn’t perform in the sports, she did stay active by helping the teams until she could recover to hopefully make a return.

“She was too big of a liability to be on the track team so she had to stop,” Edie said. “She had her surgery June 1 of her junior year.”

“I was in surgery for like eight hours, and in recovery for two more hours,” Miranda said.

During her recovery, Miranda was a case study where they used minimum opiates which turned out to be a big success for Volz.

“She was only the second trial and it was very successful, she went home without hardly any medication,” her mother said. “That was a big thing at Children’s because they normally give you a lot of opiates for four days, and she was out of the hospital in four days instead of six or seven and she was walking within 24 hours around the nursing station and that was incredible.”

She then went through physical therapy for six months and was able to get back with the football and basketball teams and help out, before stepping onto the track as a senior and participating in the first live events after the surgery.

“We feel she is the comeback kid,” Edie said. “For her to come out and do hurdles (less than nine months after major back surgery) is incredible.”

While she stayed with the basketball team as a junior manager, she also does student aid, the school musical and choir during her high school career.

Volz is also very active with the Restoration Park Church in Medway, and Miranda and her twin sister Madelyn are very active in the youth group and part of the youth leadership team, while also attending Young Life meetings.

“Our faith and support from our family and the church family are what helped all of us throughout Miranda’s journey,” said her father Denny Volz.

“It was hard to sit out my whole junior year, but I knew it was for my own good and I needed to get better so I could come back my senior year,” Miranda said. “During football this year I wasn’t able to carry everything and that helped a lot. Once I got to track and being back into it, it felt amazing.”

When she walks at graduation in a few weeks, she will always be remembered by her track team as a champion, and will be remembered by her peers as an inspiration.

But for her parents and family, she will forever be the Comeback Kid.