While the rest of the Colorado State cross country team spent practice running side by side, Michael Mooney trained alone without the use of his legs.

As an assistant coach the summer before the 2022 season, Kelly Hart received a brief from former coach Andrew Epperson on each runner at CSU. She saw Mooney’s profile on the roster and knew his course was longer than the other runners.

“He said Michael has had an incredible journey back from his surgeries, and he’s incredibly talented,” Hart said. “If we can just keep him healthy for a short period of time, he’ll help us.”

When Hart met Mooney for the first time, he was working a summer job in the equipment room. They met as he carried out a stack of boxes. Mooney said hello, but Hart’s response was a little different.

“I was like, ‘Oh, you must be the guy with all the hip surgeries,’” Hart said.

Mooney joined the Rams in 2018 when he redshirted the fall outdoor season. At the start of 2019, his redshirt was pulled by the team after scoring at the first indoor conference meet of the year. Mooney had a small amount of pain his first year, which he described as a “pinching in the hip drive.”

Spring 2019 was the first time his lingering hip pain worsened.

“I remember standing at the starting line at a meet in Greeley at (University of Northern Colorado), and my dad was right of the track,” Mooney said. “I was talking to him saying, ‘My hips feel really tight.’”

Completing the spring season, Mooney received a clear MRI at the start of fall 2019, which convinced him to push through that outdoor season. Mooney then underwent another MRI that concluded he tore the labrum in both of his hips.

“It was kind of like a sigh of relief because I had been running so long through the hip pain,” Mooney said. “So that’s when I knew everything was going to be turned upside down.”

Mooney’s initial surgeries in March 2020 repaired the torn labra. A week later he received a periacetabular osteotomy on both hips. The operations amounted to his first four of seven.

“Just seeing how hard we fight for each other during a race — that’s got to be the same mindset for when I’m hurt, doing stuff behind the scenes while everybody else is outside.” –Michael Mooney, CSU cross country runner

“They break your hip in three spots, twist it around (and) screw it together just to fix the angle of the ball and socket joint so the tearing wouldn’t happen again,” Mooney said.

When Mooney was unable to use his legs, him and Hart designed training routines to maintain his cardio. Mooney tied pool floats around his legs and thrashed his arms in the pool until reaching exhaustion.

“I’m probably the worst swimmer of all time, so just arms made it 10 times worse,” Mooney said.

The times spent training alone were some of the most challenging moments in Mooney’s life. He played soccer growing up, which developed his desire for competitiveness within a team. Training alone left Mooney with nothing but himself for motivation.

Coincidentally, not having his cross country teammates around during his training became his motivation to push forward.

“Just seeing how hard we fight for each other during a race — that’s got to be the same mindset for when I’m hurt, doing stuff behind the scenes while everybody else is outside,” Mooney said. “I’m swimming in the pool, and it’s just me and one lifeguard.”

Lars Mitchel chose to run at CSU because of a Mooney-led campus tour when Mitchel was deciding on a program. Mitchel joined the team in 2019, one year after Mooney. Mitchel said they embody an older-younger brother-style relationship.

For the most part, Mitchel has never competed or trained without Mooney alongside him, except for the 2021 season. Regardless of Mooney’s physical state, he involves himself in the program in any way possible.

“The guy would crutch around practice trying to take splits with his really bad handwriting that nobody can read,” Mitchel said.

Mooney competed through the 2022 calendar year by receiving steroid injections and dry needling to his hips. The injections masked the pain — without them, the injury was apparent.

In March 2022, Mooney ran a 1,500-meter race at Colorado State University Pueblo, which he thought would mark the declining end to his career.

“I was shot out the back,” Mooney said. “It just felt like I didn’t have any speed under my legs, and I couldn’t keep up with the pack. I remember finishing the race and just thinking how unfair this sport was to me and going and sitting next to my dad for an hour.”

Later that season, both sides of Mooney’s hips tore again. He decided to run through fall 2022 on his torn labra. He received his final three surgeries — two to repair the labra and one to remove the screws — in May and August 2023.

Mooney finished All-Mountain West in 2022.

“By the end of it, I was racing with Lars Mitchell and Mason Brown,” Mooney said. “It felt like I was back and part of the team again with those guys that I know that I can train with and race with.”

In Mooney’s seventh and final year with the Rams, he is healthy and recording the times that brought him to the program in the first place. On Friday, Aug. 30, Mooney ran in the season-opening 5-kilometer run at the Wyoming Invite. He finished fifth with a time of 15:07.9.

Each lonely step taken in recovery gave Mooney hope to once again stride with his teammates.

“I went through this, and I’m back to the level that I am at,” Mooney said. “It gives me a mental edge, like, maybe I am a bit stronger than some of these other guys. Maybe I can do this.”

Reach Adam Gross at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @agrose_22.