Deer ‘barreled’ into 8th-grader during race in Michigan, knocking her unconscious

A deer derailed a cross country meet in Michigan on Saturday, ramming into an eighth grade athlete and dashing away, leaving the girl dazed and bleeding.

Madison Sylvester, of Saginaw, was competing in a 2-mile race at Delta College, with her sister, Maegan, trailing just a few feet behind her when it happened, Michigan Live reported.

The sisters saw the deer coming up from beside the trail just before the collision, but there was nothing they could do.

Madison hoped it might dodge past her, ziz-zag through, but instead it “barreled right over her,” her father, Josh Sylvester, told the outlet. “Apparently, the deer hit her straight in the side, knocked her off balance, then picked her up and threw her before running off.”

Madison sprawled out on the ground in shock, WJRT reported, and recalls Maegan springing into action as she lay there.

”I remember my sister like screaming for help and stuff and a few other girls,” she told the TV station.

Those first moments were scary, her dad told McClatchy News. His daughter was bloodied and falling “in and out of consciousness.”

The extent and severity of Madison’s injuries were unclear, but after “several scans and tests” at a hospital, the worst of his fears were eased.

She suffered a concussion and has a fractured clavicle, but Madison is doing fine, according to her father.

But to her disappointment, Madison won’t be racing again for at least a few weeks.

“(She’s) on the mend until protocol for concussion passes,” her dad said, adding she “can’t wait to get back out there and compete.”

This story was originally published September 30, 2021 at 12:46 PM with the headline "Deer ‘barreled’ into 8th-grader during race in Michigan, knocking her unconscious."