Math & Science Academy sophomore McKaylen Lewis poses for a photo at home with with her older brother, senior Malcolm Lewis. The pair are working through injuries during a spring track season with the Dragons. (Cassidy Hettesheimer/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Malcolm Lewis propped his crutches against the stairs of his family’s Woodbury home to sit next to his younger sister, McKaylen, at the kitchen table.

Some injuries are sudden, forcing athletes to a jarring halt. That was Malcolm’s — an Achilles tendon, ruptured at a track meet in March.

Other injuries require quietly listening to the limits of one’s body and trying something no track and field athlete loves to do: Slow down.

McKaylen’s nagging pain was the latter.

In early May, her family sat in uncertainty, knowing that the next day they would hear whether she had the green light to go back to chasing the track and field state record of 20 feet, 1¼ inches and defending two state titles.

“Last year I had really big expectations, and obviously kind of blew them away,” said McKaylen Lewis, a Math & Science Academy sophomore. “ ‘Oh, I need to do that again.’ It’s just been a lot of pressure I’ve been putting on myself.”

For more on McKaylen, click here to read this story on startribune.com.