After suffering a torn MCL at the end of June, Moose Jaw’s Quinn Ingalls thought his lacrosse season was done for the summer.

Hard work and determination made sure that wasn’t the case.

Just ten weeks after suffering the injury, Ingalls hit the field with Team Saskatchewan over the weekend at the 2017 Alumni Cup under-18 field lacrosse national championship in Saskatoon.

“It was a lot of hard work and a long time coming,” said Ingalls on Tuesday. “I really felt like it came around and was 100-percent ready right before nationals, and it felt perfect over the weekend.”

Ingalls suffered the injury while playing for Saskatchewan SWAT junior A lacrosse team, ending a promising rookie season with the squad in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League.

“When my season ended, I didn’t want to lose my stick skills, so I made sure I kept that up,” he said, who went through weeks of rehab to make it back in time to suit up with Team Saskatchewan at nationals.

“I was really excited to be back at nationals.”

Fresh off rehab, Ingalls helped Saskatchewan to a fourth place finish at nationals, falling 11-10 to Alberta in the bronze medal game on Sunday to come up just short of a medal. It was the second straight year that Saskatchewan lost to Alberta in the bronze medal game.

Saskatchewan posted a 2-4-0 record during round robin play, scoring wins against Alberta and Manitoba on Friday and Saturday.

“I was really happy with how we played during the round robin,” said Ingalls.

“We had a pretty young team and had little experience on the national stage, so it was really important for the whole team to buy into the system and just play our hardest. Saskatchewan isn’t always the most skilled province, but we are the hardest working.”

In the final, Saskatchewan fell behind during the first half, but Ingalls said that hard working attitude shown through during the second half when they battled to make it a close game.

“We all really battled our hearts out, had a slow start and then gave it to them in the second half,” he said.

Prior to the injury, Ingalls was putting together a stellar season with the SWAT, despite being the only 17-year-old on the team.

In 15 games before going down, Ingalls had posted 20 goals and 42 points.

“Everyone is very skilled in that league and being a part of it is a pretty big honour, especially as a 17-year-old, it was a pretty old team, so I was excited about that,” said the Peacock Collegiate senior.

“I progressed a lot and learned a lot about the game. My lacrosse IQ went through the roof after this season and it really opened my eyes to what high level lacrosse is all about.”

With the injury in the rear view mirror, Ingalls is ready to spend the winter improving and getting ready to come back even stronger in 2018.

Ingalls wasn’t the only Moose Jaw lacrosse player taking part in nationals on the weekend as Kael Nichols suited up with the U15 Team Saskatchewan at the Alumni Cup. However, they went 0-5 in the round robin to miss out on a shot at a medal.