The Duke Blue Devil women’s swim team will be without their biggest weapon for the second straight season as Olympian Abby Johnston underwent surgery on her left shoulder last Wednesday, her coach Drew Johansen announced this week.
This will be a shakeup in the diving-rich ACC the day before the meet is slotted to begin in Greensboro, North Carolina. The specific surgery was “acromial decompression and distal clavicle excision,” according to the announcement.
In this procedure, a tiny amount of bone is shaved from the end of the clavicle to reduce friction, though it doesn’t usually affect the joint’s long-term strength because no ligaments, tendons, or muscles are touched. The goal is to relieve pinching on the rotator cuff.
Johnston, before redshirting last season to focus on Olympic preparations where she won silver on the 3-meter synchro event, won the 2011 3-meter NCAA title. She would have been the team’s biggest NCAA scorer, and theoretically could have placed the team in the top 25 herself.
In her one meet this year, she won the 1-meter against South Carolina and was named the ACC Female Diver of the Week.
