What was supposed to happen was, Kiera Sullivan would keep tackling, shooting and sprinting from the end of her 2022 school year straight through to today.

What happened instead was a torn anterior cruciate ligament, early in her flag football career at Glacier High School. 

“September 17, 2022,” the senior remembered this week. “It was our first tournament, in Butte. It was just the first couple of minutes; I went to pull a girl’s flag and my foot just planted and kind of got stuck and caused my knee to pop a little bit.”

At the time the thought was to be cautious and hope for the best. Sullivan sat out a while before getting an MRI. But she suspected.

“I’ve heard stories from other people,” she said. “And in my mind I kind of knew. But I didn’t actually find out until a couple weeks later.”

Many months of physical rehabilitation followed, but she’s back on the hardcourt, one of four seniors on a 5-9 Wolfpack team bent on finishing its regular season with a flourish.

“She is absolutely filling the role we expected,” Glacier coach Amanda Cram said. “Every game she gets stronger and faster. In a lot of ways she’s turned into a player that’s better and more helpful to us. She’s always been a very vocal leader, and I think she just appreciates having a chance to make her senior season memorable.”

The voyage just took a couple left turns. Well, one big one.

“It was hard mentally to get through that, and processing that I was going to be out a year or so was the hardest part for me,” Sullivan said. “I think I’m just bred to be in a sport and doing something athletic.”

The daughter of former Glacier head coach Bill Sullivan — he guided the Wolfpack girls for four seasons, from 2016-19, and is now back on the bench as an assistant — had a promising sophomore campaign: She averaged 3.7 points on a youthful team that had just two seniors back from a state tournament squad.

She’s averaging closer to two points a game this season, which doesn’t tell the whole story. 

“I have a different kind of respect and admiration for kids who go through that,” Bill Sullivan said this week. “I don’t know if you understand that until it’s in your home or someone close to you.”

Along the way his daughter found a calling. While she visited Rocky Mountain College and received an offer to play hoops for the Battlin’ Bears — her brother Connor is a receiver for Carroll College football — sports medicine is more attractive.

“The more I think about my future, I think the University of Montana is going to be where I will go,” said the guard, who has been accepted into UM’s Davidson Honors College.

“I like to tell myself that it was a blessing in disguise because it allowed me to focus on myself a little bit. It was all part of my journey. I wasn’t really sure where I wanted to go and what I wanted to study in college. 

“That whole process, rehab and learning about my knee, was super cool.”

Bill Sullivan notes his daughter’s confidence has increased since December.

“She’s worked her tail off to get where she is today,” he said. “I think, as a dad and coach, we’re seeing the Kiera of old. It’s taken time to get back physically and mentally, and be confident on that knee where she doesn’t worry about it. That’s what’s satisfying.”

Cram’s “feisty redheads,” (her words), juniors Reese Ramey and Noah Fincher, lead a squad that bounced back from its Crosstown loss to Flathead with home and away wins over a talented Butte High team.  The Pack takes on Helena, the second-place team in the Western AA, Friday night.

But Sullivan is a big part, a physical part of the rotation. It’s good to have her back.

“At the time, I was just immediately disappointed for her and secondarily disappointed for her teammates, because she had such an outstanding sophomore eason,” Cram said. “I knew she’s put herself 100 percent into recovery and being ready for her senior season. And she did just that.”