By Savannah Singletary
Simone Wilson is a force to be reckoned with. As a two time All-American, a returning national championship contender, Wilson was locked and loaded in her starting block her freshman year. Now in her second heat of her college career, she has pulled away from her competition.
Named a Division III All-American in both the 400-meter hurdles and the 4×400-meter relay as a freshman, she continuously smashed records left and right in her rookie season beginning with her first meet.
“During my freshman year, I broke the school records for the 400m hurdles, 100m hurdles, 60m hurdles, and I was apart of the 4x400m relay and 4x100m relay that broke the school record.” Wilson stated, “I broke my own record in the 60m hurdles and I hope to continue this streak for outdoor season.”
Surpassing Concordia University Chicago’s hurdle record, multiple times, her current record was set at the nationals, where she finished fourth with a 1:00.76. The 4×400 relay team finished sixth with a collective time of 3:46.29; both of these marks were also conference records.
She was running track since her freshman year of high school. She stated that the only reason why she joined the team was because all of her friends were doing it and I didn’t want to be left out. Her cousin gave her the final push to take the sport more seriously by offering to pay for all of her fees, training shoes, and spikes.
“There are so many people who helped me to get to where I am at, but I especially want to credit my coaches and my teammates. Without them pushing me and believing in me, I would not have been able to to reach my goals.”
After having a successful freshman season, it was not unusual that Wilson was a little nervous about coming back for her sophomore season. Living up to the expectation of repeating what she did last season was stressful; a few people told her that usually after you do well during your freshman year, you have a terrible sophomore season.
“This made me even more nervous, but I realized that they were just saying this so I wouldn’t slack off. This has motivated me to work harder so that it won’t happen to me.”
Hopefully by the time she graduates, she wants to be a national champion in the 400 meter hurdles. As of last year, she is ranked 4th overall in the country, so this goal is realistic. Using this season to tweak the minor things to create greater outcome, such as switching her trail legs and getting out of the blocks more aggressively.
When asked who she tries to mirror on the track and about her role model, her answer showed exactly her character and why there is no stopping her anytime soon.
“My athletic role model is someone who is not famous. Most people would expect me to say an Olympic hurdler or sprinter but I don’t keep up with Olympian’s. The one person who I look up to is my grandfather. He ran for Drake University during the 1950s and was one of the few black people on his team,” said Wilson. “Despite the racism that he experienced, he still set records and because of this, he inspires me. He is the main reason why I don’t like to complain because you know things could be worse. He is who I run for.”
