Track and field stars from Black colleges have one goal at Olympic trials: Get to Paris

Howard University alum Dylan Beard has dreamed of competing in the Olympics and would do anything to make his dream a reality – even if the grind to qualify has included 16-hour workdays for the last year. 

After graduating in May 2023 with his master’s degree, Beard moved to North Carolina to pursue a pro track career as a hurdler. Beard, who currently lives with his aunt, is usually up by 7 a.m. He heads to the gym to do an individual lift before driving 40 minutes to NC State University to practice for a few hours. After practice, he works in the deli section of a local Walmart until closing at 11 p.m. most weekdays. However, on the weekends, he travels around the country competing.

Beard is one of several track and field athletes from historically Black colleges and universities who will compete in the U.S. Olympic trials, which start Friday in Eugene, Oregon.

His faith has been his driving force throughout his career. He uses his favorite Scripture, Joshua 1:9, as a guide to get through difficult days: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

“[I tell myself] you got no time to be afraid. You gotta go. God gave you this opportunity to lock-in and do something that you want to do and he wants you to do,” Beard said. “It’s just perfect. You feel like you can’t fail.”

In October 2023, he competed in the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile, finishing sixth in the 110-meter hurdles. At the Millrose Games in February in New York City, Beard won and set a personal best time in the 60-meter hurdles. His time of 7.44 seconds was the third fastest in the world at the time.

“Every time I line up, I’m looking to win. So I mean, it’s not necessarily looking at the outcome of the Olympics [and] being on the team,” Beard said. “It’s just like every time on a track and I’m healthy, I’m good to go. I really think I can beat anybody out there.”

Howard University hurdler Simone Watkins also knows firsthand how much an athlete’s life can change in one year. 

A year ago she was a hurdler at Texas Tech University and considering retiring from track and field. Watkins, who has been running track since she was 8, transferred to Howard this past season to train under Howard director for track and field David Oliver, who won the bronze medal in the 110-meter hurdles at the 2008 Olympic Games.

In the last two months, Watkins has run a personal best of 55.92 in the 400-meter hurdles, earned NCAA All-American honorable mention honors and qualified for the Olympic trials. 

“Being coached by someone who has been where I want to be, it’s so much easier to buy in because what he says he backs it up. His mindset, too, he’s just taught me to be a champion,” Watkins said. “It starts before you get to the Olympics. It starts before you get to the [NCAA] national championships. [Preparing] for all this stuff starts really as soon as you get on the track.”

She has spent the last week and a half before the Olympic trials working on her pattern and approach for the women’s 400-meter hurdles. Being at an HBCU for her final year of college has been transformational, she said. 

“They have all the resources. We have all this glitz and glamour, and it’s nice and it’s definitely enticing. But being from [an] HBCU, being able to show this stuff is nice, but it’s not necessarily needed to get you to the same place,” Watkins said. “So it’s exciting putting on at HBCUs.

“I love it, the culture and the environment. … I feel like these people [at HBCUs] really care. I want people to know you don’t have to forfeit that for your sports goals, because you can do both. You can be around your people [and] still succeed.”

She has dreamed of competing against the best track and field athletes in the world, but Oliver has constantly reminded her that she, too, is one of the best track and field athletes. 

“Just that lesson of never ever doubting yourself, never giving up on a dream if it’s on your heart, like, go for it has been the biggest lesson I’ve learned,” Watkins said. “[Oliver says] keep believing in ourselves, believing in our training, knowing we can go out there and compete against the best.”

Several other Howard student-athletes and alumni will compete in Olympic trials, including Jessica Wright (400-meter hurdles, U.S. Olympic qualifier), Samuel Bennett (110-meter hurdles, U.K. Olympic qualifier), Otto Laing (100-meter hurdles, Bahamas Olympic qualifier), and Adam Musgrove (100-meter hurdles, Bahamas Olympic qualifier).

Oliver, a Howard alumnus, is proud of all the HBCU athletes who will compete in the trials.

“It is extremely special and is such a great honor to represent not only your university but the greater HBCU community as a whole,” Oliver said. “Our schools are always overlooked in things of that nature when it comes to our bigger sports, but the sports like track and field, where it’s really just about you, the athlete, it doesn’t really matter where you go to school.”

A year ago, Jamarion Stubbs was a member of Alabama State University’s 4×100 relay team, and this season he is breaking out on his own as an individual runner. Now a sophomore, Stubbs finished seventh in the 200-meter dash at this month’s NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a time of 20.59, earning first-team All-American honors.

“I’ve gotten a lot more consistent and committed to, like, my training in track. … My freshman year, I was moving across the country. I wasn’t sure about a lot of stuff,” Stubbs said. “Since it’s my second year, I’m more comfortable in Alabama. I don’t have as many distractions as I did last year.  I think I’ve grown mentally and physically also because I’ve gained a lot of weight and a lot of muscle over this year.”

Since then he has been training at his home in Las Vegas so that he can stay acclimated to the Pacific time zone before heading to Oregon on Tuesday to compete in the Olympic qualifiers for the 200-meter dash. Until then, he is simply focusing on speed, nutrition and endurance and keeping himself healthy.

“[Alabama State track and field head coach Ritchie Beene] basically just told me, like, to run my race. … I made it this far for a reason,” Stubbs said. “Just because I’m running against pros or other top athletes doesn’t mean anything because I’m one of them also. I just have to run my race and do what I usually do – go out there and compete.”

Stubbs has already packed his Alabama State gold and white uniforms to wear during the trials. He’s very proud he will have Alabama State across his chest while running in the qualifiers. 

“People sleep on HBCUs,” Stubbs said. “[They] don’t expect to see an athlete come out of an HBCU [like] Alabama State and be one of the top athletes or be just as good.”

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff jumper Caleb Snowden also performed well at the Outdoor Track and Field Championships, finishing third in the high jump after clearing 7-3 ¾.

He was happy the championships gave him a chance to compete at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, so he could get comfortable with the field before the Olympic trials.

“Jumping at the same place you know what you’re going to experience there,” Snowden said. “I just got back [to UAPB] working on what I did good and wrong and fixing it, so when I come back [to Oregon] I’m expecting to come and make the USA team.”

Snowden has spent the last two weeks working on his high jump approach, maintaining his speed and perfecting a little technique work over the bar. This season he cleared a personal best of 7-5, a UAPB record, at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays.

Snowden hopes he can finish his senior track and field season in Paris.

“In 2022 is when it was starting to get talked about being in Paris. I’ve always thought about it, but I was never really at the level that I am now,” he said. “But as I started getting closer, I started getting some higher marks and the more I just started thinking about it … all I have to do is just show up and compete [and] I’ve got a chance to go.”