With the conclusion of my third season running cross country in the inaugural Century Conference, let me share my top 5 moments from the Summer Olympics track and field events that kept me motivated to compete and finish the season.

As with most countdowns, I will start backward and end with No. 1.

Starting out my list is 16-year-old Quincy Wilson, who made history as the youngest male athlete to run for Team USA’s men’s 4×400 meter relay.

It’s mind-blowing to me that a teenager my age was able to accomplish such a great feat. Some high schoolers dream that one day they’ll have a chance to make it in their sport, but Wilson worked hard and achieved this accomplishment at an age before most people make it.

Although I personally haven’t had the chance to compete against some of the greats of my league, I imagine he must’ve felt the pressure.

He impressively carried himself with poise despite knowing the whole world could watch him race. Personally, I get nervous when my family and friends watch me race, so I can’t imagine how he must’ve felt with the whole world watching him.

Expectedly, he was the slowest of his leg, meaning he came in last on the first lap, which made him fall to the bottom of my list. However, that’s to be expected when a teenager is competing against some of the greatest athletes in the world: Letsile Tebogo, Samuel Reardon and Yuki Joseph Nakajima, just to name a few.

He ran the 400-meter relay in the preliminary round, which in turn earned him a gold medal for helping the men’s team to reach the final round.

Although he didn’t have a standout performance, Wilson was still an instrumental part of the relay team.

Some of his competitors have been training for this event for the same amount of time Wilson has been alive, and it’s amazing how he was able to show up and show out.

Seeing that the men’s 4×100 relay team failed to win gold was disappointing, but my spirits were lifted after the women who ran the same event brought home the win for Team USA.

Even though the men couldn’t accomplish first place, I’m really proud of Gabby Thomas, Sha’Carri Richardson, Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry for showing America that women are just as good, if not better than men.

Although Richardson lost to Saint Lucian Julien Alfred in the women’s 100-meter final, she incredibly shook off any possible doubts she might’ve had after losing and helped deliver a win for America.

When I race, bad performances often get to my head; I start doubting myself and think that I can’t reach a personal record anymore after one bad race. But seeing a professional with tremendous pressure on her shake off those doubts to carry herself to first place was really inspiring to watch.

Another sprinter of this winning team was Thomas, who won the women’s 200-meter final, women’s 4×100-meter relay and 4×400-meter relay. To be so dominant in three events in track and field is not an easy feat.

One of my great friends and teammates told me her achievements were beyond impressive and said, “That is something I can only dream of.”

These remarkable women deserve their laurels, but the other three runners on my list had more of an impact on me because of their astounding results. However, they deserve this number four spot for their amazing teamwork and individual talent.

All four of these athletes are still considerably young, but I don’t know if this dynamic team will be back for the next Olympics; I will be keeping my eye out for them though, when watching the Los Angeles games.

It’s hard to mention great feats in track and field without including American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone; she is in a category of her own regarding the 400-meter hurdles.

Donning her silver, bejeweled crown after the race, McLaughlin-Levrone took home the gold medal and another world record, beating her own world record for the sixth time.

Even though I have never broken a world record, I know how it feels to beat a personal record. Given the goal for each race is to do better than the last, once I hit my target time I relish in my success knowing I worked hard to get there.

I admire McLaughlin-Levrone for constantly improving herself race after race. She is now at the highest level, where her biggest competitor is herself, so I commend her for continuing to better herself.

Watching this race inspired me to improve myself during my own cross country meets. Even when I felt like giving up, remembering McLaughlin-Leverone’s accomplishments inspired me to be the fastest version of myself. As I start training for the upcoming track season, I hope to have the discipline to push myself to greatness like hers.

To give an idea of how dominant McLaughlin-Levrone is, during the women’s 400-meter hurdles final, she can be seen having a 25-meter lead on second place. For short-distance races such as the 400 meter, getting such a huge gap is hard, especially among the elites.

I’m excited to keep up with McLaughlin-Levrone over the next few years, and it would be incredible if she could show up at the next Olympics, proving she is still the best in her event.

If I could put three moments in the first place, she would qualify, but unfortunately, that cannot happen. She was amazing, but my attention was focused on two other athletes throughout the Olympics

Despite how much fun I have watching how much fun I have watching short-distance events, middle-distance races also deserve to be recognized — like the highly anticipated men’s 1500-meter final. 

After talking to my dad, who didn’t run in high school but now competes in marathons, we expected that one of the two rivals of the 1500m — Olympic record holder Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigsten or reigning World Champion Great British Josh Kerr — would be the gold medalist.

In our conversation, he said that they both have a lot of talent and the potential to win; I thought the same.

In a shocking turn of events, American Cole Hocker blazed down the home stretch from fifth place, ended up being the gold medalist for the men’s 1500m and set a new Olympic record.

It surprised me since I fully expected either Ingebrigtsen or Kerr to take home gold. 

Admittedly, I know less about middle distance when it comes to track than short distance, so perhaps Hocker’s win wasn’t at all as astonishing to those in the running world as it was to me. Although I run the long-distance events — these in high school are considered middle distance for collegiate and professional track and field — I tend to watch and loosely keep up with short-distance professionals. I find that sprints are more fun to observe.

Because this rivalry was so highlighted, especially during the live stream on Peacock whenever the 1500-meter race was mentioned, I only considered Ingebrigtsen and Kerr for first place.

I’m proud that an American was able to swoop in and prove himself worthy. He played the race very smartly. He stayed with the crowd for the majority of the race, and on the final lap, he started advancing around the 300-meter mark and passed Kerr, who was in first place in the last 20 meters.

Throughout my season, I tried to implement this strategy while racing. I would stick with the closest pack of girls near me and work my way through them. Like Hocker did, I picked off every person in front of me.

I hope to incorporate this strategy in my main event, the 1600 meter — or the one mile during track season as well. He employed a smart move, and I want to be able to reach the point where I can stay with the pack during a race.

I experienced a huge shock, as it looked like Kerr would win the whole race. Inspired by his performance, it reminded me that I can’t base my race on other people’s performance but that I should trust my training. 

I vividly remember sitting in my living room stunned, with my mouth hanging open because I truly did not see that coming, which is why Hocker’s win is so high up on my list. 

Unfortunately, he did not make the No. 1 spot because it was the event that I had been anticipating since before the track and field portion of the Olympics began.

One of the most talked about moments from track and field was the men’s 100-meter final.

I kept seeing TikToks about Lyles and heard reporters talk about him on the Olympic livestream through Peacock. 

American Noah Lyles made it clear that he was going after the double — winning the 100m and 200m finals in the same Olympic Games — a feat he was able to achieve at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, making this a highly anticipated race. Given that only nine men currently carry this title, and the sprinter hoped to be the tenth, a lot of buzz surrounded this final.

As the men crossed the line, most spectators assumed that Jamaican Kishane Thompson came in first place. But in a shocking photo finish, Lyles’ clavicle — the collarbone —  crossed the line 0.005 seconds before Thompson’s, crowning Lyles the gold medalist.

I can’t believe how big of a difference 0.005 seconds could be. That 5 milliseconds determines a gold medalist from a silver one.

This proved a good reminder throughout my season that the race was not over until I crossed the finish line. Lyles had no idea if he was going to win but focused on giving the race everything he had.

As I aimed to hit a personal record for each race, I adopted that mentality and focused on my race instead of how I would do it. I found that the races where I focused on pushing myself to my limit were the ones in which I got a lower time.

One of the reasons why I like competing in track and field better than cross country is because of moments like this.

In cross country, passing a runner is much harder if they are in the lead. But because the distances are shorter in track, passing people is a lot easier.

Unfortunately, Lyles placed third place in the men’s 200-meter final and revealed to the reporters moments after his race that he had been diagnosed with COVID-19 two days prior.

This was a disappointing outcome for Lyles and the fans who had been cheering him on to get the double. He could not accomplish his goal coming into the 2024 Games due to not winning the gold medal in the 200-meter final.

I think it’s inspiring that he still went after his goal despite knowing he likely wouldn’t succeed. It reminds me that in times of hardship, I need to just keep pushing forward and not give up, which is why he is my number one.

This was the most fun event I watched, and it kept me on the edge of my seat, both literally and figuratively, as I watched the live stream of him crossing the line.

I was rooting for him to achieve this goal and was a little disappointed when he failed to deliver, but I am rooting for him to come back in 2028 at the Los Angeles games to attempt this feat again and hopefully succeed.