NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Nine current and former Vanderbilt track and field student-athletes will vie for the chance to represent their respective countries at the 2024 Paris Olympics as national championships unfold in June.
Those looking to represent the United States in Paris include Veronica Fraley, Brandee Johnson, Allyria McBride and Giavonna Meeks.
Fraley won the discus title at the NCAA Championships earlier in June and has represented the U.S. on the international stage at two World Championships and the 2023 Pan American Games. Johnson is a former All-American at Florida and now works on the Vanderbilt track and field staff as student-athlete and alumni engagement coordinator. McBride earned second-team All-America honors in the 400-meter hurdles as a freshman and earned a bronze medal as a medal of Team USA at the 2023 Pan American U20 Championships. During the 2024 indoor season, Meeks threw the No. 2 all-time weight throw mark by a collegiate freshman and earned first-team All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Across the pond, graduate student Sarah Omoregie and alumna Divine Oladipo, both first-team All-Americans in the shot put, will compete in the UK Athletics Championships with hopes to represent Team Great Britain at the Olympics. Oladipo has received six additional second-team All-America selections and was the 2022 SEC runner-up in the indoor and outdoor shot put. Omoregie earned a bronze medal in the shot put at the 2024 SEC Indoor Championships and scored for the Dores in the same event outdoors.
Vanderbilt alumni Beatrice Juskeviciute and Brooke Overholt will look to represent Lithuania and Canada, respectively. During her final collegiate season, Juskeviciute won the SEC and Lithuanian titles in the heptathlon and was runner-up to the NCAA crown outdoors. A first-team All-American in the 400-meter hurdles, Overholt was the runner-up in the event at the 2023 Canadian Outdoor Championships and advanced to that year’s World Athletics Championships.
Action begins Friday at 1 p.m. CT when Meeks competes in the qualifying round of the hammer throw at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon. A full schedule of events and more information on Vanderbilt’s contingent of Olympic hopefuls can be found on VUCommodores.com.
