HSU Graduate Student to Compete in Olympics Tryouts

World class runner Reyare Thomas aims for place on Trinidad and Tobago Olympic team

June 22, 2016 Linnea Kirgan

(Abilene, Texas) A Hardin-Simmons University graduate student has another chance at her Olympics dream after spending the London Olympics as an alternate. 

Reyare Thomas, 28, will compete in an upcoming Olympic qualifying meet for a place on the Trinidad and Tobago track-and-field team. The meet will be held at Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain June 24-26.

Thomas is working toward her Masters of Education in Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport Management at HSU. She is from Trinidad and Tobago, a dual-island country located in the Caribbean. (Watch an interview with Thomas on the HSU Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hardin.simmons.university/). 

In the 2012 London Olympic games, Thomas served as a reserve runner on the 4X100 meter relay team for Trinidad and Tobego. Her Olympic dreams were ignited even before the London Olympics.

“That dream started for me since 2007. I just fell short of making the Olympics in 2008. I happened to make the Olympics in 2012, but I was just the reserve for the relay team,” she said. “Having that experience for the first time, I thought by 2016 I wanted to be on the Olympic team again, but this time in my individual event.”

Her disciplines are the 100 meter, 200 meter, and 4X100 meter relay, with the 200 meter being her individual event.

“The qualification for the woman’s side has been getting tougher as the years have gone by,” she said. “This year it will be something to work extra hard for.”

She said the country has seven female runners who are all ranked in the top 40 in the world, making it a very strong field of competitors.

In Abilene, Thomas trains remotely with her coach from Trinidad as well as with local running coaches to keep pushing herself. She works as a track coach at Abilene Christian University, where she received her undergraduate degree in 2014.

Thomas has competed in global events such as the World Championship Games, IAAF, and the Pan American Games, as well many other international racing competitions. She won a bronze medal with the Trinidad and Tobago team in the 4X100 relays at the IAAF World Athletics Championship in Beijing in 2015.

She said she enjoys her time as a student at Hardin-Simmons and works to maintain a balance in her busy life.

“I try to balance my training with school and coaching,” she said.

Dr. Lindsay Edwards, who is Thomas’s advisor at HSU, said Thomas is expected to graduate in December and has her focus on a coaching career.

“She hopes to apply her knowledge to the coaching field and, of course, to her professional athlete career,” Edwards said. “Being that Reyare is in the graduate program and not on campus as much as the undergraduates, I am not sure a lot of folks know about her accomplishments. I am hoping a spotlight on her achievements will allow others to know who she is.”

The 2016 Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro from August 5-21.

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