Hampton’s Kellie Wells Wins Bronze in Olympic 100-Meter Hurdles
Written by HBCU Digest, Posted in Alumni, Hampton University, Sports, Virginia
Hampton University alumna Kellie Wells won the bronze medal in this afternoon’s 100-meter hurdles final. Wells is the second HBCU graduate to capture an Olympic medal in the London Olympics track and field events, along with Jackson State University’s Michael Tinsley. From her NBCOlympics.com biography:
When it came time for college, Wells opted for Hampton University, a historically black college that lacks the track & field reputation of much larger Division 1 institutions. Wells thrived in that atmosphere, earning NCAA All-America and Academic All-America honors twice while leading Hampton to indoor and outdoor MEAC championships each of her four years. “I went to a smaller school, and we kind of get overlooked at times,” Wells said. “I was always ranked pretty high in the nation. It wasn’t that I wasn’t a permanent fixture as a hurdler, but it was tough going to a smaller school and not the Floridas or the USCs. Even in my class, we had Ginnie Crawford, Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, and Dawn Harper so there were a lot of people to pay attention to.”
