Quanera Hayes, who graduated from Gray’s Creek High School in Hope Mills, will compete with Team USA in the Tokyo Olympics after winning the women’s 400-meter run at the recent U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Ore.
Hayes, who will compete in the Olympics for the first time, will run in the 400-meter with two others from Team USA, Allyson Felix and Wadeline Jonathas July 23 to Aug. 8.
Hayes was born in South Carolina but moved to Fayetteville as a freshman at Gray’s Creek; she went on to compete at Livingstone College in Salisbury.
Hayes, who has earned gold medals for the United States in the 4×400 relay, also brought home medals from world championships and world relays in 2017. She also was the world indoor champion in 2016 and 2018.
Hayes will compete with her son Demetrius watching; she and Felix both gave birth to children in 2018.
"Coming back was very tough," Hayes said for CBS 17 in Raleigh. "I had to learn how to run all over again. I couldn't come out of blocks, my stride was different. I would do one run in practice and I would just stop because it would just hurt and I would get discouraged because I wasn't hitting my times."
To wrap up the first day, attendees were able to meet up for a social event at the Brad Halling American Whiskey Ko. in Southern Pines where a $10,000 check was presented to the Joint Special Operations Foundation for their scholarship fund. Photo pr
The three-story, 200,000 square-foot business incubator space is located at 420 Maiden Lane. The building features an elevator, construction has begun on handicap bathrooms for the first floor and the second and third floors feature window walls offering views of Segra Stadium.
Image provided by FTCCFocused on building the local workforce and streamlining the education process through real world learning, the Hope, Opportunity, Prosperity through Education Program at Fayetteville Technical Community College (FTCC), also kno
