Audrey Parson has always been competitive. The senior Wichita State track and field athlete said it’s something that started young, with her dad encouraging her along the way.
Parson started running when she was 8. Her dad was already coaching her sister and encouraged Parson to give it a try.
“I remember going out to the track with my sister, and like, she was hurdling and then my dad was like, ‘How about you try?’” Parson said. “And then every day after school, I started doing AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) track, and that’s when I started to fall in love with the sport.”
She went on to qualify and compete in the Junior Olympics.
“Every summer, we went (on) trips and a lot of them,” she said. “The Junior Olympics were in really cool places. That’s kind of where the high expectations kind of started, and that’s when I started to really love being competitive and competing against a lot of really good people.”
Those high expectations eventually led Parson to run at WSU. But when she arrived, Parson was dealing with an injury, the first of several that would challenge her along the way.
“I’ve had three stress fractures, a lot of just not being able to have consistent training,” she said. “So that’s been kind of a struggle to go through throughout the years. But this year, finally, everything’s kind of coming together. The hard work is paying off.”
Parson, a senior this year, plans to become an athletic trainer when she finishes her tenure on the team. In fact, she’s already gained experience for her future career through years of working through injuries and helping her teammates through theirs.
Parson’s teammate and roommate, Chidera Okoro, said Parson’s academic path has been helpful for many on the team.
“I even come home with injuries — all our roommates come home and say, like, ‘Hey, Audrey, could you check what this is? Or, could you like, diagnose me?’” Okoro said. “And it’s really fun because she knows a lot. She’s a very smart girl who not only applies it to her school, but she also applies to the track.
“Whenever she’s dealing with some injuries, she can go through like, her textbook and pinpoint, ‘Okay, this has like, tendonitis, or this is blah, blah, blah, and she usually gets through it with whatever treatment the book says.”
Okoro described Parson as a “dog” and a “stud.”
“She’s always a person who is dedicated to a routine,” Okoro said. “If it’s on her mind, she will figure out a way to solve it … I think she’s very hard-headed. She will figure it out one way or the other.”
Parson said her determination comes down to finding her “why” and focusing on those goals through hardships.
“You have to know that even if you have a bad day, like, the good days will come,” Parson said. “The results are going to be what they are, and just knowing that you’re working as hard as you can, and at the end of it, if you don’t get what you want, you at least know you gave it your all.”
Parson said she’s not yet certain if she’ll compete for another year or simply focus on finishing her studies. She said coming to what might be the end of her athletic career is “bittersweet.”
“It’s definitely like a weird feeling,” she said. “I’ve worked so hard to get up to this point that I’ve almost given it all; to where, I only have a little bit more to give.”
