Current and former Cumberland County residents are helping win Team USA Olympic medals in two sports: women’s rugby sevens and track and field.
Women’s rugby sevens
Capt. Samantha Sullivan and her women’s rugby sevens teammates made history with their electric bronze-medal win against Australia on July 30. The medal is the first for Team USA in rugby since 1924 and the first-ever for rugby sevens, a seven-player format of the traditional 15-person sport.
The medal almost did not happen. A try from Team USA center Alex Sedrick in the final seconds of the match left the Americans tied with Australia, who placed fifth, one spot above the U.S., in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
As the cameras cut between Team USA and Australia, they captured Sullivan and the rest of Team USA, in Sullivan’s own words, “freaking out.” She only managed to calm herself down after teammate and flyhalf Kayla Canett reminded her that they still needed a conversion, a kick worth two points, for them to secure the victory.
“That’s when I realized, ‘Oh, shoot, you’re right, we still need the extra points,’” Sullivan told CityView. “So I was just telling them to shut up because everyone’s already cheering and telling myself like, ‘Oh, come on, just shut up and give all your concentration to Spiff [Sedrick].’”
With her eyes locked onto the field, Sullivan and the rest of the stadium hushed to see whether Sedrick would make the kick. She did, ending the game 14-12 with a medal for Team USA.
The Olympic bronze medal is now among the many accolades to Sullivan’s name. She is a three-time All-American in rugby and the 2019 Prusmack Award winner. She holds the record as the Army West Point women’s rugby all-time try scorer. She was also part of the American Rugby World Cup team that placed fourth in 2022.
Rugby was not the sport Sullivan always set out to play. As a high schooler at Jack Britt High School in Fayetteville, Sullivan played for and captained the women’s soccer team. She dreamed of playing for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team and tried out for Army West Point’s soccer team her first year. It took not making the soccer team and the academy’s rugby coach encouraging her to join the rugby team for Sullivan to pick up a rugby ball. 2016 was the first time she played the sport — an American football-like game, but without the stoppage and protective gear — and the rest is history.
“When I found rugby at West Point and found out ‘Oh, there’s a U.S. rugby team. Oh, and rugby is in the Olympics.’ That’s when that dream kind of started,” Sullivan said. “And it really didn’t feel real until I joined the World Class Athlete Program in 2022.” The U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program allows active and reserve military to compete in sports at the international level while performing their Army requirements.
While Sullivan discovered her love for rugby in 2016, much of the United States only started tuning into the sport during this year’s Olympics. While in Paris, Sullivan said the team met U.S. gymnastics superstar Simone Biles and had Team USA’s women’s 4×100-meter team come and watch them practice. They also met Jason Kelce, a recently retired center from the Philadelphia Eagles, after he attended a game and gave him a much-too-small signed team jersey, Sullivan said. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden also stopped by a practice, making it the second time Sullivan has met her.
Sullivan believes much of the national attention comes from the work of her teammate, center Ilona Maher, put into social media leading into the Paris Games. Maher has over 5 million followers across her Instagram and TikTok platforms.
“I think it’s going to help grow the game and get more girls all across the nation with a rugby ball in their hands,” Sullivan said.
Despite all her successes and newfound national attention, Sullivan still remembers the place and people that helped shape her into the Olympic bronze medalist she is today.
“I’m definitely really proud to have grown up in Fayetteville, especially John Griffin [Middle School] and Jack Britt High School, my alma maters,” she said. “The people I met there, the teammates I had there and teachers — all of those people shaped me into the person and the athlete I am today and I’m just so grateful I got to grow up in such an awesome town with just great and supportive people.”
When not an Olympic or World Cup year, you can catch Sullivan competing with her club team, the Colorado Gray Wolves, and working as an active duty Army Captain.
Track and field
Quanera Hayes, a 400-meter specialist, has a chance of hitting Paris’ purple track on Friday, Aug. 9 as part of the women’s 4×400-meter relay.
The Hope Mills native made it to the Olympics as a relay pool member, meaning she will not compete in an individual event. She made the relay pool by placing fifth in the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, making her an obvious choice as one of the two discretionary selections for the women’s relay pool. The other spot went to Kaylyn Brown, another North Carolinian, who placed fourth at the Trials and was part of the mixed 4×400 relay that ran a world record in the preliminary round.
It is not a guarantee Hayes will race as part of the women’s 4×400, but it is likely based on her previous work for Team USA. Hayes was part of the winning women’s 4×400 relay at the World Athletics Relays this past May, which qualified Team USA in the event at the Olympics. The relay time of 3:21:70, during which Hayes split 51.54 seconds in the lead-off leg, is the second fastest run for the women’s 4×400 relay in the world this year.
Hayes is no stranger to Team USA. She competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, placing seventh overall in the 400-meter race. She earned a bronze medal in the 400 at the 2016 World Indoor Championships and has competed at the 2017 and 2023 World Outdoor Championships.
While this is her second Olympics, the Paris Games are very different from those in Tokyo, which were held under strict Covid-19 restrictions. Hayes competed in an empty and silent stadium in Tokyo, while the over 78,000-capacity Stade de France already had a sold-out crowd on the first day of track competition. The crowd was so loud — albeit while watching the live stream of a French swimmer — during the heats of the men’s decathlon 400 that it delayed the event.
One of the biggest differences from all other Olympics, and especially important for Hayes as a mother to her 5-year-old son Demetrius, is the first-ever Olympic nursery. The nursery provides space in the Olympic Village for Olympians to visit with their children and partners.
If Demetrius chooses to run track, which Hayes told Team USA will be entirely his decision, he will have more than his mother’s professional career to base his success on. At Gray’s Creek High School in Hope Mills, Hayes still holds the school record for the women’s 400.
While not competing, current Fayetteville resident Demetria Washington Davis is in Paris with Team USA as an event manager for the track and field team. As event manager, she is helping coordinate the logistics of competing at the Olympics — everything from transport between the Olympic Village and the stadium to communicating competition procedures to athletes. Looking out for fellow athletes is a familiar practice for Washington Davis, who was known as “Mama Dee” for her generous nature in her college days at the University of South Carolina.
At USC, Washington Davis was a six-time NCAA champion and a 21-time All-American. As a professional, she won the silver medal in the 400-meter race at the 2003 U.S. Championships and was part of the gold-winning American 4×400-meter team at the 2003 World Championships (also held in Paris).
Even before becoming a top American sprinter, Washington Davis made history in Fayetteville competing for Terry Sanford High School. In high school, she won the 55-, 300- and 500-meter dashes at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association indoor state championships in 1998, earning enough total points to place amongst the top teams if the rules had allowed it. She also won the 400 in 1996 and 1997 and the 100- and 200-meter in 1998 at the NCHSAA outdoor state championships.
Washington Davis still wins awards after retiring from track and field competition, earning the North Carolina Mother of the Year award in 2022. She is also a member of the Fayetteville/Cumberland County Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission, a pastor at Force of Life Ministries on Gary Street and a private chef and caterer.
CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the CityView News Fund.
Thx for Olympics participates article!!!
All of our county and area are so proud of them!!!