Belmont’s Lauren Tolbert advances to NCAA track finals 

LAUREN TOLBERT VIA INSTAGRAM

Duke graduate Lauren Tolbert, a three-time NCAA All-America from Belmont, is in the national title hunt in the women's 800-meter and 4x400 relay.

Competing in four consecutive NCAA national championships in track and field is incredibly rare, but Lauren Tolbert is there.

A three-time All-America at Duke, the senior from Belmont delivered two more scintillating performances June 11 at the NCAA Division I outdoor championships in Eugene, Oregon.  

Tolbert posted a fourth-best time of 1 minute, 59.69 in the 800-meter semifinal to advance to the final and in the 4x400 relay, Tolbert — along with teammates Julia Jackson, Braelyn Baker and Maya Collins — shattered the school record with a clocking of 3:25.14 to finish first in their heat. Race time for the 800 final is slated for 9:14 p.m., while the 4x400 relay final is 10:21 p.m. on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN+.

Tolbert said the highly-charged, electric atmosphere of Hayward Field felt overwhelming as a freshman in 2023, but she’s never felt more prepared or more confident for a meet in her life heading into the first day of competition.

“There’s always a lot of nerves and excitement just hearing the crowd at nationals — everyone in the field is either a conference champion or a national champion,” Tolbert, who recently graduated with a degree in biology. “You’re riding with the best of the best in the NCAA —so it’s a lot of fun to compete with the very best and show who you are.”
 
Tolbert, who was first team All-America the previous three seasons, finished fifth in the 800 at last year’s national championships, but she’s confident she’ll have the individual gold medal draped around her neck after Saturday’s final.

“This year, I have the most confidence going into nationals,” she said. “I’m ready to go have fun. It’s going to be a big victory lap to cap o? my whole collegiate career, and to come out on top.”

At the NCAA East Regional 4x400 relay event last month, Tolbert ran the anchor leg in dramatic fashion. The Blue Devils were in fourth place when she took the baton from Collins with everything at stake. If Tolbert had been unable to overtake her competitors, they would have to wait to see if their time was good enough to qualify for the national championships. Tolbert recalled her thought process waiting for the baton exchange and then finding herself trailing the leader by 10 meters.

“I said to myself, ‘I’m here to take it all, not just play it safe. I don’t want to just qualify — I want to win this whole thing for my team,” she said.

Tolbert exploded past the competition to give the Lady Blue Devils the third seed at the national championships. In the process, Duke set a new Atlantic Coast Conference record, posting a time of 3:26.40.

A safe space

Running became a big part of Tolbert’s life at the tender age of 8. She joined Girls on the Run, a national nonprofit that empowers girls in grades 3-8 by combining the physical activity of running with lessons on mental and emotional health, according to the nonprofit’s website.

Raychelle Robinson, executive director of the Greater Charlotte chapter of Girls on the Run, said Lauren’s success on the track is a shining example of how the nonprofit helps young girls build confidence and develop valuable life skills.

“It is wonderful to see Lauren utilizing her gifts and pursuing her full potential at such a high level,” Robinson said. 

Robinson said Tolbert’s mother, Delisa, recently shared an anecdote about her time participating in Girls on the Run, which speaks to Tolbert’s unselfishness.

“There was a period of time [she] was not running her fastest—not because she could not, but because she would stop along the route to encourage and support her teammates. That story speaks volumes about Lauren’s heart, leadership, and character from a very young age,” she said.

For Tolbert, the joy of running transcends winning races. 

“Running is my safe space,” she said. “When I was younger, I would always run to clear my head — running is just like a part of me. Running makes me feel free.”

Tolbert credits track and field with helping her personal growth with respect to discipline, confidence, and time management. Tolbert said she hopes her legacy will be making a lasting impact on young women who look up to her as a role model. She participates in Athlete to Athlete — a mentoring program that connects athletes ages 6-18 with Division I collegiate athletes.

“I mentor high school [students] and I love seeing their progression — giving advice, talking about anything they need to discuss — having that lasting impact on people,” she said.

The next chapter

For Tolbert, the national championships represent the end of one journey and the beginning of another. Her ultimate goal is to compete in the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Last fall, Tolbert inked an NIL deal with Brooks Running, and she plans on turning pro after her final collegiate competition. Tolbert said she hopes to retain Duke associate head coach Mark Mueller as her professional coach and continue training in Durham. 

Tolbert attributes a great deal of her success to Mueller’s mentorship, and the unconditional support of family and friends.

“Coach Mueller cares more about you as a person than an athlete, so he always puts your mental wellbeing above athletics,” she said. “Coach Mueller always tells us, ‘If you have a bad race, people will still love you.’”

Tolbert said she feels the weight of pressure — the high bar she sets for herself — but Mueller has helped her gain perspective on the emotional ups and downs that are inevitable in athletic competition.

“The higher you get, the more expectations you put on yourself,” she said. “The more expectations coaches and everyone else puts on you to perform at the highest level every time you step on the track.”

During her sophomore season, Tolbert admits the high expectations took a mental toll. Tolbert said she struggled with her confidence and belief in herself, but her support system at Duke University was unparalleled, which made all the difference.

“I was just in a slump," Tolbert recalled. "I had to meet with coach Mueller over and over again, and he was telling me, ‘It’s okay if you don’t hit this time. It’s OK if you don’t execute this race perfectly. Everything is a learning process, and you’re going on a journey.’”

Tolbert said to the casual observer, it could appear that gifted athletes just step on the track and turn in amazing performances, but it's far more complicated and to be a champion, you must be willing to work hard, endure pain and sacrifice.

“People just don’t know how much work you put in at the track,” she said. “The 800 and the 400 are two of the hardest events, so you’re in pain every single day at practice. It’s about being mentally present and coming back day after day, putting yourself through that to reach your biggest goals.”

From the time she began her running journey, Tolbert has leaned on her support system, which has contributed to her mental toughness.

During her downtime at track meets, Tolbert’s approach to lowering her stress level isn’t listening to music or sitting alone with her thoughts, but rather socializing, laughing and joking with teammates. 

“It helps calm me and takes the stress o? of me — just knowing I have people supporting me there, and I’m not really thinking about track,” she said. “I’m just having fun with my friends and just doing the things we love. Having that family of women around you — it makes the journey even better.”

Formula for success

Tolbert said she understands that she’s on a journey, and races will not always go according to plan. Last month, Duke 4x400-meter relay team finished second behind Clemson in the 4x400 at the ACC Championships and she was disappointed in her finish in the 800.

“We were disappointed because it was only three points, which hurt the most — we tried our best and tried our hardest, and we came up short,” Tolbert said. 

But Tolbert knew the Blue Devils would get a shot at redemption in the East Regional in Lexington, Kentucky, on May 30.
 
“I just went back to the drawing board with Coach Mueller and talked about how we’re going to approach regionals and nationals,” she said. 

One point of emphasis for Tolbert has been to utilize visualization techniques before, during and after competitions to help improve her performance on the track.

“Going into any big competition, my teammates and I just visualize what we see, feel and hear — what we want to accomplish at the meet — and then we just step into the picture and reenact the whole race,” she said. “And if there’s a conflict in the race, we try to reenact it as well so we know what to do in those situations if it comes into reality for those races.”

Thus, when Tolbert grabbed the baton in the 4x400 relay event in Lexington, she was mentally prepared to win.

As Tolbert approaches the start line at the NCAA finlas, she will lean heavily on her support system, mental toughness and a rock-solid belief in herself that she began building at 8 years old.

“I just tell myself, ‘Trust in your training, trust in yourself, trust in everyone that believes in you,’” she said. “Those are always words I tell myself. Then I take a few deep breaths and I’m ready to go.”

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