{"id":20551,"date":"2025-03-28T10:20:46","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T14:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/?p=20551"},"modified":"2025-05-15T13:29:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T17:29:22","slug":"shell-always-have-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/shell-always-have-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"She’ll Always Have Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Allie Wilson ’18, ’19M was about halfway through her time at Monmouth when the wake-up call came. She wasn’t expecting it, and she certainly didn’t enjoy it. But she knows that it was the spark for much of what she’s accomplished since. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge came from her coaches, particularly then-assistant coach Chris Tarello, who made it clear that Wilson\u2019s level of commitment was insufficient. That there were other athletes on the Hawks\u2019 track team who might have lacked Wilson\u2019s talent, but whose dedication dwarfed hers. That maybe it was time to sit down and talk seriously about her future with the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was showing up to practice every day and working hard, but I was also having a lot of fun, living the college experience,\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize how much the things I was doing outside of practice\u2014going out, not getting enough sleep\u2014would affect my performance. So, he pulled me aside, and obviously it really upset me; at the time, it felt like my world was ending. But it was kind of just what I needed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenge accepted, motivation secured, Wilson began a transformation nearly a decade ago that culminated last summer in Paris. One of the most decorated runners in Monmouth history, an NCAA All-American and later a U.S. national champion at 800 meters, Wilson became just the third Hawk, and first Monmouth track athlete, to compete in the Summer Olympics. That she fell short of medaling did little to diminish all that she accomplished in making the team, an almost unheard-of outcome from a lightly recruited high school runner who needed time to find her focus, overcame significant injuries, and emerged from one of the deepest fields in the sport to compete on its biggest stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who know her best acknowledge her longshot status. They also know the potential was always there. \u201cShe\u2019ll fool you a bit, because when you talk to Allie, she\u2019s the most pleasant person in the world, but she\u2019s very tough,\u201d says Joe Compagni, who retired in 2019 after 24 years as head coach and director of the Hawks\u2019 track and field program. \u201cAs soon as we met her, we saw she was pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Allie

Wilson was just the third Hawk, and first Monmouth track athlete, to compete in the Summer Olympics.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n

From Promise to Potential <\/h3>\n\n\n

Wilson\u2019s athleticism was obvious at Strath Haven High School outside of Philadelphia, where she was part of a district title-winning 4×800 relay team and was the Delaware County champ in the 800 meters as a junior; as a senior the following fall, she was named the county\u2019s girls soccer player of the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For all that, she didn\u2019t have many big- time college offers in either sport, and Monmouth\u2019s interest eventually caught her attention. She\u2019d grown up going to South Jersey beaches; more important, her high school coach encouraged her to consider a smaller school. \u201cHe knew if I went to a bigger school, I\u2019d probably end up not getting as much attention from my coaches,\u201d she says. \u201cHe basically said, \u2018You\u2019d do really well having someone who really cares about you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She found that in Compagni and his staff, and in a program that was competitive enough to challenge her without, she says, leaving her \u201changing on for dear life. It felt like the perfect environment.\u201d Wilson responded, winning a handful of individual races in her first two seasons and running legs on Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)-winning relay teams. She also made multiple MAAC All-Academic teams; by any measure, her college experience on and off the track was a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But medals and awards don\u2019t show untapped potential. Hence the hard conversation with Tarello, and Wilson\u2019s decision to use it as inspiration. \u201cI was basically on this mission to prove that I do take this seriously, and that I can be really good,\u201d she says. \u201cI was determined to prove that I can make changes to be the athlete that I should have been all along. I found a better balance for myself. Going into my junior year was when I really started trying to dial things in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She started seeing results during the cross-country season that fall; she was getting more sleep and cutting back on socializing, and she felt faster and stronger. And then she broke her foot, an injury that would reoccur, costing her essentially her entire junior year of competition and eventually requiring surgery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also showed the toughness that Compagni noticed early on from his burgeoning star: The coach remembers Wilson coming to practice one day with a \u201csore foot,\u201d which she continued to practice on for the next three or four days before team trainers insisted on checking her out. \u201cAnd it wasn\u2019t a little stress fracture,\u201d Compagni says now. \u201cIt was broken <\/em>broken.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back on those long, difficult months, sidelined and frustrated, Wilson says now, \u201cI think if I hadn\u2019t had that glimpse of the next step I was about to take, I would have ended up quitting.\u201d She swam so many laps to maintain her conditioning that she joked she\u2019d turned into a mermaid; mostly, she realized how much she missed being out on the track with her teammates, putting in the work. \u201cThat\u2019s really the time I grew up,\u201d she says. \u201cMy eyes opened to who I actually wanted to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increasingly, she was a winner: After a slow start during the 2017 fall cross-country season as she worked herself back into shape, Wilson had a terrific indoor season, keying 4×800 relay wins at the MAAC and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championships and earning All-East honors in the 800 and 4×800. Then came the 2018 outdoor season, and an undeniable breakthrough: Wilson won the 800 and 1500 titles at the MAAC championships, won the 800 again at the ECAC meet, and made her debut at the NCAA championships, where her 13th place finish in the 800 earned her second team All-America honors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The season lost to those foot injuries meant Wilson had a remaining year of eligibility, and with her coaches\u2019 encouragement, Wilson decided to come back in 2018\u201319 for a postgraduate year. That\u2019s when, Compagni says, \u201cshe separated herself on a whole other level.\u201d Across the indoor and outdoor seasons, she won three individual MAAC titles and contributed to two more MAAC relay crowns, and, thanks to top-5 finishes in the 800 in both the indoor and outdoor NCAA championships, Wilson wrapped her Monmouth career as a two-time first-team All-American.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, she caught the attention of coaches from the esteemed Atlanta Track Club (ATC), who a year earlier had signed All-American middle-distance runner Dylan Capwell \u201918 to a multiyear contract. \u201cThat blew me away,\u201d Wilson says. \u201cI didn\u2019t realize I was kind of at that level.\u201d She signed with ATC that summer, and Compagni encouraged her to embrace the opportunity: the chance to train with other pros, sign with a well-regarded agent, and commit to chasing a dream she wasn\u2019t sure she was even ready to admit to it. It was never going to be easy.<\/p>\n\n\n

From Monmouth to the World Stage<\/h3>\n\n\n
\"Allie

Allie Wilson was honored with fellow U.S. Olympians Curtis Thompson, Ariana Ramsey, and Maia Weintraub at Lincoln Financial Field on Aug. 24, 2024, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As she embarked on her professional career in late 2019 and early 2020, Wilson believed her full potential remained untapped. But she knew with even more certainty just how good her competition was. \u201cIt was a really fun time to be good at the 800,\u201d she says, \u201cand also a really hard <\/em>time.\u201d The event was dense with world-class American women, and Wilson struggled to see herself on their level. \u201cIt just felt so unrealistic\u2014no one was ever going to beat those girls,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel like I didn\u2019t truly believe I was ever going to make an Olympic team; I just wanted to get better and have a career I could be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She started well enough, earning a bronze medal at the 2020 U.S. Indoors, her first national championship meet as a pro. Less than a month later, the COVID-19 pandemic derailed any momentum she might\u2019ve hoped to build toward qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games. She recorded her first sub-2:00 finish in the 800 in May 2021, and set another personal record of 1:59.02 five weeks later at the COVID- delayed U.S. Olympic trials. \u201cIt was a big barrier, and I was happy,\u201d she says, \u201cbut I wasn\u2019t going to be making Olympic teams with that time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilson calls the 2022 season the best of her career: She hit 1:58.18 at a meet that summer and went viral in track circles for tripping and falling across the finish line to win the race. Then she finished fourth at the U.S. championships\u2014still not quite fast enough for a medal, but close enough to keep the faith. A difficult 2023 season proved a half step back, and then, shortly before the start of the 2024 season, Wilson\u2019s coach at ATC left the club. Still under contract with the club, Wilson made the tough choice to follow her coach and run unattached in the buildup to Olympic qualifying. Ultimately, she says, \u201cI like the challenge of having to prove myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She wasted no time doing just that, winning gold at the 2024 U.S. Indoors to claim her first national championship. But she struggled in the outdoor season, running disappointing times and dealing with recurring muscle pulls related to anemia. She reached the Olympic trials with something less than maximum confidence, but won her preliminary and semifinal heats to earn a spot in the final. The top three finishers would qualify for the Paris Olympics; Wilson finished second. It was, she says, \u201cthe greatest moment of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paris was unforgettable\u2014the opening ceremonies, her parents making their first trip to Europe, a selfie with Olympic teammate LeBron James\u2014but her experience on the track wouldn\u2019t be able to match the high of qualifying. She ran a personal record 1:57.52 in an Olympic warmup in London and felt she was peaking at the right time, but in both her preliminary heat in Paris and the next day\u2019s repechage\u2014essentially a second chance at qualifying, introduced to the Games last year\u2014she ran hard but couldn\u2019t get the time she needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cApparently everyone there is pretty fast,\u201d she says with a laugh. \u201cI was sad after the race, but I know I gave it my all.\u201d In the months that followed, she joined her teammates at the White House and
was honored at Monmouth and at her high school, and her disappointment waned. \u201cIt reminded me that nobody cared that I didn\u2019t have the race of my life,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, no matter what else she does, Allie Wilson will always be an Olympian. Which is not to say she wouldn\u2019t mind one more shot. \u201cI\u2019ve been running the 800 since I was 9 years old\u2014that\u2019s almost 20 years,\u201d she says, \u201cbut I think I have some untapped potential in the 1500. I might see what I can do in that one.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Monmouth\u2019s presence at the 2024 Paris Olympics went beyond competition\u2014several Hawks were behind the scenes making an impact. Meet the three communications alumni who played key roles at the Games.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allie Wilson\u2019s road to the Olympics was anything but smooth, but her story proves that some dreams are worth the struggle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":20554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"image_focus":"{\"x\":50,\"y\":44}","hide_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[93],"class_list":["post-20551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-alumni-donor-profiles"],"thumbnail":"\"\"","catString":"Features","issue":"Spring 2025","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20551"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21372,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20551\/revisions\/21372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}