Three students represented their countries and CMU at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games
Olivia Cummins, Harry Stacey and Emma Meyers spend most of their days on campus at CMU as student-athletes, studying for exams and training with their teams. But last summer, they were halfway across the globe making history at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Olivia Cummins: All About Mindset
Olivia Cummins, an accomplished senior on CMU’s Cycling Team studying psychology, was an alternate on Team USA’s five-person Cycling Pursuit Team who claimed gold in Paris. She celebrated her 21st birthday on the first day of competition — making her the youngest member on the team by six years.
“I was very aware of the age difference, but I was able to learn so much,” she said. “I felt like a sponge the whole time. I was just trying to soak up every experience that I had. All the other girls on the team had won Olympic medals in the past, so I knew they knew what they were doing.
I look up to all of them.”
Cummins didn’t have her sights set on the Olympics until a year before her wheels hit the ultimate track. As she raced in increasingly higher caliber races through the years, even alongside Olympians who competed in Tokyo, she realized that making it to the Paris Olympics was a realistic possibility.
"For a lot of people, the Olympics is a dream they’ve had since they were a kid, but that was never really the case for me,” she said. "I just decided that if the opportunity is there, then I was going to do everything I could to try to make it happen. I totally shifted my mindset and training and oriented it around the team pursuit event specifically.”
Cummins hopes to impart the lessons she’s learned on her younger teammates at CMU.
“I just want to help the underclassmen enjoy being student-athletes. It’s college and these are supposed to be the fun years of your life. It’s important to protect your peace, have fun and enjoy what you’re doing,” she said.
Originally from Fort Collins, Cummins chose to attend CMU because she wanted to stay in Colorado and join her friends who were already on the cycling team. When she toured the campus, she immediately knew that CMU was where she belonged.
“The coaches at CMU have supported me more than I can even describe. More than anything, they’ve been a rock for me, not just for the Olympics, but in general with my professional racing on the road, too,” she said.
Cummins hopes to compete at the 2028 Olympics, which will be held in the United States. As she wraps up her senior year, she’s considering furthering her education to become a clinical psychologist.
Harry Stacey: Capitalizing on Opportunity
In the Paris Olympic pool swam another remarkable CMU student-athlete, Harry Stacey.
Stacey, an incoming freshman on the CMU swim team, represented Ghana in the 100-meter men’s freestyle race and finished 52nd with a time of 51.12 seconds. Originally from the United Kingdom and a citizen of Ghana, he came a long way from home to study engineering and swim at CMU.
After meeting with close to 40 different colleges, Stacey chose to attend CMU when he made a positive connection with Assistant Swim Coach Andy Parro. That, paired with the rigor of CMU’s engineering partnership program with the University of Colorado Boulder, made CMU the right choice for him.
“I had interviews at a lot of different schools, and I realized what I’m looking for is a connection with the coaches and to feel like I can have a good working relationship with the coaching staff. I felt like Coach Andy, my sprint coach, was the best out of the lot, really,” he said.
For Stacey, the path to Paris was paved with consistency and discipline. With his sights set on the Olympics, he developed his own training plan and tenaciously stuck to it.
“Just staying mentally strong, that’s honestly what I think is my greatest accomplishment. I had to rely on myself to get it done,” he said.
Stacey also hopes to return to the Olympics in 2028. For now, his goal is to win alongside his CMU teammates at NCAA Division II Championships, focus on his schoolwork and continue to improve at his sport.
“Getting to improve myself every day, being in the best shape of my life and experiencing things that I would never otherwise get to experience, I really appreciate,” he said. “With swimming, I have this opportunity to be the top 0.001 percent in the world at something. I’d be a fool to just neglect that opportunity.”
Emma Meyers: She Can and She Will
CMU triathlon recruit, Emma Meyers, competed in the Paralympic Games representing Team USA amidst her arrival to CMU and Grand Junction.
At 18 years old, Meyers was the youngest of the 15 para-triathletes competing in Paris, where she finished ninth in the women’s PTS4 category.
Meyers was born in China with fibular hemimelia, a rare genetic condition that causes the fibula bone to be missing or underdeveloped. At age two, she was adopted by her parents and shortly thereafter underwent surgery that enabled her to wear a prosthetic leg.
For Meyers, making it to the Paralympics was just as grueling mentally as it was physically. Not only was she on a rigorous training schedule, but within a three-month timespan she graduated high school, moved to Grand Junction from Florida and attended an international camp with her teammates.
“There were numerous significant life events all happening at the same time. It was overwhelming adjusting to college and then heading straight to France,” she said. “Preparing for the Games involved a lot of self-reflection, open conversations about my feelings and tough training.”
The news that Meyers made the team officially broke when she was on a flight to Washington for maintenance on her prosthetics. When she landed, her phone flooded with missed calls and text messages containing the words she had longed for years to hear.
“USA Triathlon even delayed the public announcement of the team selection so I could hear the news firsthand,” she said. “I can’t describe how emotional I was feeling. Making it to the 2024 Paralympics has been a goal of mine for over a decade.”
Overall, what Meyers is most proud of is having the opportunity to compete at all. With one Paralympic Games under her belt, she’s determined to return even stronger.
“There is no hoping — I will return to the Games,” she said. “My goal is to medal in 2028. I constantly want to better myself, whether it’s in athletics or life.”
After graduation, Meyers hopes to use her education in social work to further the missions of nonprofits that promote active lifestyles and mental health, particularly for people with disabilities. Until then, she’ll be training alongside her teammates on the CMU triathlon team.
“The triathlon team is super strong, and not only do they push you, but they also support you,” she said. “Training with my friends has made me enjoy it even more. It’s helped me become a stronger athlete and learn what it’s like to be part of a non-paratriathlon team.”
In competition and in the classroom, Cummins, Stacey and Meyers exemplify the determination and spirit that define CMU as a campus of Mavericks.