Staff report

Former Livingstone star Quanera Hayes will be part of another Team USA effort in the Paris Olympics.

Hayes ran 50.55 for fifth place in the 400 meters in the Olympic Trials in Oregon, meeting the Olympic Standard.

Hayes, 32 and the mother of two, is a Hope Mills native who graduated from Livingstone in 2015. She’s not quite as fast as she was in 2021 when she won the 400 in the Olympic Trials, but she’s still one of the swiftest in the country and the world in her main event.

She finished seventh in the 400 in the Tokyo Olympics that were delayed from 2020 to 2021 by COVID.

Besides a long history of success in the 400, Hayes is an experienced 4×400 relay runner.

Hayes was coached at Livingstone by Justin Davis (West Rowan), long-time coach of the Blue Bears.