Olympic Silver Medalist Anna Cockrell made a trip back to her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, to visit the Johnson C. Smith University track team. Cockrell took home a silver medal in the 400m race at the Paris Olympics this summer.

Although she didn’t attend Johnson C. Smith, she has familial ties to the university, as her father, Kieth Cockrell, is the vice chair of the board of trustees. Cockrell had a successful career in high school track at Providence Day in Charlotte, where current Johnson C. Smith University track coach Carol Lawrence coached her.

At the school's football and track complex, the Irwin Belk Complex, Cockrell met with the track team. Cockrell became the NCAA champion in the 100- and 400-meter hurdle events in 2021. Showing them her Olympic silver medal and an official squad USA blazer, Cockrell talked to the team about the sacrifices she made in college that helped her get to the Olympics. She went from being the NCAA National Champion to competing in the women's 400-meter hurdle final at the Tokyo Olympics, and winning a silver medal in the Paris Olympics thanks to those sacrifices.

“Nothing was going to stop me from what I had to do, like that’s really how I felt,” Cockrell says in the video. “I mean, Coach Lawerence knows this; I’ve sacrificed a lot,” she tells the HBCU track squad. ”I was in LA for college, then I left LA to move to Texas. When I went pro, my coach took a job at Arkansas, and the last thing I wanted to do was move to Arkansas.”

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With an Olympic-sized track, the Johnson C. Smith University's Irwin Belk Complex has hosted several significant track and field competitions, including the AAU Summer Games and the US Paralympic Track and Field Trials. It’s hard to believe Cockrell, a six-time All-American high school athlete, didn't compete in a race on the HBCU track given its location right below Charlotte's skyline.

According to HBCU Gameday, Cockrell ranks number one all-time in North Carolina history in three events: 100 m hurdles (13.17), 300 m hurdles (40.42), and the 400 m hurdles (55.20). She was a 16-time NCISAA state champion in the 100m (2013-16), 200m (2016), 100m hurdles (2013-16), 300m hurdles (2013-16), 4x100m (2013), and 4x400m (2014-15) and was a 2-time World Junior Champion in the 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay as a high school senior and the Pan Am Champion in the 400m hurdles as a junior.