EAST GREENSBORO -- Inside the Albuquerque Convention Center in the high altitude state of New Mexico in March, North Carolina A&T track star Trevor Stewart takes his extra-large hands and wraps them securely around a small inhaler. Stewart places it inside his nostril and breathes in gently. He places the inhaler inside his other nostril and repeats the routine.

Stewart is preparing to compete in the 2020 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Along with Stewart, eight other Aggies are competing for individual, relay and a team national championship.

The inhaler is for Stewart's asthma condition. Asthma is a condition the 23-year old Stewart has had since he was a child. To combat a condition that makes it difficult to breathe at times and can cause awful coughing episodes, Stewart has participated in karate, track and field and practiced discipline.

He has mastered asthma to the point where he was the NCAA runner-up in the 400 meters in 2019. But as he inhales, there are rumors and whispers throughout the convention center of the national meet being canceled.

Why?
COVID-19
There is another ailment surfacing. It is called COVID-19, a respiratory ailment with a variety of symptoms from fever to coughing. The virus is developing into a worldwide pandemic and it is starting to impact the sports world from the NBA to collegiate conference basketball tournaments. It eventually cancels March Madness, the annual NCAA Division I men's college basketball tournament that generates billions of dollars.

While the NCAA basketball tournament is a lengthy three weeks, NCAA indoors last three days. Perhaps the brevity of the event will give the Aggies a chance to compete for individual, relay and a team national championships.

"Something felt off," said Stewart about the NCAA indoor nationals. "The atmosphere felt off. Normally it's easy to focus on the task ahead, but there was just so much uncertainty all around us."

Stewart continues to stretch and take whiffs of his inhaler as he hears of teams leaving Albuquerque to return home. After he finishes stretching he does a few laps around the track. Something is not right.

"Do you think they are going to send us home," Stewart remembers asking Quincy Hall, a competitor from the University of South Carolina?

Stewart's question is soon answered. Yes. Word spreads that indeed the NCAA has canceled its indoor championship and with it ending the indoor collegiate careers of seniors like Stewart and his teammates such as Akeem Sirleaf and Madeleine Akobundu. They will never have a chance to compete for another NCAA indoor championship.

"I will be coming back to (NCAA indoor championships) and of course I have been there before," said Duane Ross, the Aggies director of track and field programs. "But for the seniors, they will never be able to duplicate 2020 no matter how well they do in their careers. I continue to feel bad for them."

Whereas asthma could not stop Stewart from becoming one of the best 400m runners in the world, there was no amount of karate or discipline slowing down COVID-19. In a year where the Olympics are approaching rapidly, the effects of COVID-19 may have larger ramifications for a track and field athlete.

CANCELLATIONS     
 In a matter of days, the NCAA canceled the 2020 outdoor track and field season. In the latter weeks of May, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed until 2021.

The decision made by Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the International Olympic Committee forced N.C. A&T track and field superstars such as Christopher Belcher, Rodney Rowe and national champion Kayla White to put their dreams on hold.
 

Current student-athletes like Stewart, Akobundu and sprinters Cambrea Sturgis, Akeem Sirleaf and Randolph Ross to do the same.  

"I try not to think about what could have been because that just opens up a whole lot of wombs," said Akobundu about the cancellation of the NCAA indoor championships. "We were ready, and we definitely had the team to make some noise. Being there for the last time, being so close to it and having it snatched away from you, it hurts."

When the pandemic first started Stewart thought perhaps they could wait it out over some time before getting back to work.

"I'm thinking they will delay the outdoor season two to three weeks and then we'll jump back in it," he said.

After all, track and field is what the Virginia native has dedicated his life to.

"In high school, it was indoor season, outdoor season and then New Balance (outdoor nationals)," Stewart continued. "I've been training all that time for an opportunity to compete in the Olympics. It left me wondering, what happens now?"

MOVING FORWARD
Deaths, cases and uncertainty are what COVID-19 has introduced to the world. Multiple conferences across the nation have already canceled or postponed their fall seasons. The hope is an indoor season will begin this winter followed by an outdoor season and then the Tokyo Olympics.

"We can sit here and keep crying woe is me or we can use this to our advantage," said Ross. "We can rest up and let our bodies heal. We can come up with a better training regimen that deals with the excess time we have to get ready. We can't dwell on not having the 2020 Olympics too much. It's a year later, so let's make the best of it."

That is the attitude of Sirleaf. Sirleaf qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in July of 2019 for the country of Liberia, a place where he lived as a baby after being born in the Ivory Coast. Sirleaf stayed in Liberia until he was 5 before moving to Minnesota.

The 2019 outdoor season was tremendous for Sirleaf after he ran a personal-record 10.55 in the 100m and a personal-record 20.37 in the 200m. Both those times earned him a spot on the Liberian Olympic team. He also advanced to NCAA nationals in three different events including the 400m, the 4x100 and the 4x400.

But the 2020 indoor season did not go as well. Sirleaf spent most of the 2020 indoor season injured. He made it to NCAA nationals as a member of the 4x400 team, but he was not having the season he wanted because of the injury. Therefore, multiple cancellations may turn out to be positive for Sirleaf.

"COVID is difficult, but it might be a blessing in disguise," said Sirleaf. "I don't think I could have competed to the best of my ability because I was hurt."
Sirleaf said at the time he qualified for the Olympics, he was in the best shape of his career. With the injury, Sirleaf had second thoughts about whether he was good enough to compete in the Olympics.

"I was doing everything right, but I still got injured," he said. "I was stretching, eating right and getting eight hours of sleep. But my body wasn't recovering like it usually does. Looking back on it, I'm glad we're getting this time off because I get to refocus my mind and body to get ready for this upcoming season."

For seniors like Stewart, Akobundu and Sirleaf, time is an issue when it comes to collegiate action. Young superstars like Ross' son, Randolph Ross, a freshman out of Garner, N.C., and rising junior Cambrea, their legacies are still being written.

ALL IS NOT LOST
Randolph Ross had a tremendous career debut. He went to the NCAA indoor nationals with the second-fastest time in the nation in the 400m. He also had a chance to win a national title in the 4x400 relay after the team recorded the second-fastest time in the nation at the University of Arkansas in February.

After competing at the NCAA indoor nationals, Randolph Ross was looking forward to his first outdoor season, hitting the mark to make Olympic Trials and perhaps winning MEAC and national titles. The coronavirus halted what appeared to be the best freshman season in school history.

"I still feel like I'm going to compete on a lot of big stages after this (virus) is over," said Randolph Ross.

Still, Randolph Ross can only imagine what it would have been like to see the Aggies compete for a national title with the amount of talent they sent to New Mexico.

"Not competing for indoor was like having the best thing that has ever happened to you in life taken away from you in a matter of seconds. It's not something you can describe. It happened so fast. You're reminded of what you missed out on every time you go into the office and see all those NCAA trophies from previous years. But it's not completely a bad thing. (The time off) is allowing your body to recover and rest."

Sturgis, who went into the NCAA indoor nationals ranked second in the nation in the 60m and ninth in the nation in the 200m, agrees the rest and recovery have been good, but the pandemic has wreaked havoc on motivation.

"It was tough at first because there was no outdoor, there was no Olympics. There was nothing to look forward to," Sturgis said. "There was no one around to say you've got weights, you've got practice or you've got meetings. There was no coach Ross around to keep you motivated."

But now Sturgis and the others see hope on the arisen. The Olympics are still a possibility in 2021 and the hope is the virus will be on a downward curve by the time the indoor season starts in January. Ross will be training his athletes toward making the Olympic trials with the hope that if they are hitting Olympic Trial marks, the school meets will take care of themselves.

GETTING BACK TO WORK
In the meantime, it is just a matter of getting back to work.

"With coach Ross as our coach, getting back into shape is not a worry," said Akobundu. "Every summer we come back not in the best shape and then coach Ross gets us, and all of sudden we're back in shape."

Stewart says he is doing abdominal workouts throughout the day and lifting 50-pound bags of clothes for conditioning until the team gets back on campus. His asthma pump is on the shelf for now, but he may soon have to pull it out again because his coach has a message for him and all the Aggie Olympic hopefuls.

"Take care of your bodies," said Ross, a former Olympian. "I struggle with my student-athletes sometimes because of what they are putting in their bodies. Our society is based on getting everything quick, grabbing a hamburger instead of making the meal yourself.

You can't train and compete at the Olympic level unless you're taking your craft seriously. When you show up at the Olympic Trials, the competition you're facing is doing it for a living. They're doing it to pay their mortgage and take care of their families. That's the type of motivation you're facing, so you better have your mind right and your body right."