Senior track star Connor Faint truly runs the world. During the indoor track season, he participates in the 200- and 400-meter dashes and the 4 x 400-meter relay. During the spring outdoor season, he races in the 400 meter hurdles, 200- and 400-meter dashes, and 4 x 100- and 4 x 400-meter relays.
As a junior, Faint earned a spot in the NCAA National Championship as the No. 5 seed in the 400- meter hurdles with a time of 52.33 seconds. Faint said, “I hope to make it back to outdoor nationals this year and will aim at winning.” In his EMU career, he has a total of 16 accolades with no plan of slowing down.
Back in middle school, running was just for fun. However, as years passed, Faint progressively improved. At EMU, improving each year has given him the opportunity to qualify for and compete in some of the biggest meets in the country for his events.
Faint’s biggest factor in deciding on a college was to find a school that had a nursing program as well as a men’s track team. Former head coach Britten Olinger encouraged Faint to consider EMU. Looking back, Faint said, “[Olinger] shaped my early athletics into what I have been able to do now.”
During his time here, Faint has experienced a different head coach each year. He has been very disappointed in how these seasons have started. He said, “We looked very promising this year, then faced the difficulty of another coaching loss.” Due to this, a lot of athletes left, and Faint saw the team begin to fall apart.
Coach turnovers are nothing new for Faint and he refuses to give up. “This is my senior year and I have gone through this every year, so it wasn’t going to stop what I was doing,” he said.
In his senior season, he sees great potential in the team. Faint believes that though the team has been through a lot, they will still be a competitor against top ODAC teams. “ODAC schools should not count EMU athletics out of the race,” Faint said.
While being such an accomplished athlete, he also has to balance his sport with nursing. “It is one of the toughest things in my life right now,” Faint said. “It is very hard to find time for both, but when it comes down to it, school always wins.”
During school, Faint does not have time for much else outside of athletics and academics. “I have clinical most days, with school and practice every day,” Faint said.
Faint plans to graduate with his BSN in nursing and find a job in Northern Virginia, possibly even D.C. “I hope to work in the emergency room on a fast-paced, high-intensity floor,” Faint said. “We will just have to see what happens, though.” Even after his athletic career ends at EMU, he plans to stay on the fast track.
