Sophie Galloway Proud Of Obstacles She Overcame To Make NCAA

Sophie Galloway. 2025 NCAA Track and Field East Regionals. Photo by Caleb Bowlin | UK Athletics

By LARRY VAUGHT

Sophie Galloway was a four-time Gatorade Kentucky Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year who won eight Class 3A state championships, including the long jump, triple jump, and 100-meter hurdles her senior season at Marshall County.

She dreamed of potentially being an Olympian in the heptathlon, but her collegiate career had an unexpected bumpy start because after she committed to Tennessee, the coach who recruited her left, and she had to quickly decide to attend Arkansas. That didn’t work well, and she transferred to Kentucky for the spring semester of her freshman year.

Despite battling a hamstring injury and a fractured bone in her foot, she set a UK freshman record in the outdoor triple jump at 42 feet, 9 1/2 inches and qualified for the NCAA National Track and Field Championships with an eighth-place finish at the NCAA East Prelims.

Galloway admits she thought that would be the start of a sensational career. She never imagined she would not be going back to the national championships again until this season, where she will compete Saturday in the triple jump after placing sixth in the East Prelims with a leap of 41-1/4.

“I am thrilled to be going back. I know it means a lot to everyone, and it is exciting, but it is also a relief,” said Galloway. “It has been a tough last two years. I felt I would never get out of my slump. I am proud of the way I was able to stick with it.”

Her sophomore indoor season, she was battling an injury when UK coaches decided to shut her down, hoping her Iliotibial (IT) injury would loosen on its own. The injury causes pain on the outside of the knee or hip, and most commonly occurs from overuse or an injury. The IT band is a strong band of tissue that starts at the hip and runs along the outer thigh, which can tear. The band works with your thigh muscles to provide stability to the outside of the knee during movement.

“It got to be August, the injury was no different, and I had surgery. But I still dealt with the issue my entire junior year, too,” Galloway said.

Now she’ll end her collegiate career in Eugene, Ore., in the NCAA Championships tonight and plans to make sure she savors the experience.

“The first time I went, I thought I had been on stages that big and places just as large like Nike Nationals until I got there and realized I was a freshman, age 19, and not as in shape as these other people,” Galloway said. “To be honest, I sucked when I got there. I blew it. I was so nervous. I had never felt so unprepared for something in my life, and most of it was my own doing.

“Now I know I am not going to win. God would have to force me to jump 47 feet for that to happen. I think I need to be proud that I went there. It is only my second outdoor season, and I deserve to be there again, and I have to remember that. I have to be not just proud and happy to be there, but I have to understand that I worked so hard the last four years to get here.”

Galloway has learned difficult lessons over the last four years she’ll never forget. She says she is a lot smarter and a lot less egotistical than when she left high school.

“I was humbled so many times (in college). Out of high school, I had so much pride. Everywhere I went, I would get a PR (personal record) or jump a huge number and rank No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation. Success just happened, and I got to college and just expected it to keep happening,” Galloway said.

“I have trained as an Olympian since eighth grade with my coach out of Nashville. I expected a 19-6 long jump in high school to transition to 21 in college, and a 42-foot triple jump to be 45 or 46 in college. When it didn’t happen and I was not making finals and was hurt all the time, even when I was giving everything, it was so hard. I have learned an immense amount about myself and a lot about the sport.”