Sam Whitmarsh turned pre-race jitters to joy during national title run

In his final race as an Aggie, senior Sam Whitmarsh claimed an individual title in the 800m as he helped the Texas A&M men win the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Championship. In an exclusive sit-down, Whitmarsh spoke about his legacy race, being grounded in faith and much more.

Key notes from Sam Whitmarsh interview

• I was really grateful that this wasn’t my first time in the final. Emotions are still super high. It can be a lot of pressure in those moments. I was trying to take a deep breath and step back and just be grateful for where my feet were. The big prayer on that day was, “God, if I have this, Lord, help me give it. Whatever it is I can give, let it be in your glory.” I was secure in that and tried to do the best that I could. That’s what I focused on, and doing that helped turn some of those pre-race nerves into some joy and excitement to get to toe the line with those guys.
   
• Down that last straightaway, whenever we were running toward the finish line, finishing second the year before was in the back of my head. I knew I had to run fast because I had seen it play out and knew that it really does come down to the line. I was trying not to focus too much on last year or trying to live up or get up to something. I didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on myself. I wanted to bring myself up to do my best. Those thoughts still came into my head when I was running for the finish line. Thank God it didn’t get me.
   
• There is a lot of shock there. I don’t remember the first couple of seconds after I crossed the line. That was the realization of it being over and done. We took it home. There is so much gratitude, excitement and shock. We did it. It was really, really special. I didn’t come back to reality until one of my good buddies from Oregon came up and gave me a hug and said, “You did it!”
   
• They brought me onto the field after my race. I got to do a victory lap. It was super cool and super fun to get to see everybody and my family who made it to Eugene. I got to watch our boys go kill it in the 400m hurdles. Ja’Qualon Scott and Bryce McCray gave us vital points there, and that was cool to see. I was excited after that, but then they took me into the media tent to do media for about 45 minutes or so. I was cut off from the rest of the meet and didn’t know what was going on. When they finally brought me back out, the 4x400m relay was on deck. I was with one of our trainers, and I was asking her if we were close. She told me that if we do really well and if USC does poorly, we had a shot. We ran to the stands to find our team. I was supporting our guys from there, but I had no idea we were that close to a team championship until about five minutes before we did it.
   
• We did well in the 4x400m relay, and I was with some of my teammates. As soon as we crossed the line and saw our points go to 41, we were shaking each other and jumping up and down. We saw USC’s points go to 41 and were like, “What?” Some of the Oregon fans, who were rooting for us at that point, were like, “What does that mean?" None of us knew, and then we saw our coaches wave us to the field like, “You did it!” At that point, we jumped the fence and ran onto the field. Aleksandr “Sasha” Solovev was the first one to greet me, and he’s more built than I am. I thought I was going to meet my maker when he was charging at me to prevent being pancaked. That was a surreal moment.
   
• As seniors, we couldn’t have asked for anything better, especially after going through these last couple of seasons together and coming so close last year, but having all of the cards fall wrong. Pat Henry was telling us afterwards that we could do it because it was right there. All of us chewed on that a little bit. It was really cool to come back this year and have a better deal and a better hand to play. All of our cards hit for the most part, and we got to take home some championships. It was really special. We’ve been through a lot together, but this team this year was a special group of guys. They’re 100 percent my brothers, and I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.
   
• I need reminders of what to focus on. A lot of that is based in faith. In the picture of me crossing the line, you can see 2 Corinthians 12:10-9. What that really means to me: In sports, there are many times where we want to seem big and strong, but really, there are different things going on, whether that’s just being nervous, afraid or a physical ailment. Instead of feeling like I have to do it all myself, I realize there’s so much more value relationally in my relationship with Christ and my relationship with God, to take those things and realize I can’t do it all on my own. Here’s my nervousness. Here’s my fear. Here’s this pain in my hip. Here are these things that I know I can’t do anything about. They’re not going anywhere and are out of my control, but I give them to, Lord, and I know that you’re strong enough to carry them. In that, there is so much freedom. It has grown my faith and bolstered my relationship with Christ, which has been an awesome thing that I didn’t realize sports could be an avenue for. And it’s not me writing those scriptures, thinking I’m going to win. It’s not about that. It’s about building the relationship and being faithful, regardless if things are going well or they’re going poorly. It’s His glory regardless if I got first or eighth.
   
• Other things I have written on me are “Be not afraid,” and another runner from LSU, Michaela Rose, who is also a believer and very vocal about it. She was running by me, and I went, “Good luck!” She went, “Godspeed.” I was like, “That’s the coolest thing anybody has ever told me before,” so I started writing that on my arm. That’s way cooler than “good luck.”
   
• Coach Henry has vision. He sees things that the normal person or normal athlete doesn’t. His experience gives him a perspective that is hard to match. The past couple of years, he has talked to me about what he saw in me and built me up. A lot of times, I don’t even see it in myself, but he’s calling it out. He thinks you can do this. He told me on multiple occasions that he thought I could be a national champion if I did certain things. After pulling second last year, he was happy that we did well, but he was like, "Sam, it’s right there. That can be you.” To have somebody who can be excited for those successes and also hungry for the best of the best and never settle is a pretty good motivator. It means a lot that he can see that, not just in me but in the entire team. He spoke to everybody and would constantly remind us that we can do this. The consistent motivation and dream and confidence in us built us up and helped us realize we can do this. We have Henry, who knows what he’s talking about and has coaches national championship teams before, believing in us. That’s special. His voice holds a lot of weight. It’s special to have him as a coach and to have him as a mentor in life as well.
   
• Without somebody like Henry or somebody with that vision who can project it well for everyone to understand it, that’s a huge part of leadership. He communicates what he sees, his perspective and those goals. If he couldn’t convey buy-in from the whole squad and get us to work together, it wouldn’t have been the same. Each and every one of us who stepped on that track wasn’t for the individual. It was for the team and for each other. You don’t get that without good leadership and without coach Henry.
   
• I love this story, and I’m thankful for it, but I never thought I’d be sitting here. I really thought I’d be playing basketball for four years in high school and call it there. I went to the same high school that my parents did, and my dad played basketball for four years there. I always thought I’d just be like my dad. It would’ve been great, but it turns out that I didn’t inherit the basketball genes from my father. I ended up being better at running, and I started running to stay in shape for basketball. I was introduced to somebody who became a really good friend of mine, but for some reason, he would not stop talking to me about running cross country after my first track season. I thought he was insane. I started off as a 400m runner. I thought I’d stick to that. He thought I could run 12.5 laps. I said no about 50 times, but he asked 51 times. After that cross-country season, he told me to run the 800m. He used to run the 800m, but he told my coaches. They were like, “It can’t hurt.” Long story short, now I’m sitting here. I’m super grateful to those people. I could not have done it without the people God put in my life.
   
• Why Texas A&M? That explanation has grown exponentially in the years since I’ve been here, but from a high school perspective, there were a couple of influences. One of those was my grandfather. He was Class of 1955 here. He loved this school. Maroon & White flags out in the yard, and he wore his Aggie ring until the day he passed. I always grew up hearing about Texas A&M and what an awesome place it was. My best friend growing up, his initials are actually ATM, and that was not an accident because his dad was one of the biggest Aggies I’ve ever met. I grew up with that influence as well. I remember in the third grade that we devised a scheme that we were going to go to A&M, be roommates and be Reveille’s handlers. That was our goal. We weren’t in the Corps, so we didn’t get that opportunity, but we were roommates for the last three years as we went through engineering school together. Those outside influences pushed me toward A&M. From an academic standpoint, I wanted to be an engineer, and Texas A&M has an incredible engineering college. That checked that box.
   
• A&M also has an incredible history in track and field in general, specifically in the 800m, with names like Devin Dixon, Donavan Brazier and Brandon Miller. Miller was still in school when I was being recruited. Dixon walked me around on junior day with Carlton Orange, another great 800m runner. They were just awesome. To have an opportunity to join a legacy of 800m running like that, it was hard to pass up.
   
• Coming here and getting to train under coach Milton Mallard for two years, followed by training under coach Paul Ereng for the following two years, both coaches thought I could be a national champion. They told me to run X and Y. Mallard told me those things when I came in as a freshman, even though I couldn’t run with a broken foot. There were other bumps in the road, such as heart surgery and those types of things, but his belief in me throughout that was an integral part of me being here right now. Without his support through all of that, I might have dropped the sport early. I’m super grateful that people believed in me and saw those things in me, even when I might not have seen them in myself.
   
• Right now, I’m looking at continuing my running career. I had a NIL deal with Brooks last year, and I love the people over there. They’re looking at their athletes as individuals to build up holistically rather than just times on paper. That has been really special in the professional athlete space. That’s what I’m looking at right now. There might be some fun announcements in the future, but we’ll leave those for a surprise.