After three long-anticipated years of finishing in the top-eight six times in her event, University of Massachusetts Boston student Hulerie McGuffie has finally become a national champion in her senior year. Division III Indoor Track & Field Nationals took place in Grinnell, Iowa on Saturday, March 12 where McGuffie took home the championship title in the 400-meter dash.
McGuffie came in second in the championship twice before: last year in her junior year outdoor season, and in her sophomore indoor track season. She also ran the 200-meter dash, tying her own program record which earned her her eighth All-American title along with her 400-meter national championship.
This two-day meet started on Friday, March 11, where the top eight in each event would continue onto Saturday’s finals. McGuffie finished fourth in the 200-meter dash on Friday which qualified her for the top-eight, but she had to focus in order to prevail against the others on Saturday. She finished with a time of 25.06 seconds both days, earning her third place in her heat. Her time broke her former program record.
In the 400-meter race on Friday, McGuffie finished second to Illinois Wesleyan University’s Madison Zimmer with a time of 56.52. McGuffie felt the pressure on Saturday when she was placed in the same heat as Zimmer, but soon prevailed over Zimmer and stole the win with a time of 55.80 seconds. Zimmer was leading McGuffie for the first 200-meters of the race, until McGuffie passed her with 175 meters to go. Zimmer finished with a time of 56.61 seconds, a whole .69 seconds behind McGuffie. 
“Once you get to nationals the competition is relatively the same. I’m just as good as all the other women competing. It just comes down to who wants it more.”
McGuffie was extremely emotional during her winning moment. “I cried. It felt amazing, like finally all the hard work paid off.” Ending her last indoor season, McGuffie is fully satisfied with her accomplishments. “This year I prepared twice as hard, worked twice as hard, trained twice as hard, because it was all or nothing this time around.”
McGuffie credited her coaches for her success. “The influence from my coaching staff was huge. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Coach Walker, Coach Lisa, and Coach Henry who were constantly telling me I could do it. They believed in me, they worked hard training me and working me out.”
In the beginning of McGuffie’s track career at UMass Boston, she didn’t expect to achieve a national championship title. “Coming in as a freshman, I didn’t expect to be at a highly competitive level as I am. I didn’t know that I’d be so successful, but a national championship became my goal after sophomore year when I finished in second. I was determined to win one before I was finished, so it feels amazing being able to win one in my senior year.”
McGuffie is now transitioning into the outdoor season where she will participate in the same events. She focuses to achieve her goal of another national championship to go along with her indoor title, along with becoming a 10-time All-American.