How Cheickna Traore went from D3 transfer to 1 of the fastest men in college!

Division 1 track and field at its highest level is basically professional track and field. That statement is abundantly clear in the sprinting events. It is the reason why Matthew Boling lost the SEC championship in the indoor 200 meter dash to Jacory Patterson. But weeks later won the NCAA title in that same event. But he didn’t win outdoors either. He actually didn’t even make the finals! Instead Udodi Onwuzurike won the NCAA championship in Division 1. He had to beat World Championship semifinalists Tarsis Orogot and Courtney Lindsey both in order to earn get that crown. That is proof that college sprinting is world class at its highest level, but all those athletes competed their entire NCAA careers in Division 1.

Cheickna Traore is ranked 14th in all of D1 in the 60 meter dash, and ninth in the 400  but tied for second overall in the 200 meter dash. He runs for Penn State University which does compete in the Big Ten. But the real reason why you have never heard of him, is  because he competed his entire NCAA career up until now in Division 3 without a scholarship

The truth is that Cheickna Traore is one of the best sprinters in all of college track and field, but he was under no circumstances ever supposed to be this fast! Which is why he was never recruited to compete in Division 1, or Division 2 for that matter. But he has already proven by now that he has what it takes to become a champion. If he can keep this up, Cheickna will not only be competing for a D1 national championship, but will likely line up for the Olympics this summer as well!

How did Cheickna Traore end up in Division 3?

At the high school level Cheickna Traore was quite frankly nothing special. He was a competitive high school track athlete, but nobody in D1 was going to come and find him on his own. He started off as a middle distance runner, but by the end of his junior year of high school would have rated as a 2 star recruit on SCArecruiting.com. That is for his performance in the 400 meter dash only. As a senior his times improved in every sprint event, but still did nothing for his recruiting stock. In fact, in New Jersey he never even ran at a state championship meet.

If you are 2 star level, that means that there are some D1 schools that might recruit you, but they are in the smaller conferences, with names you have never seen on a national television screen. Those recruits can clearly get into D1, but in track and field will almost never have a coach come and find them first, if that is your actual level. You as the recruit would have to reach out first to the right school, and let them know you are interested. These recruites are probably good enough to win a league championship, or perhaps even win the county, but it is unlikely they will have much state championship success. That competition in particular is where all the bigger D1 schools start their recruiting boards to begin with. For this reason Cheickna Traore ended up at Ramapo College in NCAA Division 3. They are a public college in the state of New Jersey.

How good was Cheickna Traore in college?

However, when Cheickna first suited up in college he proved that he was way better than he was given credit for. As a freshman he ran huge PRs in the 400 and 200 meter dash indoors, the first time that he ever ran them. He finished second in his conference for the 400, in a 2020 season where he likely wouldn’t have qualified for the D3 NCAA championships anyway, even if they had one.

In 2021 he won the conference outdoors in the 400 and medaled in the 200 meter dash. It wasn’t until 2022 when something crazy happened. Cheickna proved that he was not only better than ever, but now legitimately fast in the 60 meter and 100 meter dashes. He dominated the conference in the 60 and 200 meter dashes indoors and made the D3 NCAA championship meet, finishing fourth overall in the 200 meter dash finals! He then followed that up by winning the Metropolitan championship meet in the 400 outdoors. It’s basically an independent championship meet with 14 D1 teams in it, except Ramapo, which is of course Division 3.

He continued on to destroy his conference and finish second overall at the NCAA D3 meet in both the 200 and 400 meter dash. He was now a sub 21 second runner in the 200 meter dash, after never breaking 23 even once in high school. So as a senior it should be no surprise that Cheickna did what he does. He swept the sprints in his conference on the way to winning a D3 national title indoors in the 200 meter dash, and in the 400 meter dash. He also ran it back to go second in the 100 meter dash, but first in the 200 meter outdoors, breaking the D3 national record in the process.

All of that brings us to what just happened, because clearly Cheickna decided to come back and run one final season in the NCAA. But with his bonus season granted for everything that went down in 2020, he chose to use it at Penn State University. They do have scholarships there, and I’m pretty sure he got one. Which is why they are not surprised at anything he is doing in their uniform. In only the second indoor meet of his season Cheickna raced against Cameron Miller of Purdue, who is no stranger to the transfer portal. He began his career at Florida and then transferred to Louisville after that. He also ran in the D1 national final for the outdoor 200 meter dash. He didn’t win that race, he actually finished 8th overall, but later beat Cheickna indoors in January by 2 hundredths of a second. That makes Cameron the collegiate leader in that event, with Cheickna literally right behind him.

The Bottom Line

It is unclear waht will happen to Cheickna Traore this season, and it is guaranteed to be his final one in a college uniform. But he has already proven all the doubters wrong. Cheickna Traore was a 2 star recruit, but that was a long time ago. He proved that rankings mean nothing in college, regardless of what division you are in. He not only won D3 national titles, but beat a bunch of D1 runners along the way. Now he has officially arrived at college track and field’s highest level, in one of it best conferences with a chance to do the unthinkable. Cheickna Traore was never supposed to be this fast, but he has gotten way better than anyone could have ever dreamed of. He might not be the national leader right now, but he’s so close he can taste it. And if he pulls this off, then Cameron Miller and everyone else in D1 will have to admit that they lost to a D3 runner whom nobody ever wanted in the first place.

LOOK GOOD, FEEL GOOD, RUN GOOD.

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