Graduate distance runner Brigid Hanley’s journey as an athlete has been an unrelenting test of resilience.
Hanley began her athletic journey in her freshman year of high school at La Salle Catholic College Preparatory (Ore.), where she joined the cross country team as a freshman. She was not planning to run during the track and field season until her coach told her that school rules stated she had to compete in both sports. Hanley said she enjoyed the additional season anyway because of her love for running.
“It’s really social honestly,” Hanley said. “You get to be outside every day … and you get a lot of time to talk with your friends and hang out with them.”
Despite her love for the sport, Hanley did not always know she would pursue track in college.
“I honestly wasn’t super, super passionate about being a college athlete,” Hanley said. “It was kind of something I decided a little bit at the last minute.”
Hanley eventually started her collegiate career as a Division I distance runner at the University of Arizona. She said being around so many other determined runners helped her further recognize her enthusiasm for the sport.
“Everyone on the college team is really driven, really motivated and really loves to run,” Hanley said. “You take the people that are on a cross country or track team in high school and you put it on steroids. It’s like, ‘OK, everyone here loves it as much as I do.’”
Early in her college career, Hanley was focused on learning in the classroom and getting faster on the track. However, her path to the finish line took an unexpected turn when she was diagnosed with cancer.
Hanley had to take multiple seasons off from competing to battle the illness, causing her to miss all her outdoor track seasons at Arizona, but she still ran when she could during her time in treatment. She said running helped her get through hard days of doctor’s appointments and treatment sessions.
“When you have any type of chronic illness, but especially cancer, you become a patient and not a person,” Hanley said. “Your life is full of doctor’s appointments. It revolves around your illness, people treat you like you’re your illness, they don’t treat you like a person. So I think for me too, running was a way to kind of keep my identity.”
Even though running motivated Hanley to push through treatment, she did not always know that she would end up returning to collegiate track.
“There were lots of times when I considered quitting,” Hanley said. “A lot of people told me to quit … I had a doctor tell me I would never be a good runner again while I was going through chemo.”
Despite this, Hanley’s passion for running and determination to race triumphed over the doubt and negativity that accompanied her illness.
“I honestly came back to it with the mentality of, ‘I owe it to myself to see this to the end,’” Hanley said. “I didn’t expect to run fast. I ran through chemo, I ran through all these injuries, I ran through all this mental struggle and I’m like, ‘I’m going to get to the line, and I’m going to race.’”
Hanley learned many important lessons through her journey back to the track. She said one of the most important ones was to cherish the opportunity to compete.
“I will never take it for granted,” Hanley said. “It’s such an amazing thing to actually get to the line and wear the uniform and race. There’s always a story behind getting there. I feel like sometimes if you’ve been healthy for a long time you take it for granted, but I’m always like, ‘No it’s such a win when you can do that.’”
Hanley came to Emory University in fall 2023 to pursue a master's degree at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. She said this decision was strongly tied to her own personal medical experiences.
“The nurses really, truly are the ones that you’re seeing throughout your treatment,” Hanley said. “I also feel my personality, and maybe this is part of my sickness too, I feel like I got to know myself better … I love to interact with people and I'm very ‘go, go, go,’ and I wanted that aspect of nursing as well.”
Outside of track and field, Hanley stays busy with her responsibilities in the nursing program, which mainly consist of clinicals. She often has to run track workouts on her own, as she has to miss team practice due to commitments for the program. Hanley’s teammate, junior distance runner Liesl Scherrer, said Hanley’s time management skills play a role in her success, especially since she often has to be at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. instead of team practice.
“She works a full day and then has to do her run on top of it and still show up the next day to 7 a.m. practice,” Scherrer said.
On top of her commitment to the team, Scherrer said Hanley shows selflessness through her positivity and commitment to motivating her teammates.
“You see athletes at their best and their worst, and even on her bad days she’s still there cheering everyone else on and doesn’t let her performance reflect out onto other people’s too,” Scherrer said. “She’s always there to be very supportive and give kudos and things like that to people who deserve it even if she hasn’t had the best day.”
Hanley’s teammate, sophomore distance runner Madison Tiaffay, expressed that Hanley has such a healthy attitude toward running and life in general.
“She just knows she loves running,” Tiaffay said. “She obviously takes running seriously but I feel like she has a different type of outlook on life in regards to like, ‘Oh, I'm doing this because I want to. I'm running because it's fun and because I want to do it.’”
Hanley’s positive outlook on running and life has also been something that Tiaffay has learned a lot from.
“I’m always keeping running light hearted and keeping it in perspective with other aspects of my life,” Tiaffay said. “I've definitely learned a lot from her. She's a very inspiring athlete and person.”
In her first year running at Emory, Hanley has continued to make strides in competition. Hanley capped off a stellar cross country season with an All-American honor and an eighth-place finish at nationals. She continued with a strong indoor track and field season that was highlighted by a program record in the distance medley relay at the 2024 University Athletic Association Championships on Feb. 24.
Hanley is looking forward to the opportunity to compete in the first outdoor track season of her collegiate athletic career. Scherrer expressed her admiration of Hanley’s resilience and belief in her ability to continue her success.
“She's beat cancer and came from a different school and had to adjust to a lot of changes,” Scherrer said. “That resilience carries over into her athletics, and you can just see how dedicated and how much of a hardcore she is, on and off the track.”
