Brighton hurdler Erin Dowd takes 'victory lap' at U.S. Olympic track and field trials

Erin Dowd’s track and field career ended on her terms.

And it couldn’t have ended in a better venue for an American in her sport.

The final race in a career that began 13 years ago at Scranton Middle School in Brighton took place in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at iconic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

She didn’t advance beyond the first round in the 400-meter hurdles Thursday after running a time of 58.41 seconds, but she achieved a long-time goal by racing at the Trials.

“My race felt like a victory lap,” Dowd said. “I trained hard this season and competed with enthusiasm all through the season; (Thursday) was no exception. But at this point, I’ve already run times that I hadn’t even fathomed as a younger runner. My one remaining goal was to run at the Olympic Trials this year.

“I felt the weight of that when I stepped out onto the track. One of my favorite announcers, Mike Jay, gave me a stellar introduction. I was just trying to take it all in. It was beautiful.”

Ideally, Dowd’s career would continue for another month or so in the Summer Olympics in Paris, but the American trio in the 400 hurdles includes world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and two others who ran four seconds faster than Dowd’s personal best Sunday in the finals.

“This is the closest I could imagine to being content,” she said. “I’m proud I ended my career at the Olympic Trials. The choice to retire is something that’s not given to most of us. I got to have a choice to retire.

“My heart goes out to athletes who become injured and can’t return to competing at that same level. I thought that was going to be me in 2021 when I was injured. I had my sights set on that Olympic cycle. I was injured and didn’t know if I could compete at that level again.”

Dowd came away from Hayward Field with no regrets, ready to take on the next challenge in her life.

Eleven days after her final race, Dowd will begin medical school July 8 at Western Michigan University. It will begin a 10-year process to becoming a doctor, a timeline with which she’s familiar because she made the Trials in her 10th year as a hurdler.

Dowd has been kicking medical school down the road because of her track and field career. She received degrees in chemical engineering and biomedical science while attending Western for five years. After transferring to the University of Iowa, she earned a masters in finance during her one year with the Hawkeyes.

“I was hoping to get into medical school back when I started my undergraduate degree in 2016,” Dowd said, “but track and field was the beautiful monkey wrench that added four gap years between my undergrad and medical school and another masters degree. Training at this level and also studying to be a doctor wouldn’t have been something that was feasible for me. It always has been one or the other. Finally, I get to pass the baton from one passion to another.”

Dowd’s running career began in 2010 running cross country at Scranton as a seventh-grader. She viewed herself as a distance runner until being thrown into a 200-meter race in eighth grade and taking first place.

She didn’t take up hurdles until her junior year at Brighton following the graduation of state qualifier Marissa McGahan.

Dowd qualified for the state meet in the 100 and 300 hurdles, winning league and regional championships in the longer event. As a senior in 2016, she took second in the 300 hurdles and third in the 100 hurdles in the state meet . Her 300 hurdles time of 43.46 in the 2016 Midwest Meet of Champions is a Livingston County record.

At Western, Dowd was the Mid-American champion in the 400 hurdles in 2018 and 2019. She finished 16th in the NCAA championships in her final year at Iowa in 2022.

She qualified for the Olympic Trials with her time of 56.99 last July 9 at the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships.

“I love to compete and I love to see myself improve,” Dowd said. “I also think that I am lucky with the types of experiences and the types of mentors I’ve had in track and field. They made the experience enjoyable for me. It’s the people around you who make or break your love for what you’re doing. In my opinion, I’ve had the best coaches and best teammates along the way that have made the everyday things worthwhile.”

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Brighton hurdler Erin Dowd takes 'victory lap' at U.S. Olympic track and field trials