Meet Olivia C.

Olivia Cress, a WVU School of Nursing student who balances her time between academics and athletics on the WVU Women’s Track & Field team, recently made program history placing in the top 5 for the programs pentathlon event. She shared her journey to being a nursing student and how she balances that with track.

As a child, Cress knew she wanted to be involved with health care but wasn’t sure where her interests were. However, when she was very young, her friend's father was badly injured in an explosion. More than 70% of his body was burnt and he had to be life-flighted from a remote location. He died twice on the way to the hospital and the life flight team was able to resuscitate him.

Despite the bleak outlook, he made a full recovery and was able to be a huge part of her life. Over the years, he spoke very highly of the life flight team that aided him. From that experience, Cress decided to shadow the trauma unit and life flight team when she was in high school. She fell in love with it even more and aspired to help people the same way they helped such an important person in her life.

“Balancing nursing school and sports can be difficult,” Cress said. At times, she has had two practices and two lectures in the same day. She would wake up at 5:30 a.m. for the first practice, attend classes and then go to her second practice, finishing up around 6-7 p.m. on long days. Clinical days are straight from the hospital to practice, then she would study and get much needed rest.

“At times it can be extremely strenuous, but being able to pursue what I love while performing at my best for my team makes me truly happy,” Cress said. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Cress said she is blessed to be able to represent WVU and the state of West Virginia as a native born and raised, especially through the ups and downs.

“Last year, I battled with an injury and was very nervous for my return, as well as trying a new event. I was able to go out and perform my best, move up in the WVU history ranks, and place at Big 12s in Lubbock, Texas. It means a lot to me to come back and perform at such a high level because I feared that my injury may end my track career.”

She recalled one of her favorite memories from her freshman year. Cress had a rough season and year but was able to go to Big 12s and jumped well. She placed as a freshman and scored points for the team. She remembered it being an uplifting moment because she’d been feeling down, but was able to bring herself together and excel for her team.

Whenever she would feel down or have a hard time balancing life, studies and athletics, she turned to her spiritual side to ground her. She would take time to read her bible and remind herself that as she balanced it all, she still wanted to achieve the highest she could in school and track. She told herself that God and her parents would want her to study and perform her best, and that pushed her to keep trying hard and excel in her fields.

Cress said through it all the WVU School of Nursing staff and teachers have helped her balance her studies and athletics. They allowed her to switch clinical days to accommodate her travel days for track, then gave her the time to make it up when she got back, allowing her the time to excel in both.

“To all the students who are juggling schooling, sports, jobs, and life, I encourage you to keep reaching for your goals,” Cress said. “They are never truly out of reach. Don’t give up because things look bleak, the path to success is not always lit. And most importantly have fun and enjoy time with the ones you love. You can’t always get that time back.”