It has been four years since Summer Thorpe left Sewickley Academy, but she feels like she is coming out of high school again after signing with the Texas A&M women’s track and field team as a graduate transfer.
Thorpe, 21, of Ohio Township, said the recruiting process was the same.
“A lot of coaches got information,” she said.
Thorpe spent the past four seasons at Notre Dame. She was eligible for another season after spring athletics were canceled because of the coronavirus.
“(It is) kind of crazy,” she said.
Thorpe, who earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at Notre Dame, said an academic program drew her to Texas A&M. She plans to pursue a master’s in marketing.
Competing for the Irish, Thorpe earned a silver medal in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.19 seconds in the ACC indoor championship meet in February. She placed 22nd in the 100 hurdles (13.51) in the NCAA Division I outdoor championship last June.
Aggies coach Pat Henry said Thorpe, the 2016 WPIAL and PIAA Class AA champion in the 100 hurdles, will contribute right off the bat. The Aggies placed fourth in last season’s NCAA Division I outdoor championship.
“She’s been through four years of competition,” Henry said. “Summer is a talented hurdler and the level of the competition and the environment that is in the SEC is going to help her.”
Thorpe looks forward to competing, and is taking a team-first approach.
“Going into a new conference, you can’t focus (just) on you,” she said.
Thorpe has been working out at home. In addition, she is active in the Black Lives Matter movement, “educating, advocating and donating” to combat the resistance she said she and other people of color face every day.
She is relying on her faith for the journey ahead.
“I bring troubles to God,” she said.
