OKLAHOMA CITY (May 27, 2021) – Verrell McBride just knew he was on the verge of a big breakthrough in his collegiate running career when the 2020 indoor track and field season ended. As March and the outdoor season loomed, the Oklahoma Christian sprinter could feel he was ready for a big performance.

We all know what happened then. With most of American society shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no place to work out, no place to practice and no meets in which to compete as the Eagles' outdoor season was cancelled.

After a difficult few months, McBride worked his way back and earlier this month, he experienced the breakthrough he had been expecting. As a result, he earned the honor of being the last OC athlete to complete his 2020-21 season, which he'll do this weekend when he competes in the 200 meters in the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships in Allendale, Mich.

"I had to stay focused on the main goal, which was going to nationals," McBride said. "That's something that I've wanted to do since my freshman year. That's the main thing for me – just continue to work hard and do what I'm doing, lifting, taking every rep seriously. I just really want to be at the top of everything. That pushes me every day."

Originally from Mississippi, McBride's family moved to Norman during his high-school years. His performances at Norman North High School caught the attention of OC coach Wade Miller. As a senior, McBride finished sixth in Class 6A in the 200 meters with a time of 22.17 seconds and 10th in the 100 meters in 10.76 seconds.

"He was kind of a workhorse for his team," Miller said. "He ran a lot of relays and was competitive in individual events as well. I thought he'd be a good fit for our program and he has been."

McBride's family since has moved to Texas, but he's happy to stay in Oklahoma for the time being for his college years.

"I had more opportunities here than I did where I was," McBride said. "I really like Oklahoma. It's just a different environment, a different vibe, nicer people."

During his freshman season at OC, he showed steady improvement. In his final meet of the outdoor campaign, he posted career-best times in the 100 (10.83 seconds) and 200 (21.25 seconds) in Fayetteville, Ark. He posted Division II provisional qualifying times in the 100 and 200, earning All-South Central Region honors in the 100 as well as four All-Great American Conference awards, including first-team recognition in the 100 (placing third at the GAC meet) and second-team in the 200 outdoors.

"He had a good freshman year and really progressed well late in the season," Miller said. "He ran a real quick time at Arkansas in early May. He showed a lot of progress from high school through that freshman year. He had a better indoor season his sophomore year than he did his freshman year and was set up pretty nicely going into outdoor."

During the 2020 indoor season, McBride's 200 time steadily dropped, to 21.88 seconds at the Lone Star Conference Indoor Championships in Lubbock, Texas, on Feb. 22, 2020.

That proved to be OC's final meet of 2020.

In the early days of the pandemic, gyms closed their workout facilities and schools closed their tracks, significantly limiting training options for athletes. McBride's conditioning took a huge hit.

"COVID messed it up for everybody, pretty much," he said. "There's nothing you can really do. I was really prepared for the outdoor season. I think that was the fastest that I've ever been. Just the fact that it got taken away from us, that was really hard.

"You really couldn't practice. There was no track open to go to. You can't lift weights. You can't maintain your strength."

By last June, McBride was able to resume working out, but he knew he had lost a lot in the previous few months –  "I was already out of shape," he said – and he's been working ever since to get back to where he was on the track. Miller said McBride's story is not unusual on the OC team this season.

The pandemic "put a big hole in their athletic journey, so to speak," Miller said of his athletes. "That whole situation is something every athlete had to wrestle with and work through. That happened at different levels and in different time frames for each individual. Verrell has really had a strong outdoor season and has competed really well."

It's come in fits and starts, but there have been flashes of success for McBride in 2021. The pandemic resulted in an abbreviated 2021 indoor season that included only three meets. McBride's top 200-meter time of 21.90 seconds resulted in a ninth-place finish at the LSC Indoor Championships.

Unlike his coach, McBride said he really didn't think he's had the most productive outdoor season, with a couple of exceptions.

He won the 200 meters at the University of Oklahoma's Sooner Invitational in Norman on April 17, beating a field of Division I runners while posting a time of 21.73 seconds, meeting the Division II provisional qualifying standard. He also finished fifth in the 100-meter final in 10.87 seconds, beating a pair of Division I runners and finishing behind only three runners from OU and a non-collegiate runner. That performance earned him recognition as the LSC's track athlete of the week.

That was good, but three weeks later at the LSC Outdoor Championships in Canyon, Texas, came his breakthrough. A major goal for the season was to run a sub-21-second 200 and – buoyed by a strong field that included the race winner posting a Division II-record time of 20.13 seconds – McBride placed second in 20.96 seconds. That time easily qualified him for this week's meet.

"The best you could do (in that race) is just try to keep up the best you can," McBride said. "I was very excited when I saw my time. I've been chasing to break 21 for a long time. I feel like I could have done it my freshman year but I didn't get there because I hurt my hamstring. When I saw that 20-point on that board, excitement just flew out of me. I couldn't hold it in. I was screaming and yelling and jumping up and down."

McBride is the first male OC track and field athlete to qualify for the Division II Outdoor Championships since 2018, when Landon Huslig won the national title in the 400-meter hurdles. McBride will be seeded ninth among 14 runners in the preliminary round, which will be run at 1:45 p.m. Friday at the Grand Valley State University Lacrosse/Track and Field Stadium.

Eight finalists will advance to the title race at 1:20 p.m. on Saturday. McBride, a General Business major who's close to earning a real estate license, has two seasons of eligibility remaining at OC in both indoor and outdoor track. That said, he realizes opportunities to compete in a national meet are precious and aren't guaranteed in the future, so he wants to squeeze as much out of this one as he can.

"I'm just focused on what I need to do to make it to the final and on the technical aspects of my race," he said. "When I get there, I want to take advantage of the moment and let it all sink in. Truthfully, I didn't think I'd be at this point, because I've had a tough season, probably the toughest season I've ever had. The fact that the results finally are showing is good.

"My main goal is to make it to the final and then we'll go from there. Anything can happen."