From athlete to advocate: North Central (Illinois) alum Hailey Poe continues building up triathlon

Hailey Poe smiles when she thinks about her first time competing in a triathlon.

It was in 2008 at a youth event, raising money for the local Habitat for Humanity group in her hometown of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania.

A 7-year-old Poe dog-paddled her way through the water for the swim, raced down the street on her Barbie bike for the biking portion and finally ran as fast as she could in the final part of the race.

"Had no idea what I was doing," Poe said. "I took a long time in the transitions because I wanted to put different clothes on and put socks and shoes on and all the things that I know now are way too long to do. But I was just having fun with it, and I really enjoyed my first experience because it was like nothing I had ever done before."

Triathlons consist of swimming, cycling and running, in that order. At the collegiate level, a typical event has teams of five athletes that race in a 750-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike ride and 5K run.

Growing up in a family of runners and lovers of the outdoors, a young Poe easily gravitated toward the sport, competing in events in her hometown and surrounding areas.

What started as a fun way to stay active quickly became something she couldn't imagine life without. Luckily for Poe, triathlon became part of the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program in 2014, providing women the chance to compete in the sport in college. Poe's love for the sport grew, as did her determination and skill, leading to a historic college career at North Central (Illinois). 

The former Cardinal won a record four individual titles and three team titles at the USA Triathlon Collegiate Division III National Championships and earned USA Triathlon's inaugural Alexander Award, presented to the top collegiate triathlete in athletics, academics and community service. While those achievements alone etched her name in the sport's history, her commitment to making an impact beyond her sport and uplifting the next generation of triathletes will be what truly marks her legacy.

A place to be herself

In her initial search for college, North Central wasn't on Poe's radar — even after a family friend familiar with the Naperville, Illinois, area where the college is located recommended it to her. But after a conversation with then head coach Jenny Garrison, Poe agreed to give it a chance.

"I think the thing that really sold it for me was, number one, whenever I did my overnight visit," Poe said. "The team just felt so authentic to me. I had done a few overnight visits and other visits with teams to that point, and I always felt like I was trying to fit in a little bit more. But once I was on campus at North Central spending time with the team, I really felt like I didn't have to try to fit in. I just knew that there was a place there for me."

Aside from athletics, Poe felt there was a great opportunity for her to study disciplines that interested her in ethical leadership and sport management. After taking a gap year following high school, she arrived on campus in 2021 alongside two other freshmen, Taylin Lemke and Abby Anderson. Both swimmers, Lemke and Anderson entered with no triathlon experience. As the one with the previous experience in triathlon, Poe was eager to be a friendly resource to her new teammates.

"What stood out to me was she was just very happy and welcoming," Anderson said. "Even though she was completely new (as a collegiate triathlon) too, it was like she was a seasoned pro … and it was just so easy to get to know her and love her."

Anderson admits to not coming into the sport with the same positive mindset and doubting her ability to compete at a high level early on.

"I definitely went into triathlon with more of a negative mindset of like, 'Oh, I'm not doing this fast enough or well enough,'" Anderson said. "The biggest thing (Poe) really taught me, especially right off the bat, was about mindset and positivity and just the mental strength of 'You can get through this. You will get through this.'"

Racing past roadblocks

Poe rocketed to a great start in her freshman season, going on to win the individual championship and Freshman of the Year award in Division III, in addition to the team earning a third-place finish overall. While Poe's season ended in success, the year had its share of failures and setbacks.

During a race, Poe crashed on her bike after going too fast down a hill and attempting a sharp turn at the bottom. Biking was the section of races that Poe had come into the season knowing she wanted to improve at, and the crash caused her confidence to waver.

"I got up and kept going and didn't really think much about the crash during the race, but after the race, I had that muscle memory of going down on my left side," Poe said. "So training after that, I had a quite a bit of mental block where anytime I took left turns, my body would just tense up, and I wouldn't be able to go into it as well as I would like."

To fight past her mental roadblock, Poe relied on her coaches and teammates — in particular, fifth-year senior Annika Cotner. 

"Being able to build that confidence back up in a teammate after they go through an experience that is not necessarily the most positive outcome …  I think that's our job as teammates," Cotner said. "To be that supportive person and understand, like, we're all going through this, it could have happened to anyone, that sort of thing … just being a motivator and feed each other that positive energy." 

Poe was able to bounce back, and as she progressed through her college career, she remained constant in her commitment to getting better and uplifting her teammates. Though she had three head coaches across her four years, she still formed a special bond with each one. 

Garrison, the coach who recruited her and led the team during Poe's freshman season, helped her see her potential and vocalize her goals more. As a sophomore, coach Averi Lewis trained her to become a better swimmer and was excellent at celebrating wins, no matter how small. For her final two seasons, current North Central head coach Tyler Woodward enabled Poe to be a mentor for the team in all areas, not just in training or competitions.

Taking advantage of the student-athlete experience

As dedicated as Poe was to triathlon, she was equally committed to being a student and active member of her community. Academically, Poe received multiple College Triathlon Coaches Association Scholar All-America honors and Academic All-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin recognition. 

Across campus, Poe was a part of numerous groups — serving on North Central's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and student-orientation staff, advocating for body positivity and neutrality in a student organization called The Body Collective, and helping initiate a chapter of The Hidden Opponent to promote student-athlete mental health. 

Having the opportunity to put effort into athletics, academics and community involvement is something Poe credits to the Division III model.

"Coming from a high school experience where I had done a lot outside of sports … I really wanted to be able to still do that in college," Poe said. "I felt like that was who I am, that was the most authentic version of myself, just being able to do the things that I love, especially when they're not just sport or education. Having that holistic experience was everything I dreamed it would be."

For her dedication and excellence in all three areas, Poe was named a Top 30 honoree for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. The program recognizes the academic achievements, athletic excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female student-athletes from all three NCAA divisions. 

As a freshman, Poe saw one of her teammates, Naomi Hill, be recognized as an NCAA Woman of the Year finalist. Inspired by the impact Hill made, Poe strived to be a role model, too.

"My sophomore year ... I taped up a bunch of goals in my room, and being a nominee for the WOTY was one of those," Poe said. "I had that up in my room, and I would look at that every night before I went to bed or whenever I woke up in the morning, and that kind of drove me every day. So to now come to a point where I was a nominee for that award is really special to me. … It's just really cool to see the impact that this award has on not just the nominees, but girls who are aspiring to do great things in sports."

Supporting her sport

Currently pursuing a master's degree in sports administration at Boston College, Poe aspires to one day become a collegiate coach for triathlon and give back to the sport through teaching and leading the next generation of young women. What she has no intentions of doing, however, is waiting until she becomes a coach to make an impact.

Soon after graduating from North Central in 2025, Poe founded The Collegiate Breakaway, a social media platform dedicated to promoting collegiate triathlon. In addition to providing coverage for athletes and teams, the account is a hub for results, course maps and race recaps that often had been hard to find in one place, as well as a space for new and existing fans to come together.

"I always felt like we were missing out on reaching a lot of people and building hype, especially because it felt like things were kind of hard to access," Poe said. "It's been really cool to be a part of the community, not as an athlete, but as a supporter now, and being able to cheer on the athletes and do interviews with coaches and athletes and highlight different teams on things and just give information to the fans that wouldn't be able to access it." 

To help raise money to fund the coverage, Poe decided to run 24 miles in 24 hours on her 24th birthday in January. Friends, family members, former teammates and others showed up for support. Both Anderson and Cotner were among those in attendance.

"Maybe it was some of the in-the-moment exhaustion that they were experiencing, but everyone said, 'I want to do this again. I want to be prepared to run all 24 miles next time. Let's do this together,'" Cotner said. "She's such a leader in that way, to put people out of their comfort zone and work hard."

"She never sets a ceiling for herself," Anderson said. "She always just wanted to keep going and pushing harder. And even being out of (triathlon) now, she just has that mindset of she can do anything she puts her mind to. A lot of people say that, but I don't think a lot of people push it. And she does."

As she gears up to cover another triathlon season in the fall, Poe is eager to keep helping the sport grow as it nears the necessary benchmarks to become an NCAA-sponsored sport. When that happens, she hopes that her 7-year-old self would be proud.

"The impact that (an NCAA championship) will have on a lot of the women who competed before it became an official sport, they'll be able to finally feel like they helped build something," Poe said.

"Watching women's wrestling has been so phenomenal for me because we had an exceptional and still do have an exceptional women's wrestling program at North Central. Being able to watch them compete throughout my time in college, and by my senior year, hearing that they were becoming an official sport was so cool because that showed me that it is possible, that we can do this. They did it. We can too."