More About Manteo

Congratulations to Manteo Mitchell, who was last week's feature on the "Wall." He was recently selected to the Western Carolina Hall of Fame. To my surprise, he contacted me and asked for help with his biography, which I assume would be used in the ceremony and program. I pulled some stuff together. Turns out I had assumed the bio was supposed to be brief, and thankfully, he made some additions which truly pulled everything together. For the record, here's what I had.

Manteo Mitchell (’09) is easily one of the most famous athletes in Catamount history. While running for Western Carolina, Mitchell broke school records in the 200 and 400-meter runs, and also qualified for the NCAA championships seven times. Soon after graduating, Manteo became the first athlete in school history to become an Olympian, earning a spot as a 4x400 meter relay runner.

The relay finished with a silver medal in the 2012 London Olympics, but it was Manteo’s gutsy effort in the qualifying race that made headline news around the world. Halfway through his 400-meter leg, Manteo heard a crack in his leg. In spite of the pain, he courageously finished his lap, learning later that he had broken his fibula midway through the race. His story reached hundreds of millions of worldwide Olympic viewers, and even drew a comment from President Barack Obama, who called it “one of my favorite stories from the Games,” while Manteo was an honored Olympian guest at the White House.

Mitchell has also earned a world championship, for his part on the gold medal winning 4x400 relay at the indoor World Championships in 2012.

For his career at Western Carolina, Manteo’s highlights also include being a four-time Southern Conference MVP, five conference team championships, seven NCAA-All region athlete honors, and winner of the Joe Hunt Award, for being the Outstanding College Male Athlete at Western Carolina.

However, it is his recent work that is drawing notice, as Manteo has become a well-respected motivational speaker, delivering his testimony of “FaithFocusFinish” to dozens of youth and civic groups. His inspirational story was recently featured in a cover story of TrackSide magazine (trackside3.tracknation.com).

Mitchell, who runs for Nike athletics, was also recently selected for sponsorship by BP, the former British Petroleum Company.