University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Dream Season for Harding Continues at NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships
06.05.2017 | Track and Field
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EUGENE, Ore. – The whole experience has been somewhat surreal for UNC Asheville track and field freshman sensation Matthew Harding.
"I'm at a stage I never thought I would reach," Harding mused. "I never thought TV stations and newspapers would want to be talking to me about how I am getting on in my running. It's sort of a dream come true for me."
It's definitely not a dream at all though as Harding continues his impressive freshman campaign this week at the 2017 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. June 7-10.
Harding will next compete in the national semifinal round of the 800 meters at 9:14 p.m. EST on Wednesday, May 7. Â The semifinals will be carried live on ESPN.Â
The top two times from each of the three heats plus the next two fastest times will advance to the national finals in the 800 meters to be contested at 9:44 p.m. EST on Friday, June 9. The national finals will be carried live on ESPN.Â
Harding's personal-record time of 1:47.92 in the national quarterfinals of the 800 meters on Friday, May 26, at the NCAA East Regional Preliminary advanced him to Eugene. His time is a school-record and the second-best time in Big South Conference history in the 800 meters.
The Big South Indoor and Outdoor Freshman of the Year and the league's indoor and outdoor 800m champion, Harding now owns two of the three top times in the 800 meters in conference history.Â
Overall, Harding's time entering the national semifinals is the 12th-best among the 24 participants competing in Eugene.
'I wanted to come to college in America'
All of this is incredibly impressive since it has only been a couple of years since Harding made the switch from devoting most of his efforts from field hockey to track and field and cross country.
"I loved field hockey and it was sort of my favorite sport growing up," Harding noted.
The Conwy, North Wales native nevertheless had the dream of attending college in the United States and realized that field hockey was not offered.
"I wanted to come to college in America and it just so happened that track was sort of my ticket to get here," Harding said. "I thought it must be in my genes. My parents are both good runners and my brother is a good runner."
He may have known he had the ticket, but Harding originally had no idea where he wanted to attend college, so he started a profile on the NCSA (Next College Student-Athlete) website.
"One of the first schools it did recommend to me was UNC Asheville," Harding said. "I didn't really know what North Carolina was, or where it was. I couldn't show you it on a map a couple of years ago. Coach Adam Puett responded and from day one we seemed to get along pretty well and we talked pretty easily over email. It just so happened that I was able to get on campus for a visit and I really enjoyed my visit. I really enjoyed the campus, I liked the facilities here and I met some of the guys on the team and they were all great."
Knowing that he wanted to be a part of something special and different, Harding decided that UNC Asheville was the perfect school for him.
"It was a really good fit for me in terms of the team and the school being a smaller school," Harding said. "The thought of traveling 20 minutes to get to a class of 20 students being taught on a computer isn't really what I want from college. This was just the best fit for me. Luckily for me, my parents financially could make it work."
'There is a big transition'
An assistant coach for UNC Asheville track and field and cross country, Puett took the reins of the distance program a couple of years ago.
He knew he had something special in Harding pretty early, but in an instrasquad meet in November of 2016, Puett knew he also had someone that could win a conference championship.
"When he won the 600 meters during that event with a 1:21, I started to make the assumption that he could be a conference champion," Puett said.
Harding proved Puett's assumptions right during the 2017 indoor and outdoor season, but still, Puett did not necessarily think that he would get to the point that he is now where he has shaved off roughly eight seconds from his time since his arrival on the UNC Asheville campus.
"There is a big transition in the training part of it, the academic part of it and the social part of it," Puett said of being a freshman. "I think eight seconds in a year is probably the best I've ever done with someone. I don't know if it has a whole lot to do with me, but I think it says even more about Matt."
The track and field world is taking notice
For Harding it may all seem a little surreal, but the track and field world is more than taking notice of what is taking place at UNC Asheville.
In fact, track and field legend Don Paige recently made it a point to make sure and meet Harding.
Currently a resident of Waynesville, N.C., Paige was ranked No. 1 in the world in the 800 meters in 1980. A six-time NCAA champion, Paige is still the world-record holder in the 1,000 yards.
"I've never experienced anything like this before," Harding said of the attention. "I've been successful in athletics before, but nothing quite like this that's attracted this type of attention before. I'll wake up in the morning and check my phone and I'll have people from across the world sending me messages congratulating me or commenting on my times and wishing me good luck."
Known as Tracktown USA, Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. is playing host to the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships for the 15th time this year and Harding is fully aware that he is going to be competing this week at one of the hallowed grounds of the sport.
"Getting to set foot where so many of the greats of the sport have been before, I am sort of still in a little bit of awe of getting to do that," Harding said.
Excited about the present and future of UNC Asheville track and field
Harding as noted decided UNC Asheville was the right fit for him for a number of reasons and he is thrilled to be able to promote the track and field program at the national level.
"One of the most exciting things for me about our program is getting to grow something," Harding said. "In the year that I've been here, we've seen big improvements in certain areas of the program like having the highest points tallied at the Big South Outdoor Track and Field championships on the men's side and looking at the recruits coming in next year, it looks like we're going to have the firepower to move us up the conference standings quite significantly. That is exciting to me and the rest of the guys on the team as well. The atmosphere around the team is definitely one of excitement and one where we can't wait to get back here next year and start training again. It's an awesome environment to be in."
There is still a great deal to be done this season with Harding having the chance to make even more of a statement in Eugene.
Going into the NCAA East Regional Preliminary in Lexington, Ky., Harding's goal was "to run a new PR and beyond that my ultimate goal is to make it to nationals."
Mission accomplished there, but his goals this time are a little different.
"This time I'm sort of less concerned with the PR," Harding said. "It would be nice, as it's always nice to run a PR, but if I could make it to the final and be an All-American (it would be special). It is not so much a goal. That's sort of a dream at this point. I'm not too concerned if it doesn't happen as a freshman. I've got three more chances where I'm going to be better educated of what's to come when I get to this point."
Harding knows that no matter what happens in Eugene he is going to "give 110 percent and compete with whoever I am running against."
If he makes it to the national finals or not, he knows it's truly been a year he will remember forever.
"On the day I'm going to compete, if that means the possibility of making the finals then that's just another sort of loop in the belt," Harding said. "It's just another thing I can chalk up to this awesome season. If my road ends in the (national) prelims, so be it, because it's still been far and away the best year of my life in sport."
To learn more about UNC Asheville track and field and cross country, please visit uncabulldogs.com. You can also like UNC Asheville track and field and cross country on Twitter at @UNCABulldogXCTF and on Instagram at @uncaxctf.
Broadcast Information (Click Link to Access)
Schedule of Events (Click Link to Access)
Results List (Click Link to Access)
Participant List (Click Link to Access)
EUGENE, Ore. – The whole experience has been somewhat surreal for UNC Asheville track and field freshman sensation Matthew Harding.
"I'm at a stage I never thought I would reach," Harding mused. "I never thought TV stations and newspapers would want to be talking to me about how I am getting on in my running. It's sort of a dream come true for me."
It's definitely not a dream at all though as Harding continues his impressive freshman campaign this week at the 2017 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. June 7-10.
Harding will next compete in the national semifinal round of the 800 meters at 9:14 p.m. EST on Wednesday, May 7. Â The semifinals will be carried live on ESPN.Â
The top two times from each of the three heats plus the next two fastest times will advance to the national finals in the 800 meters to be contested at 9:44 p.m. EST on Friday, June 9. The national finals will be carried live on ESPN.Â
Harding's personal-record time of 1:47.92 in the national quarterfinals of the 800 meters on Friday, May 26, at the NCAA East Regional Preliminary advanced him to Eugene. His time is a school-record and the second-best time in Big South Conference history in the 800 meters.
The Big South Indoor and Outdoor Freshman of the Year and the league's indoor and outdoor 800m champion, Harding now owns two of the three top times in the 800 meters in conference history.Â
Overall, Harding's time entering the national semifinals is the 12th-best among the 24 participants competing in Eugene.
'I wanted to come to college in America'
All of this is incredibly impressive since it has only been a couple of years since Harding made the switch from devoting most of his efforts from field hockey to track and field and cross country.
"I loved field hockey and it was sort of my favorite sport growing up," Harding noted.
The Conwy, North Wales native nevertheless had the dream of attending college in the United States and realized that field hockey was not offered.
"I wanted to come to college in America and it just so happened that track was sort of my ticket to get here," Harding said. "I thought it must be in my genes. My parents are both good runners and my brother is a good runner."
He may have known he had the ticket, but Harding originally had no idea where he wanted to attend college, so he started a profile on the NCSA (Next College Student-Athlete) website.
"One of the first schools it did recommend to me was UNC Asheville," Harding said. "I didn't really know what North Carolina was, or where it was. I couldn't show you it on a map a couple of years ago. Coach Adam Puett responded and from day one we seemed to get along pretty well and we talked pretty easily over email. It just so happened that I was able to get on campus for a visit and I really enjoyed my visit. I really enjoyed the campus, I liked the facilities here and I met some of the guys on the team and they were all great."
Knowing that he wanted to be a part of something special and different, Harding decided that UNC Asheville was the perfect school for him.
"It was a really good fit for me in terms of the team and the school being a smaller school," Harding said. "The thought of traveling 20 minutes to get to a class of 20 students being taught on a computer isn't really what I want from college. This was just the best fit for me. Luckily for me, my parents financially could make it work."
'There is a big transition'
An assistant coach for UNC Asheville track and field and cross country, Puett took the reins of the distance program a couple of years ago.
He knew he had something special in Harding pretty early, but in an instrasquad meet in November of 2016, Puett knew he also had someone that could win a conference championship.
"When he won the 600 meters during that event with a 1:21, I started to make the assumption that he could be a conference champion," Puett said.
Harding proved Puett's assumptions right during the 2017 indoor and outdoor season, but still, Puett did not necessarily think that he would get to the point that he is now where he has shaved off roughly eight seconds from his time since his arrival on the UNC Asheville campus.
"There is a big transition in the training part of it, the academic part of it and the social part of it," Puett said of being a freshman. "I think eight seconds in a year is probably the best I've ever done with someone. I don't know if it has a whole lot to do with me, but I think it says even more about Matt."
The track and field world is taking notice
For Harding it may all seem a little surreal, but the track and field world is more than taking notice of what is taking place at UNC Asheville.
In fact, track and field legend Don Paige recently made it a point to make sure and meet Harding.
Currently a resident of Waynesville, N.C., Paige was ranked No. 1 in the world in the 800 meters in 1980. A six-time NCAA champion, Paige is still the world-record holder in the 1,000 yards.
"I've never experienced anything like this before," Harding said of the attention. "I've been successful in athletics before, but nothing quite like this that's attracted this type of attention before. I'll wake up in the morning and check my phone and I'll have people from across the world sending me messages congratulating me or commenting on my times and wishing me good luck."
Known as Tracktown USA, Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. is playing host to the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships for the 15th time this year and Harding is fully aware that he is going to be competing this week at one of the hallowed grounds of the sport.
"Getting to set foot where so many of the greats of the sport have been before, I am sort of still in a little bit of awe of getting to do that," Harding said.
Excited about the present and future of UNC Asheville track and field
Harding as noted decided UNC Asheville was the right fit for him for a number of reasons and he is thrilled to be able to promote the track and field program at the national level.
"One of the most exciting things for me about our program is getting to grow something," Harding said. "In the year that I've been here, we've seen big improvements in certain areas of the program like having the highest points tallied at the Big South Outdoor Track and Field championships on the men's side and looking at the recruits coming in next year, it looks like we're going to have the firepower to move us up the conference standings quite significantly. That is exciting to me and the rest of the guys on the team as well. The atmosphere around the team is definitely one of excitement and one where we can't wait to get back here next year and start training again. It's an awesome environment to be in."
There is still a great deal to be done this season with Harding having the chance to make even more of a statement in Eugene.
Going into the NCAA East Regional Preliminary in Lexington, Ky., Harding's goal was "to run a new PR and beyond that my ultimate goal is to make it to nationals."
Mission accomplished there, but his goals this time are a little different.
"This time I'm sort of less concerned with the PR," Harding said. "It would be nice, as it's always nice to run a PR, but if I could make it to the final and be an All-American (it would be special). It is not so much a goal. That's sort of a dream at this point. I'm not too concerned if it doesn't happen as a freshman. I've got three more chances where I'm going to be better educated of what's to come when I get to this point."
Harding knows that no matter what happens in Eugene he is going to "give 110 percent and compete with whoever I am running against."
If he makes it to the national finals or not, he knows it's truly been a year he will remember forever.
"On the day I'm going to compete, if that means the possibility of making the finals then that's just another sort of loop in the belt," Harding said. "It's just another thing I can chalk up to this awesome season. If my road ends in the (national) prelims, so be it, because it's still been far and away the best year of my life in sport."
To learn more about UNC Asheville track and field and cross country, please visit uncabulldogs.com. You can also like UNC Asheville track and field and cross country on Twitter at @UNCABulldogXCTF and on Instagram at @uncaxctf.
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