Hurd has become a must-see on track
Senior hurdler and sprinter a top performer for Mids
Cameron Hurd began planning for his future at an early age, plotting a path that would take him to the Naval Academy — not just for a top-notch education but for what may very well be his future profession.
That path has also placed Hurd, a senior, as one of the top track and field performers in Naval Academy history, as well as one of the more popular and well-rounded individuals on “The Yard.”
“I decided I wanted to be a pilot at an early age,” Hurd said. “I was in the eighth grade and started wondering how I could become a pilot and also go to college.
“I held on to that, and as I grew older I had some friends who suggested that if I went to one of the academies, I might be able to do both. So I researched it and decided that’s what I would pursue — attending one of the academies.”
The decision to go after an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy came later, after he watched an Army-Navy football game on television.
“I said to myself, ‘That’s where I want to go,’ ” Hurd said. “Beginning with the ninth grade, I started concentrating on what I needed to do to go to the Naval Academy.”
Hurd’s interest in the sprints and hurdles was cultivated even earlier. He said he was 6 or 7 when he watched the Olympics and followed the 4x100 relay team.
“Maurice Greene was being interviewed after his event and I thought that was cool,” Hurd said. “That was the first time the light bulb went off that was what I wanted to do. That stayed with me. I made the hurdles a priority of mine when competing in high school.”
A standout athlete at Trabuco Hills High in California, Hurd started competing in track and field and quickly excelled as a hurdler and sprinter.
By the 10th grade, Hurd started getting letters from colleges, including Air Force and Navy. After taking his trip to Annapolis, he was sold on the Naval Academy.
“It just seemed to have everything I was looking for, plus the location on the water appealed to me,” Hurd said. “I was able to get an appointment and here I am now.”
Hurd spent this past week preparing for Saturday’s indoor track and field showdown against archrival Army. In a Star meet competition that generally is won by the home team, the Mids host the Black Knights this year at Wesley A. Brown Field House, which is named after the first African American to graduate from the Naval Academy (1945-49).
In addition to the men’s meet that starts at 11 a.m., the Navy women compete against Army later in the day. Also taking place this weekend is the United States Track and Field Combined Event Championships, which will bring many of the nation’s top pentathletes and heptathletes to the Yard.
“It’s a separate part of the meet and is a good showcase for multi-event athletes from throughout the country,” said Navy head coach Jamie Cook.
The Combined Event Championships got underway Friday and resume Saturday morning prior to the Army-Navy indoor meets.
“This will be the last Army-Navy indoor meet of my career, so it’s special for me,” Hurd said. “There’s no better feeling than winning anything against Army, needless to say. We are matched pretty close, so I expect it to be one of those meets that is close and comes down to a point here and a point there.”
Hurd will compete in the 60-meter hurdles, 400 hurdles and as a member of the 1,600 relay. During last spring’s outdoor season, the 4x400 team set the school record with a time of 3 minutes, 7.24 seconds.
Overall, Hurd and Co. hold four of the top five times in school history.
“We could have a chance to set the indoor school record in this meet, and we’ll likely get another shot before the season is up,” Hurd said. “Just winning the event is the goal this weekend. We’re not thinking record as much as we are aiming to win the event.”
Hurd’s teammates on the 1,600 relay team are juniors Eric Hughey and Simon Petsch and senior co- captain John Finnegan. The foursome also makes up much of Navy’s mid-distance contingent.
Hughey competes in the 400 and 500, Petsch in the 400, 500 and 800, and Finnegan in the 400, 500 and 800.
“Cameron has been a key member of the team and has won multiple conference championships,” Cook said. “He is a fantastic team leader, a hard worker and fierce competitor.”
Navy’s strength in the hurdles continues with Clayton Thompson and Hunter
Wargo. Thompson is also a long jumper.
Cross-country standout Jake Brophy, a senior and five-time Patriot League champion in track, recently became the first Navy miler to break four minutes in the event — clocking a 3:59.8 last month in a meet in Boston.
In addition to being a member of the outdoor record-holding 1,600 relay, Hurd has run the 400 hurdles in 51 seconds and was part of the shuttle relay team that was victorious at the prestigious Penn Relays last spring. It was the first time since 1932 that Navy won an event there.
“He’s a student of the sport,” Cook said of Hurd. “He studies his craft and he knows exactly what he needs to do. He’s a team leader and very well-liked.”
Off the track and outside the classroom, Hurd is a member of the academy’s Spirit Team as well as being part of a group of midshipmen that serve as disc jockeys and master of ceremonies for events.
“The Spirit Team cheers and urges fans on at pep rallies and football games,” Hurd said. “I’m not a cheerleader or dancer, but I have the important role of taking care of Bill [the Goat, the team’s mascot] and herding him from place to place on game day. I make sure he is where he needs to be and behaves. If someone wants their picture taken with him, I try to make that happen.”
Hurd is also a member of the Navy Beats, a close-knit group of Mids who are, in his words, “the DJs of the academy.”
“It’s just a club on the Yard,” he explained, adding that he used to go by the DJ name of “CRIIMSON” in high school. “We help with the pep rally before the Army-Navy football game. And there are other events on the Yard we’ll be more like an emcee for.”
Hurd said he plans to have a career in the Navy but added that “life is fluid [so] we’ll see what happens as life goes on.”