Cambrea Sturgis (born March 27, 1999) is an American professional track and field athlete specializing in the sprints. She won two national titles in 2021, winning the 100 m and the 200 m at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships as a sophomore.

Early life

Sturgis grew up in

Kannapolis, North Carolina Kannapolis () is a city in Cabarrus and Rowan counties, in the U.S. state of North Carolina, northwest of Concord and northeast of Charlotte and is a suburb in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The city of Kannapolis was incorporated in 1984. Th ...

, where her first sport was basketball. She began running track in middle school, following in the footsteps of her father, Darius. Sturgis initially struggled, finishing last in races, but improved after joining an

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

club called the Salisbury Speedsters. Sturgis graduated from A.L. Brown High School in Kannapolis, North Carolina. She was one of the fastest 100 m and 200 m sprinters in the state by her sophomore year, earning MecKa 4A Conference female track athlete of the year accolades. She was the Cabarrus County and 4A West Region champion in both events that year, placing top-three at the 4A state meet with respective times of 11.73 and 24.04 seconds. Sturgis repeated as 4A West Region champion in the 200 m as a junior, but did not compete as a senior. Sturgis was discovered as a sophomore by

North Carolina A&T State University North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (also known as North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina A&T, N.C. A&T, or simply A&T) is a public, historically black land-grant research university in Greensboro, North Caro ...

head coach

Duane Ross Randolph Duane Ross (born December 5, 1972) is an American collegiate track and field coach, and former athlete, specializing in the 110 meters hurdles. He is currently the Director of Track and Field programs for the University of Tennessee and ...

, who said: "Mechanically, she has the tools. She is wired the correct way for a sprinter. I knew she had a future in this sport, and as soon as I could, I started recruiting her." Sturgis also received offers from programs such as

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

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and Western Carolina.

College career

Sturgis competed at the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

level for the North Carolina A&T Aggies. As a freshman, she broke the 200 m school record with a winning time of 23.43 seconds at the 2019 Hokie Invitational. Sturgis also finished third in the 200 m at the 2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships with a personal best time of 22.40 seconds. She was named a first-team All-American by the U.S. Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Sturgis won her first conference title as a sophomore, taking the 200 m crown at the 2020 MEAC Indoor Championships to contribute to the Aggies' fourth straight indoor team title. She also ran a personal best time of 7.15 seconds in the 60 m to set a meet record at the Jim Green Invitational, earning national female athlete of the week honors by the USTFCCCA. In the spring season, Sturgis won the 100 m, 200 m, and events at the 2021 MEAC Outdoor Championships, leading the Aggies to a conference title with 290 points. She was again named national female athlete of the week by the USTFCCCA for her performance. Sturgis won the sprint double the following month at the 2021 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships, winning the 100 m event in 10.74 seconds before placing first in the 200 m with a personal best time of 22.12 seconds. The former became the fastest wind aided 100 m time in NCAA history while the latter was the fourth-fastest 200 m performance in NCAA history. She also anchored the team to a third-place finish with a school-record time of 43.03 seconds. Sturgis competed at the

U.S. Olympic Trials The United States Olympic Trials are competitions held in certain sports to select the United States' participants in those sports at the Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading i ...

in the 100 m and 200 m events, but was eliminated in the semi-finals in both races. She was named the 2021 Southeast Region Women's Track Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCCA.

Professional career

On July 4, 2021, Sturgis announced that she would be foregoing her remaining college eligibility and pursuing a professional career with Adidas. On April 23, 2022, Sturgis ran a world-leading time of 10.87 seconds to win the 100 m event at the Aggie Classic, improving on

Elaine Thompson-Herah Elaine Sandra-Lee Thompson-Herah OD ( née Thompson; born June 28, 1992) is a Jamaican sprinter who competes in the 60 metres, 100 metres and 200 metres. Regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time, she is a five-time Olympic cham ...

's mark of 10.89 from the week before.

Achievements

Personal bests

All information taken from

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

profile.

National championships

National titles

NCAA Division I Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships The NCAA Division I Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships are the annual collegiate track and field competitions for women athletes representing Division I institutions organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). At ...

**100 m:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

**200 m: 2021

References

External links

*
North Carolina A&T Aggies bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sturgis, Cambrea Living people 1999 births American female sprinters African-American female track and field athletes North Carolina A&T Aggies women's track and field athletes Track and field athletes from North Carolina People from Kannapolis, North Carolina 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women