NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS (KLTV) - Nick McCloud isn't shy about the sport he loves.
"Hurdling is different, you either have it or you don't and that is being honest."
For McCloud, it's all about that next hurdle.
"You are pushing your body more than other people do."
But just a few years ago, his body became his biggest hurdle.
When he was in high school at Tyler Lee, McCloud was diagnosed with diabetes.
"I was kind of rebellious," said McCloud, now a senior at Stephen F. Austin. "I went through the whole stage of 'why me,' and everything else, but I told myself, 'hey, I have to deal with this."
And he did it on the track, in a big way.
"I broke my school record in the 60 and 110 hurdles multiple times."
He's also won three individual Southland Conference titles.
"Absolutely Nick has the mentality and the ability," said Sean Lonergan, McCloud's coach at SFA. "We just have to knock down those last couple of hurdles, so to speak, and get there."
But that last hurdle, is the biggest of all.
"Trying to make it to the Olympics and the Olympic trials, I want to be somebody different."
And making it to the Olympics means clearing the hurdle of his own health, and becoming one of the best ever from East Texas.
"Growing up in Tyler, you hear of Earl Campbell, Aaron Ross, hearing about people with football, I have not hearn anything about track."
"God blessed me with the ability of running fast and being healthy this day in age, so why not?"
"That is what this is all about, you conquer everything you can, and get to that maximum level that you are that and Nick is a great example of that." said Lonergan. "We are going to get there, and no one deserves it more than Nick McCloud, I can tell you that."
At one point during his SFA career, McCloud held the 6th fastest time in the nation in the 110 meter hurdles.
He has already won the 60 meter hurdles during a meet at Texas A&M earlier this year.
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