Gloria Asumnu (NT ’07)

A four-time All-American and 19-time NCAA Regional qualifier, former Green Wave track and field star Gloria Asumnu set the bar high during her time at Tulane, crushing previous records and setting five school bests in track and field.

Asumnu's path to the top was far from easy as she balanced her studies, her sport, and being a young mother during her time at Tulane. It was through her daughter, Kailyn, that Asumnu found her motivation to train and win. During the 2005-06 track season, Asumnu and her teammates displayed commendable perseverance while experiencing setbacks completely alien to student-athletes in other parts of the country with the landfall of Hurricane Katrina. The storm made play impossible for eight of Tulane's sixteen varsity sports programs that school year.

The state of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina only inspired Asumnu to come back stronger and better than ever, as she went on to claim the C-USA 100m dash title only a year later in 2007, also garnering a No. 9 national ranking in that event and placing No. 8 nationally in the 200m sprint. For her efforts, Asumnu was recognized as 2007 Tulane Female Student-Athlete of the year and C-USA Track and Field Women's Athlete of the Year in 2008. At the conclusion of her time at Tulane, Asumnu was a three-time Conference USA Champion (Indoor 60-meters twice; Outdoor 100-meters) and a 10-time all-conference selection. She qualified for NCAA Regionals in the 100m twice, as well as the 200m in 2005. She still holds the Green Wave school records for the indoor 55m, 60m and 200m events.

Today, Asumnu boasts appearances in four separate World Championships - 2011 in Daegu, South Korea and 2013 in Moscow, Russia and indoor championships in Istanbul, Turkey in 2012 and Sopot, Poland in 2014. Notably, Asumnu represented Nigeria, her parents' home country, in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. In 2014, Asumnu was inducted into the Tulane Athletics Hall of Fame.