On a warm day in Gainesville in May, Jenoah McKiver was going through a typical workout on the Percy Beard Track. The redshirt junior was gearing up for the NCAA East First Round, with the goal of qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in his first season as a Gator.
Midway through a 200-meter rep, he felt something in his right leg, but powered on. A few seconds later, he felt it again. This time, it wasn’t something he could keep working through — something he had become all too familiar with in his collegiate career.
Between February 2021 and May 2024, McKiver tore his hamstrings on eight occasions. Each and every time, he’s fought his way back to the start line.
“One of the biggest things is something that my father said,” McKiver said. “‘Once you start something, finish it.’ ... My mentality coming back was that once I get right, I figure out my body and I figure out how to stay healthy, I will show people how well I can be and what I’m capable of.”
McKiver’s journey as an NCAA athlete began at the University of Iowa. Arriving in Iowa City as a three-time North Carolina state champion in high school, Iowa was also where his journey with injuries commenced.
In only his third meet representing the Hawkeyes, he suffered his first hamstring tear. The tear started a cycle that followed McKiver throughout his three years at Iowa. He had strong performances, like a national runner-up finish in the 400-meter at the 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships and a pair of Big Ten titles, but consistency was hard to come by.
The fourth hamstring tear of McKiver’s career came in what would prove to be his final race at Iowa. Despite being the third-fastest qualifier at the 2023 NCAA West First Round in the 400-meter, he was forced to pull out of the final and end his season early.
After the unexpected conclusion to his 2023 campaign, McKiver sought a change in scenery entering his fourth collegiate year and put his name in the transfer portal. Despite his medical history, McKiver had proved to be one of the fastest quarter-milers in the nation and drew interest from three SEC powerhouses: Tennessee, Georgia and Florida.
“[When] I went to Georgia, I was very convinced I was going to go there,” McKiver said. “But before I even entered the portal, I was like, ‘I believe I want to get coached by Holloway.’”
Along with the pedigree of a men’s program that has 11 team national titles, the coaches and training staff in Gainesville proved they could properly manage hamstring injuries for 400-meter runners.
Champion Allison transferred to UF from Alabama prior to the 2022 season. He tore his hamstring at the NCAA Indoor Championships that year, but came back to finish runner-up at both the Summer NCAA and the United States Outdoor Championships.
The opportunity to come into an environment that understood his situation and knew how to work with athletes like him appealed to McKiver.
From a purely athletic perspective, though, training under a coach like Florida head coach Mike Holloway and being pushed each day in practice by a team as strong as Florida’s excited McKiver. His first practice as a Gator was the first time in years that McKiver wasn’t the fastest man on his team, which fueled his mentality to be the best. It’s that same mentality that made him stand out to Holloway while he was in the portal.
“It wasn’t even about him being NCAA runner-up,” Holloway said. “It was more about just watching him, I loved the way he competed, he never backed down to anybody. I just thought he was special.”
McKiver’s first season as a Gator was successful on paper, as he earned First-Team All-American honors with the indoor and outdoor 4x400-meter relay teams. Unfortunately, it wasn’t without its negatives. In a span of about nine months, McKiver tore his hamstring four more times.
After his sixth tear in late November 2023, McKiver turned to therapy to handle the trauma that came with his repetitive injury history.
“I was traumatized so much, because it kept recurring and just coming back,” he said. “I was always afraid of hearing that sound again and feeling it again.”
While conversations with his therapist and coaches helped McKiver feel comfortable again on the track from the mental side of things, his work with the training staff revealed the underlying reasons that were causing his hamstring problems to be so persistent.
Lower back issues, limited ankle mobility and hip alignment issues put unnecessary strain and force on McKiver’s hamstrings while he was running. Adjusting running workouts, switching to more sustainable lifts in the weight room and a hip adjustment before each practice have begun to pay dividends both in training and races.
McKiver’s start to the 2025 season was historic, as he ran the fastest time in world history over the rarely run 600-yard distance at the Corky Classic, hosted by Texas Tech. Crossing the line in 1:05.75, he made an emphatic statement to the rest of the NCAA that a healthy Jenoah McKiver is a dangerous Jenoah McKiver.
The spectators in Lubbock may have been shocked by just how fast McKiver ran that early in the season, but McKiver himself certainly wasn’t.
“I always visualize myself running and racing and everything,” said McKiver. “I knew the [collegiate] record was 1:07, but when I was visualizing myself, 1:05 just kept popping up on the clock, I’m so serious… I wasn’t even thinking about running 1:06.”
He followed that up two weeks later with a 400-meter performance of 45.19 seconds — then the fastest time in the world this year — and a historically fast 44.18-second split on the Gators’ 4x400-meter relay.
In addition to his strengths on the track, McKiver brings an important leadership aspect to the team. Now in his fifth year in the NCAA, he serves as a role model for some of his younger teammates.
“He guided me to be the best I can be,” said Rios Prude Jr., a sophomore who has become a mainstay on Florida’s 4x400-meter team. “There’s no limits, keep pushing, like he did during his injuries.”
This string of successes to start the season has garnered McKiver much attention, to the point where there’s been chatter of his potential to compete at the World Championships in September.
However, he’s focused on the task directly ahead of him: to help the Gators win their sixth indoor national title next month and their fourth straight outdoor title in June.
“U.S. trials are in August, which is really far from now,” McKiver said. “We’re just taking it week-by-week and probably slowing it down some, just making sure I’m healthy and feeling good going into each meet.”
Contact Paul Hof-Mahoney at phof-mahoney@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @phofmahoney
Paul is a junior sports journalism major who is covering the track and field beat in his first semester with the Alligator. In his free time, he enjoys watching commentary Youtube channels and consuming every medium of track and field content imaginable.
