TOLEDO, Ohio – Toledo women's track & field student-athlete Laura Nicholson and Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Andrea Grove-McDonough will represent the program on the world stage at the FISU Summer World University Games in Germany next week.
 
Nicholson will run for Team Ireland while Grove-McDonough will serve as the distance coach for Team USA. Grove-McDonough represented Toledo at the 2021 games, held in Chengdu, China in 2023.
 
"I am so proud of Laura for earning this opportunity to represent Ireland and Toledo on the world stage," said Grove-McDonough. "She's more than capable of competing at this level and I can't wait to see what she does with this opportunity."
 
Nicholson will run in the 1500m, where she qualified with a time of 4:07.17 at the Wake Forest Invitational in April 2025, marking the 17th-fastest time in NCAA history. Her time also qualifies for the World Championships 2025, which will be held in Tokyo in September.
 
In her senior season, Nicholson was named the MAC Most Outstanding Track Performer in the indoor season, was a four-time MAC Track Athlete of the Week across indoor and outdoor competition and qualified for the NCAA East Regional for the second-straight season in the 1500m.
 
Grove-McDonough has led Toledo to four-straight MAC cross country championships and is the four-time Coach of the Year for cross country. She led Toledo to four individual MAC outdoor championships in 2024, with two from Nicholson.
 
The World University Games is one of the premier events on the world stage, drawing over 10,000 student-athletes from around the world. The event is held every two years and totals 18 sports including archery, artistic gymnastics, athletics (track & field), badminton, basketball, diving, fencing, judo, rhythmic gymnastics, swimming, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, volleyball, and water polo.