Aug. 07, 2025 | Adelyn Mui
Tacoria Humphrey was recently named a Dike Eddleman Athlete of the Year, presented annually to the top Fighting Illini male and female athlete
She races down the rubberized runway, determination pumping through her arms, energy coursing across her strides and focus blazing in her eyes. With a mighty leap, she seems to sail through the air. Sand mushrooms under her shoes as she lands in the pit, the crowd roaring. That’s Tacoria Humphrey—champion of the 2025 Big Ten Long Jump.
Humphrey started track in middle school at Raymond Park Middle School on Indianapolis’ east side, where she broke two records in the high jump and 200 meter. Now, she’s well-decorated: she earned All-American honors in both indoor and outdoor seasons after winning back-to-back Big Ten long jump titles, placed fourth at the NCAA outdoor championships, recorded the third-longest indoor jump in NCAA history as national runner-up and earned a spot on The Bowerman Watch List. Humphrey said her success came from confidence.
“I feel like track is a mental sport,” Humphrey said. “If you believe you can do something, you’re most likely going to be able to do it, whereas if you’re scared or thinking about other people, that’s going to take over your mind and you’re not going to do well.”
Humphrey also attributed her many accomplishments to her training and her coach, Petros Kyprianou, the current director of Track & Field and Cross Country at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
“He has inspired me the most because he really believes in me, and when somebody just believes in you so much, you start to believe in yourself,” Humphrey said. “He’s just so thrilled to coach me, and he sees that I have a bright future and it just makes me want to accomplish everything to the highest level I can.”
She recalled a moment at the 2025 regionals for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Competitors only had three jumps, and Humphrey’s weren’t up to the number she needed to qualify for nationals.
“After my second jump, he talked with me,” Humphrey said. “He was giving me that pep talk, like, ‘You got this. This is what you’ve been training for,’ and helping me calm down. I literally went from 15th place to fourth, and I qualified.”
Kyprianou was the one who encouraged Humphrey to switch her event from high jump to long jump her sophomore year of college.
“I definitely was like, ‘This is weird,’ but I love trying new things,” Humphrey said. “I never expected to change events and to do so good in that event, but I 100% don’t regret it.”
Tacoria Humphrey
Community Health major and Dike Eddleman Athlete of the Year
Outside of her national achievements, Humphrey was recently named a Dike Eddleman Athlete of the Year, presented annually to the top Fighting Illini male and female athlete. The University of Illinois Athlete of the Year was first awarded in 1940, and was named in honor of the 11-time UI letterman and Olympian Dwight “Dike” Eddleman in 1993, who is generally considered the greatest athlete in the history of Illinois Athletics.
Caitlin Clarke, a health and kinesiology teaching assistant professor and chair of the Academic Progress and Eligibility Committee, said that sport performance is typically not the only factor that goes into choosing the recipient of the Dike Eddleman award.
“This is part of the culture of Illinois Athletics—they’re not going to go for someone who’s just really good at their sport and doesn’t care about academics at all,” Clarke said. “We get some really phenomenal students who are both really good at their sport and also really good at their major.”
At Illinois, Humphrey is a community health major, with a concentration in health education and health planning and promotion.
“I always love helping people,” Humphrey said. “I’m a people person.”
This summer, she’s participating in the Health and Kinesiology 471 internship program and working with Wellness4Every1, an organization dedicated to ensuring equitable access to high-quality arts and wellness programs for students in diverse communities. Clarke, additionally a lead faculty for the community health internship program, said Humphrey is doing a great job stepping into the professional world.
“She’s future-thinking, because she knows that she wants to compete professionally for a while, but she isn’t just checking off a box with this internship,” Clarke said. “This experience really pushes students to learn how to communicate professionally, which is an important skill anywhere and can be difficult to navigate.”
Clarke said it’s important for all student athletes to also excel outside of their sport.
“Most of our student athletes are going to go on to careers that are not always directly related to sports, so you have to have a plan,” Clarke said. “You don’t want that plan to be, ‘Well, I just kind of did okay in my major.’ You want to be the rock star that gets into a successful career so that you can enjoy your life and do more to help other people around you.”
Currently, Humphrey is preparing to become a pro athlete. Her first pro meet was the USA Track and Field Championships at the end of July.
“I’ll be a little nervous, but not really, because I’ve been jumping big marks that are close to what pros jump,” Humphrey said. “I’m eager to have better competition, and that will definitely push me.”
For her, success means a gold medal, and with her trademark confidence, it’s not a matter of if—but when.
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