It was nearly two years ago at The Armory now when she was atop the Ivy League track & field world. At the Heps Indoor Championships she held up her pink spikes in triumph, breaking the League record in the 200-meter dash and becoming the closest threat ever to Olympian Meredith Rainey-Valmon's two-decade-old mark in the 400-meter dash.

But the soaring trajectory of Sharay Hale's Columbia University career was about to take an unfortunate dive as an injured hip began to rob her of that blazing speed. But first she'd come within a hair of Rainey's all-time indoor mark in earning All-American status as a finalist at the NCAA Championships. She'd record her personal-best 52.40 at the Outdoor Heps Championships in May, but within weeks, with a heavily-wrapped upper leg, Hale's season would end in pain at the NCAA Regionals.

We haven't seen her since. The Detroit native required surgery on her hip and has spent most of the interim, in her words, “rehabbing, rehabbing, rehabbing and still rehabbing."

And in the Ivy League, rehabbing and academic pursuit don't mix. For had she been enrolled at Columbia last year, she'd have seen her final season of eligibility expire simply for earning a degree. The Ivy League does not permit graduate students to compete intercollegiately, so it is common to see former League stars finish up their college running careers elsewhere as graduate students.

Hale's former teammate Kyle Merber is now at the University of Texas. Dartmouth All-American Alexi Pappas just won a cross country national team title at the University of Oregon. Princeton's Mark Amirault is at the University of Virginia. Olympian Donn Cabral, also a Princeton grad, was going to run at the University of Colorado, but went pro instead after finding so much summer success. The list goes on.

But Hale proved Light Blue through and through. She took a year off school to fully recover before returning to Morningside Heights… and soon, The Armory.

"Going from not walking to running again still seems surreal at times," she said. "I cannot believe that last year I could not lift my own leg, now I am lifting it with weights.”

She's not putting herself on a timetable to reclaim her place at the top of the game. She won’t try to assess where she is physically at this moment in her journey, but her spirit is certainly soaring. “I am 200% as far as my dedication, passion and love for running,” she offered. “The satisfaction I get from setting a goal, the grueling journey trying to attain it and then grasping it, is a feeling I cannot fathom at times, but it is so rewarding.” Hale has found that among the rewards is the discovery that she is surrounded by a community that has appreciated and supported her throughout.

“I have met so many amazing people and it still astonishes me how so many people gain joy from me just doing what I love to do,” she said. “It has been and will continue to be a long comeback, but the Ivy League makes me feel at home and I am happy to be returning back home.”

And that return to her Columbia home means a return to her studies.

“After all,” she says. “The degree is the ultimate win.”