Marissa Simpson had every reason to leave the UTEP track team last summer.
The coach who recruited her, fellow Jamaican Lacena Golding Clarke, departed in the offseason for Auburn, taking world record holder, volunteer assistant and sometimes Simpson training partner Tobi Amusan with her. While the times Simpson ran last year as a Miner freshman didn't have her on top of national lists, she had options that many athletes grab in the era of the transfer portal.
Leaving wasn't what Simpson wanted. She wanted to stay and fight, she wanted to be a Miner, she wanted to make whatever came next work.