November 2025 Athlete of the Month
By Del Moon, NSGA Storyteller
Andrea Collier, 59
Orlando, Florida
Photo courtesy Andrea Collier.
Many athletes have to overcome feelings of anticipation and stress when they compete. The pressure to perform can be even more intense for elite athletes who chase medals and records after months and years of serious training and preparation.
Not rising star Andrea Collier, 59, a former Florida State University trackster who tells us returning to competitive running after nearly three decades actually relieves her stress. It must work, because there’s a #1 next to her name in every running event she has entered in the past three National Senior Games. She still holds the American record in the hotly contested Women’s 55-59 100-meter event she set in 2023.
Balancing Work, Family and Elite Track
The reason Andrea, who sports the nickname Drea C, feels so “chill” goes beyond the confidence built through practice and experience. She says it’s a relief from the challenges she faces balancing a demanding work life and family with her growing senior track career.
Since 2010, she has worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and 2025 has proven to be her most challenging juggling act yet. “I’ve had some pretty tough assignments where I’ve had to work seven days a week with 12-hour days,” she explains. “For the first time, coming from a work assignment for almost two months nearly destroyed me physically and mentally. When I’m working those kind of hours, there’s no way in the world I can work out.”
The Florida native considered dropping out of the prestigious World Masters Indoor Championships, which were held earlier this year for the first time in the U.S. in Gainesville, Florida. However, she managed to compete with limited preparation. The midyear loss of a favorite uncle also weighed heavily on her heart, but she says her track family has rallied her through the season. “It was tough, but I had a lot of people praying for me and talking with me.” She is not a member of a track club and is grateful that some athletes have offered to help her train at times.
Andrea racing at the 2023 National Senior Games presented by Humana.
A Year of Surprises and Challenges
Andrea’s 2025 track season actually began unexpectedly while she was on a FEMA assignment to Alaska. “The USATF Alaska Association put on a couple of indoor meets and they were really, really nice to me. That got me back on the right track.” Her competition calendar has since been full with masters events, several state Senior Games and the 2025 National Senior Games presented by Humana in Des Moines.
Another unusual opportunity was linked to Andrea’s previous work. Since she was a probation officer for the Florida Corrections Department for more than a decade, Andrea discovered she was eligible to compete in the 2025 World Police & Fire Games, a multi-sport event for first-responder athletes held in Birmingham, Alabama, in June.
“That was amazing,” she recalls. “People came from all over the world. [For the relays] you can actually have a mixture of teammates from other countries- it’s not like just four members from USA, and that was unique. I’ve never experienced anything like that before, so that was nice.”
Andrea of some of her track family. Photo courtesy Andrea Collier.
More Than Medals
While she has enjoyed great success since returning to competitive track in 2015, she equally values the social benefits from having a track family and the simple fact that running is her happy place.
“Track is fun for me,” she says. “I have the competitive fire, and the camaraderie with the athletes is very important. Some of us have really become good friends, and we support each other outside of track. And I think it definitely can improve your health and decrease your stress levels.”
Andrea then adds with a light laugh, “I have been told I never lose. Trust me, I lose a lot more than you think. I’m a hurdler – that’s my favorite event – and there’s a young lady that has come up and entered that arena within the past few years. I have not beaten her yet and I’m okay with that, because iron sharpens iron and we have very competitive races.”
The banner event season concludes when she travels to Santiago, Chile, this month for the World Masters South American Championships, where she hopes to refine her hurdling skills in an endless drive for improvement.
“Honestly, I don’t really focus on the medals, I just try to do better than I did before,” she says. “I try to prepare myself to be ready to give it my best shot. And, you know, whatever happens, happens. I am more concerned with ‘Did I execute everything in the race the way I needed to?’ If I did, and I feel like I gave 100%, that’s all I can do.”
She pauses and adds, “I like challenging myself, and track is challenging- but I don’t back away from something like that.”
