SAN ANTONIO — Sarah Lancaster has always been a really good athlete, with former stints in tennis and basketball. However, Lancaster sought out a new goal in an effort to make the U.S. track team for the Tokyo Olympics.

Growing up in San Antonio, she played multiple sports before choosing tennis and earning a chance to play for the University of Texas in 2006.

“She's probably the best competitor I ever had playing for me at Texas,” said former UT tennis coach Patty Fendick-McCain.

Lancaster was one of the top players for the Longhorns for four years. But just because her tennis career at UT was done didn’t mean her entire athletic career was over. A teammate filmed Lancaster doing a basketball trick shot and they passed it along to McCain, who sent the video to then UT women’s basketball coach Gail Goestenkors.

“And jokingly, I sent it to the tennis coach at the time, Patty, and said, ‘Can you send this to Coach G and ask her when basketball tryouts are?’” said Lancaster.

“I just, I couldn't resist it when she got it videoed and sent it to me, you know? Sending it over to Gail was a lot of fun. And who knew she was going to run with that,” said Fendick-McCain.

Just like that, Lancaster was now a member of the Texas women’s basketball team and played for them during the 2010-11 season. After college, Lancaster became an attorney in Austin, but she didn’t lose her competitive side. Lancaster had always been fast and had great endurance running, so a few years ago she decided to take running a little more seriously and really train.

“I think in the back of my mind, for whatever reason, I thought, ‘Oh yeah, like maybe I could do something like that,’” said Lancaster.

Lancaster’s new goal in wanting to qualify for the U.S. Olympic trials was lofty.

“I think I mentioned it to my mom...her reaction was kind of like, ‘You know, Sarah, I mean that's great that you think you can do that. But people train their whole life to do this,’” said Lancaster.

She would only have a few years to get ready and would have to train, while balancing her life as a full-time attorney.

“I think there's a lot of overlap in terms of, you know, you have a training schedule. You have to stick to it. Same thing as an attorney. There's also parts of being an attorney that are somewhat competitive, which is why I wanted to go into the field,” said Lancaster.

She stuck to a strict schedule and was running times that were in line with some of the fastest women in the world. In May 2021, she got her chance to potentially see her goal through.

“I felt pretty confident going out there that I was going to be able to do it,” Lancaster said. 

Her confidence turned into results as she qualified, not only in the 5,000-meter run, but the 1,500-meter as well.

“I was pretty relieved, to be honest. And I was really excited, obviously. [It] was a huge goal for me. I'd set it over three years ago and worked pretty hard for it,” said Lancaster.

It was an unbelievable achievement for someone at the age of 33 with a specialty in other sports growing up. It is very rare, according to her friend and former Olympic silver medalist Trey Hardee.

“For her to accomplish it at her age and in such a small span of time, she's faster than qualified, ahead of some women that get paid a lot of money to do this professionally and have been focused on this singular goal for 15 years,” said Hardee. “I can think of no other person that’s been able to do what she’s done on so many levels.”

While Lancaster did not make the U.S. track team for the upcoming Olympics, she did perform well at the trials, advancing all the way to the semifinals in the 1500-meter race.