Vincent Giuliano ’24 grew up plagued by the symptoms of Tourette’s syndrome, a somewhat common neurological disorder that causes involuntary motor and vocal ticks. As a young child, he was often the target of mockery and suffered from many sleepless nights. In addition to trying to manage the syndrome with medication, his family doctor suggested to Vincent’s mom that he might benefit from playing sports. It worked. In late junior high, Vincent wrestled, played soccer and ran in track events. The older he got, and the more physically active he was, the less the syndrome manifested itself in his daily life.
“Overcoming that was big,” Vincent says. “Everybody has unique individualities and when I realized that Tourette’s didn’t have to hold me back, I developed a different sense of confidence. The discovery that I can do so many amazing things even with the diagnosis was incredible.”
At the end of high school, Vincent weighed his options. He wasn’t sure that college would be the right fit, based on a lackluster interest in academics. But, he was confident that if he went to college, it would be to focus on track and field events. Initially, he hoped to compete collegially at a division one school. But, as he visited large universities in his home state of Michigan, Vincent was overwhelmed by the huge campus environments. Around the same time, he received an out-of-the-blue email from the then Olivet sprints coach, Tevan McIntire, inviting Vincent to come visit Olivet Nazarene University.
“I had no clue about what Olivet was,” Vincent reflects. “But I came for a visit anyway. It was nice, but I wasn’t sure about things, so I just emailed a ‘thank you for your time’ and was going to press on. Then, I got another email from Coach McIntire asking me to come for one more visit. No one had ever done that from any other college. At that point, I had heard no so many times, that I decided to just go for it. I took another visit and committed to Olivet.”
Vincent enrolled at Olivet in August 2020 and promptly threw himself into the rigorous training schedule of a college athlete. In high school, he had been good, but at Olivet, he became excellent. Over the course of his four years, Vincent broke eight school records, was ranked All-American five times and was part of the 4×200 Drake Relays champion team. He stood out as a leader on the team and served as a co-captain his senior year. Through that role, he focused on the value of encouragement in spurring others to greatness.
“Our head coach [Kyle Rago] made it clear: when you’re not competing, you need to be active in supporting other teammates in their events on the field,” Vincent says. “There really is something that pushes you more as a competitor when you hear people cheering. You get an exhilarating second wind. Knowing that other people are in your corner can really be the deciding factor [in winning or coming in second].”
Vincent balanced the long indoor and outdoor track and field seasons with the challenging academic major of kinesiology with a minor in pastoral studies. Additionally, he interned at College Church University Avenue for the weekly Kids Club every Wednesday night during his senior year.
“I wasn’t ever a bad student, I just didn’t love school.” Vincent says. “I had to work harder to get good grades and I wasn’t a great test taker. When I first enrolled at Olivet, I remember talking to my advisor, who really pushed me to commit to working really hard to keep my grades up and stay eligible for track.”
That conversation proved to be pivotal for Vincent. As he dug into his studies and worked hard in competition, he found a love for the educational side of athletics. He a career goal to work with young athletes who want to go to college, but who need extra support and encouragement to find their footing in the classroom and in competition.
“I’ve been in their shoes, and I can empathize,” Vincent says. “In my own experience, I found that when I stayed on top of my grades, I actually had more time for sports and performed better. I pushed myself to be best student I could be, and in turn, I realized that my education had actually helped me get to my passion.”
Having excelled as both an athlete and a student at Olivet—his GPA even qualified him for the Dean’s List his junior and senior years—Vincent was looking forward to a new season of success after graduation. He sent out more than 50 job applications and had 10 interviews, but none resulted in an offer.
“Every door was closing,” he reflects. “That was hard. For much of college, my whole identity was wrapped up in my sport, internship and friends. I grew up in the church and had abandoned faith for a while, but my freshman year at Olivet, I gave my life back to God. So, even in the waiting post-graduation, I had faith that things would work out.”
Once again, a door opened via track. In July 2024, a track coach at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, reached out to Vincent with an offer for him to use his last year of indoor competition eligibility and pursue a master’s degree in adult and higher education. Once again, his athletic skills paid off. Vincent was part of the 4×400 and 4×100 champion relay teams in spring 2025, while maintaining a 4.0 GPA in his master’s program and working in the tutoring center. In the fall, he will work in the athletic department as part of the compliance team that supports student athletes in their studies and competition.
Vincent has put in a ton of work to find the success he has today. From overcoming the neurological obstacles related to Tourette’s to topping national podiums, from pursuing academic excellence to passing the baton of wisdom to others, he has embraced challenges with an open mind and a heart that is seeking God. He has experienced firsthand that it matters less how fast someone can run individually, and more how well-prepared the athlete is to meet challenges and how supported they are to finish strong.
“You can’t go ahead of God’s timing,” Vincent says. “Don’t allow yourself to be held back by whatever disorder or difficulty you have. Seek the opportunities that need to be sought out, and just rest in the Lord.”
For more information on ONU Athletics, visit ONUTigers.com. For more information about academics at Olivet, visit Olivet.edu/Academics.
