Scholar Stories: Fast Track to Stardom Leading O'Reilly Down Multiple Paths to Success
3/18/2026 11:45:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
Continuing the series that began in 2016-17, each week MGoBlue.com will highlight a Michigan student-athlete and their academic pursuits. These are our Scholar-Athlete Stories.
By Jonathan Franchi
Running was never on John O'Reilly's radar. Growing up in Toronto, Ontario, He played soccer, hockey and lacrosse, but the COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered his athletic ambitions. O'Reilly realized careers in hockey and lacrosse were most likely over, but he was determined to find a way to stay in shape while the world was shut down. A high school freshman at the time, he began running to stay fit during quarantine. He started at a track club in Toronto, and his first year of competitive track and field came during his junior year of high school. New to the sport, O'Reilly began his track career in the 800-meter run and showed promise with a time of two minutes flat. As the season progressed over three months, he showed substantial improvement, dropping his time by seven seconds after putting in adequate training. Unbeknownst to him, his career was about to take off; however, toward the end of his junior year, O'Reilly was forced to shut down his season.
"My mom was really adamant about me going to science camp," said O'Reilly. "So, I got down to 1:53, dropping seven seconds in about three months, and then at camp that year, I kind of set that up as my hub for recruiting. I started reaching out to coaches, and then I eventually got down on a visit to Michigan, so the progression kind of came quickly. And my coach at the time, Coach Galan Yusuf, a great guy, was such a big part of my life. He coached a lot of other athletes that went Division I, so he kind of was urging me to reach out to these coaches and telling me what I was capable of based on the amount of athletes that had come through his program."
The science camp turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise for the O'Reilly, as he was able to dedicate a lot of time toward reaching out to schools. Michigan was always a "dream school" for O'Reilly, and from a recruiting standpoint, he was able to immediately bond with Michigan director of track and field and cross country Kevin Sullivan due to their shared Canadian heritage. O'Reilly noted that Michigan track and field has a strong pipeline for Canadian runners, and that was something he wanted to be a part of.
"I came in freshman year, and I was still relatively new to the sport. It was my third real season of training. I was underdeveloped compared to a lot of the other recruits in my class. I had the slowest 800-meter personal-best time out of everybody in my recruiting class at Michigan, and so I think I came in with a little bit of a chip on my shoulder," he said. "I wanted to prove myself. I wanted to prove that I was worthy of being recruited. So that freshman-year season, I was really locked in."
By the end of his freshman year, O'Reilly's hard work earned him a spot to compete in the World Athletics U20 Championships, another chance for him to prove himself -- this time, on a national stage. He came into the event with the 27th fastest time in the 800 meters but found a way to reach the semifinals, where he ran a new personal best by nearly a full second, securing a spot in the final. There, the Canadian ran another personal best (1:47.15) and finished fourth in the meet, but he came out of the field as the top runner who was not under a professional contract.
"If you told me I would finish fourth in that meet, even like the week before, even at the start of my freshman year that I was competing at World Juniors, I would never have believed you," said O'Reilly. "It was always a dream to represent Canada, so that really opened up my eyes to what I was capable of."
Achieving that level of national success in only three years of training is a testament to O'Reilly's hard work and underdog mentality. The following summer, he was able to compete in the 2025 U23 Junior Pan-American Games, where he represented Canada and finished second in the 800 meters with a time of 1:49.12. The ability to represent his home country on the national stage gave O'Reilly a different sense of pride that he had not experienced before.
"I love putting on that Team Canada singlet, and finishing with the silver medal there is still bittersweet, but running has really opened up my eyes to what's possible for myself as a person and what's possible within the sport," O'Reilly said. "I've really gotten some amazing experiences and traveled to countries I would never have been able to travel to without running, so I'm really grateful for it."
O'Reilly specializes in the 800-meter run, but he is also the U23 Canadian record holder in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:16.52. He recently added to his collegiate accolades by winning the Michigan Invitational in the 800-meter run, posting a personal best time of 1:47.38. With the level of national success that O'Reilly has experienced, he has his sights set on continuing to push himself to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, representing Canada in the 800-meter run while also keeping the door open for a professional running career.
"My ultimate goal would be the 2028 LA Olympics," said O'Reilly. "I think that's what I'm really setting myself up for. If I got down to a time where a pro contract was really feasible for myself and I could make a good living off of that, that would be really interesting. Coach Sullivan's a really big mentor within my life, and he was one of the most decorated Canadian Olympians of all time, especially within track and field. So living out that dream for a while would be something of interest to me as well."
If O'Reilly does not pursue the professional route, his academic background at Michigan has prepared him well for a position in the business world. Originally a computer science major, O'Reilly transitioned into the Ross School of Business, where he has gained real-world business experience and foundational learning.
"I had a couple of mentors, and one of the older mentors is now working at Morgan Stanley in sales and trading, and I took a really strong interest in sales and trading myself," O'Reilly said. "So I started reaching out to people in the industry. I was leveraging student-athlete events that the Michigan Athletic Career Center hosts, as well as what Ross hosts, and going to on-campus recruiting, and I really hit it off with a team at Bank of America. So a couple months later, down the line, I was able to land a job there in New York this summer."
After working as a quantitative analyst at a finance firm in Toronto last summer, O'Reilly is excited about the opportunity to work in sales and trading, citing the transferable skills he can apply from sports, such as being able to think on his feet, making quick decisions and working well with a team.
Still figuring out what he wants to do long-term, O'Reilly is keeping both options on the table and is setting himself up to be successful no matter which route he takes.
Running merely started out as a hobby to stay in shape and quickly turned into an Olympic-level career for O'Reilly. A fast riser in the sport, track and field has taken him to heights he never thought were possible, representing his country on the national stage. With a promising future on the horizon in either professional track and field or the sales and trading world, O'Reilly's determination and mindset will lead him toward success.
Players Mentioned
