Kaela Edwards, an adidas professional athlete and a five-time NCAA Division 1 All-American and 2016 indoor mile champion at Oklahoma State, joins DyeStat editor Erik Boal to discuss making her debut for the United States in the women's 800 meters Aug. 23 at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Edwards, 29, joins Nike athlete Raevyn Rogers and Nia Akins of the Brooks Beasts Track Club in representing the Americans, along with potentially Athing Mu, the reigning World 800 gold medalist. She explains how significant it is to achieve this career goal after battling Graves' disease in recent years, along with how special it is to be able to share this experience with coach and boyfriend Chad Noelle. Edwards also examines how purposeful and intentional Noelle was in structuring her outdoor schedule to make sure her World ranking was in a strong position to earn a berth on the U.S. roster, in the event she didn't secure the automatic qualifying mark of 1:59.80 this season. She explains the relief she felt after going through team processing following a third-place finish in 2:00.52 in the July 9 final at the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. Edwards also shares how meaningful it was to receive her Team USA suitcase with all of her gear following the official announcement of the 139-athlete American roster. She revisits running a season-best 2:00.02 on Aug. 4 at the Ed Murphey Classic in Memphis, Tenn., and the lessons learned in preparation for competing at Worlds. Edwards reflects about an impressive career of running rounds and being able to advance to several NCAA finals and multiple USATF Championships in her six-year professional career, and the confidence that has provided her ahead of competing in Budapest. She analyzes her training during the past month and how encouraged Edwards has been about her consistency in pursuit of eclipsing her 2018 personal-best 1:59.68 and running sub-2 for the first time since 2021 in Hungary. Edwards also speaks about the American women continuing their strong trend of earning at least one 800 medal for the past three World Championships after no U.S. female athlete made the final in 2015 in Beijing, China. She also shares her insight and perspective on the ongoing realignment in collegiate athletics and what the future of the Big 12 Conference could hold for Oklahoma State following the 2023-24 school year.