Mathematics to medals: APSU alumna earns bronze finish at Olympic Trials
By: Colby Wilson December 13, 2023
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - A graduate from the Austin Peay College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) picked up a different kind of science—the sweet science—and it might take her all the way to the Olympics.
When Casey Dial graduated mid-pandemic in spring with a degree in applied mathematics, she felt—like a lot of us at the time—a bit rudderless. That feeling persisted until October 2021, when she decided to do something about it.
And that something involved throwing a few punches.
“After I graduated, I wasn’t doing much of anything, and I wasn’t happy with where I was physically or mentally,” she said. “[In 2021] I found a gym, went to my first boxing class and got my butt absolutely kicked in that first class. But a month later, I came back and started to devote myself to training and classes to see what I could do.”
By Dial’s own admission, training to be a boxer is a taxing endeavor that some days involves simply getting your butt kicked over and over again. A devoted athlete involved in sports from the time she was 5 years old all the way through high school, Dial had to tap back into that athletic background to get into fighting shape, and she has—she now fights at 132 pounds after checking in at over 180 her first day in the gym more than two years ago.
But more taxing than the physical aspect has been the mental grind to become so hyper-focused on her goals that she can compartmentalize and block out the ambient noise that could distract her from that larger purpose.
“You can tell anybody to punch, run, move, pick up the weight,” she said. “But if you don’t have it all in your head and in your heart, that doesn’t matter too much. The mental aspect is probably 70% of what I’m doing. I’m not here for fun; I’m here because I have goals for myself, things I’m fighting to achieve.”
About a year after Dial first entered the gym, her training had progressed to the point where she started seeking out her first official bout. She traveled to St. Louis, and as she described it: "I went out, I won, it was the most fun I'd ever had and I was hooked."
But the hook had a catch—it can be hard for female fighters to regularly find fight partners that also match up in their weight class. Dial didn't get her second fight until May 2023, a full seven months later.
"For females, it's hard to find a fight all the time,” she said. “There aren't a lot of us out here, and then you have to also find people in the same weight class."
After that long wait, Dial decided she couldn’t afford more gaps between fights. So she took matters into her own hands.
"I started getting ahold of people in the fighting community to see if there was anyone I could fight, which led to more opportunities,” she said.
The logical next step was the Women’s National Championships in Toledo. And to her great surprise, she did spectacularly, winning four bouts in five days to grab the Senior Female Novice title in the 139-pound weight class.
Which was cool, obviously. But what was a lot cooler was being asked by the President of USA Boxing Tyson Lee if she had any interest in attending the last-chance qualifying tournament for the Olympic Trials in September.
“When I went to that tournament, I was just going to get experience, to get some fights under my belt,” she said. “That’s when I realized I was capable of going as far as I wanted to go, as far as I was willing to work to make it.”
Dial’s answer to Lee was an immediate yes, and although she didn’t qualify for the Trials through that method—she reached the semifinals but suffered just the second loss of her career—she impressed enough to earn a wildcard selection to the Trials, where she advanced to the semifinals and ultimately finished as the bronze medalist at the event.
For now, Dial is taking a quick rest before getting back into the mix in pursuit of national and international titles. At just 26 years old, this likely won't be her last shot at the Olympics. Her relative lack of in-ring experience compared to lifelong boxers means her best days in the ring may still be ahead of her. With the right tutelage, preparation and support from her team, Dial plans to be right back in the mix for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.