Rayven Sample has shined from the moment he first stepped on the Bucknell avenues. The runner has left his mark in the Patriot League Championships, numerous individual events, and U.S. Paralympics National Championships. Arthrogryposis has not stopped Sample from becoming a Bucknell track & field standard and a frequent gold-medal winner in the Paralympics National Championships.

According to the National Organization of Rare Disorders: "Arthrogryposis is a general or descriptive term for the development of nonprogressive contractures affecting one or more areas of the body prior to birth (congenitally). A contracture is a condition in which a joint becomes permanently fixed in a bent (flexed) or straightened (extended) position, completely or partially restricting the movement of the affected joint."

Sample has provided plenty of points for the Bucknell men's track & field team. He finished third in the 4x400-meter relay and fifth in the 400-meter dash at the 2022 Patriot League Indoor Championships. At the 2023 IC4A Indoor Championships, he tallied fourth in the DMR relay. Sample has notched four event victories and is third all-time (9:53.21) in the Bucknell record book for the indoor DMR.

Track & field was Sample’s second sport. He started with soccer and, like many lads, loved the beautiful game, having played since he was a wee child. He commenced his track and field experience during his freshman year of high school. Like many athletes, he was influenced by a fantastic coach to switch to a primary sport.

“My head coach in high school, David Nelson, was helpful. He guided me to make it to college. He took me on my official visit to Bucknell and was willing to use a day off. HE SAID, "If it is important to you, it is important to me." All the coaches and people like that are why I focused on track and field. It was an easy switch.”

A native of Western New York, Bucknell was close to home yet far enough away to allow Sample to spread his wings. He wanted to compete in Division I track & field, and Bucknell provided that opportunity. Sample was captivated by the school’s academics and strong program.

Sample made his mark during the 2021-2022 Indoor season. At the Patriot League Indoor Championships hosted by Bucknell at the Gerhard Fieldhouse, he placed in the top five in two events: the 400-meter dash and the 4x400-meter relay.

“My breakthrough moment came at the 2022 Patriot League Indoor Championships when it was hosted at Bucknell. It all came together. The stage was set perfectly. DURING THE PRELIMINARIES, I had an Army runner in front of me. I was running with him perfectly. He pulled me into a personal record. I was thinking this is what it is like to run these times. I wouldn’t have been able to do with him providing that push. I raced the next day and scored and then placed top three in the relay.”

He credits Coach Alexander for his continuing success at Bucknell in track and school.

“I love the Coach Alexander stories. He has a bunch of great movie stories. I am not a big movie guy but now and then he will bring up these movie references and connect them to track & field in his advice. I can’t tell you how much I learned from him. It is the little things. You guys have 30 minutes here and there. Use it. Don’t sit around and waste it.”

Off the track, Sample is working on a double major in education and psychology with a minor in history. His future goal resides in the educational research field. Over the past two summers, he has been on campus researching with the computer and electrical engineering department. His task: data analysis on interviews. He fell in love with the process and decided to blaze his trail in that field.

Sample recently competed in the US Paralympic National Championships held in San Diego where he won two gold medals in the 100-meter and 400-meter dashes. 

“I love going to the national championships because there isn’t much happening on the East Coast. The Paralympic world is centered on the West Coast since the training center is there. The Angel City games out there boosted the sport. It is great to head out there and meet the friends I haven’t seen in so long. Joining Paralympics has helped me find myself a little more. I grew up in an environment without people with disabilities, so being in that atmosphere with everyone there is disabled in some way is welcoming and homely.”

Sample became good friends with USC high jumper Dallas Wise. He and Sample entered the field concurrently when they discovered the Paralympic sport. They remain in constant contact as both athletes travel along the same path of competing at the Division I level and in the Paralympics.

He has raced on some of the finest collegiate tracks, but his Paralympics career has taken him to international arenas, including his favorite track: the Tokyo Paralympic Track. The whole atmosphere felt first-class with a training gun and athletes from every sort of Paralympic classification lining up beside him. His favorite college tracks, of course, are Gulden Fieldhouse and Christy Mathewson Stadium.

In 2021, he competed in the 2020 Paralympic Games held in Tokyo for Team USA. He finished eighth in the (T47) 400-meter dash.

“Tokyo was different than Lewisburg. It was during peak COVID for them, so they didn’t want us wandering around the city. We went to an air force base to train. It was so much fun. I never experienced such heat, though. It was always so hot and humid. You would lose your energy after 20 minutes. The camp allowed me to meet everyone. The Olympic Village was one of the best experiences I ever had. It is one of those experiences that is hard to put in words.”