Reese and Revell Webster’s path from Trinidad and Tobago to Lynchburg

Not even a year has passed since Reese and Revell Webster first arrived to join Liberty University’s track and field program. The effect the pair of siblings has left on the team in the short amount of time, however, can’t be missed.

Reese, a sophomore transfer from Elon, is a renowned record-shatterer, setting program numbers left and right in her first season with the Flames. Right by her side is her little brother Revell, who joined Liberty fresh off an appearance in the World Athletics U20 Championships, representing his birth nation, Trinidad and Tobago. 

The Websters’ home country — the southernmost island nation in the Caribbean — is one filled with culture that made the track athletes who they are today. It’s the place where their parents still reside — where they raised their children to live unafraid to chase their biggest dreams. 

“The sacrifices they made, the support they had for us from the very beginning, the way they brought us up; there’s no one else to look up to and trust to guide us like that,” Revell said of his parents’ influence.

Reese was the first of the two siblings to dive headfirst into the world of track and field. She always knew she was fast, but didn’t know the potential she had until she began taking her training seriously. 

“When I finally got in a club, I got better because I was just running off natural talent with no technique, no form, no gym, no strength,” Reese said.

The formal training transformed her into an athlete who held a great deal of promise for the future. And right behind her was her little brother, finding his footing in athletics as well. For Revell, his journey in track didn’t begin until high school. 

He was a football player with enough speed to overtake anyone on the gridiron, and in his teenage years, his mentors finally started to nudge him in the direction of track and field. Hesitant at first, Revell soon saw how rapidly he grew in the sport. His natural abilities were clear, and he never looked back. 

But while Revell’s path was becoming more and more apparent, Reese hit a roadblock in her senior year of high school. The sprinter suffered an injury that brought her career to an immediate halt, leaving her wondering if she’d be able to pick up the pieces and return to the athlete she once was.

She found, however, that this period of waiting and wondering if she could make a comeback turned out to be a period that defined the love she holds for her craft. 

“(My injury) was the silver lining because the whole time I just didn’t take track seriously at all. I realized that it hurt so much. I’m not doing the thing I want to do after high school or after college or whatever the case is,” Reese said. “I just wanted to train. I would just show up injured at practices, and I would just want to be there for the team, but I would also want to train for myself. That was just a big turning point for me.”

Reese worked harder than ever to get back to the point of competing again. The training paid off, and she eventually found herself being recruited by schools in America. The young Trini soon enrolled at Elon University. And while Reese was extremely grateful to compete for the Phoenix, she knew the capability she had to reach even greater heights. 

“I just knew that my talent was more than Elon. But at the end of the day, I needed to put in that hard work to get myself to the next level,” Reese said.

The college freshman broke just about every record possible for Elon track and field, catching the eyes of programs nationwide — one of which was Liberty. And as she packed her bags to move to the Hill City, Revell was also being recruited to come to Lynchburg.

But before he could don the Flames jersey, he first donned the jersey of his nation, being gifted the honor of representing Trinidad and Tobago in the World Athletics U20 Championships alongside his fellow Flames teammate Omari Lewis.

“That experience was just mind-blowing,” Revell said. “Walking out to that stadium on that track, crowd, lights, everything was just like, ‘Oh, I made it somewhere big in such a short space of time.’ Because I had only been doing track around, I would say five years, and that’s pretty unique when it comes to this sport. I grew as an athlete and as a person, and I now understand what it takes to actually reach that level.”

And when Revell joined his sister in Lynchburg for his freshman season as a Flame, he only continued to climb. The structure of Liberty’s athletic programs and the attention to detail that its staff has is something that stood out to Revell, allowing him to see the success he has in his rookie year.

“It’s different because almost no other school in America does on the track and weight training. There’s literally somebody for everything,” Revell said. “You have a track coach; you have a gym coach; you have a dietitian. It just gives you value as an athlete.”

The contribution the Websters have made to Liberty track and field in just one season has helped propel the team to its first CUSA Indoor Track and Field Championship, with the search for an outdoor title still in progress. And for an athlete like Reese, who has run away with nearly every event she’s entered in, the pressure to perform serves as a driving force for the sophomore. 

“I’m not one to cancel out the noise. The noise just pushes me forward,” Reese said. “When I feel like I have a point to prove and I need to get there, I’m going to do it. But if I don’t have a point to prove anymore, then what’s the point?”

But when the two step off the track and look at their new life in the States — starkly different from their life in the Caribbean — their connection to each other remains the constant. Reese and Revell have been through everything together, with track simply being another way for the two to bond. And while their parents look on from Trinidad and Tobago, beaming with pride for their two children, the duo continues to thrive side by side. 

“We take care of each other; we look up to each other; we call each other almost every day. And if we don’t call each other, we see each other,” Reese said. “It just gives you the motivation when you just don’t have it on some days. Because back when I was at Elon, it was me alone. I had to fight my upper battle alone and just no family member, nothing like that. Honestly, it’s just good to have somebody you love around.”

Cory is the sports editor for the Liberty Champion. Follow her on X