McGuffie named to 2018 US Olympic bobsled team

By Chuck Pool

Former Rice football and track standout Sam McGuffie ’14 is one of 12 athletes selected this week for the 2018 U.S. Olympic men’s bobsled team, which will compete in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in the Winter Olympics.

Sam McGuffie

McGuffie will represent the United States in both the two- and four-man competitions. He will team with driver Cody Bascue in the two-man event and join Evan Weinstock and Steve Langton as Bascue’s push crew in the four-man competition.

This is McGuffie’s third year as a member of the national team. He has collected five World Cup medals in his career in addition to finishing third in the 2017 World Cup four-man competition.

The Olympic bobsled event is contested in a four-heat format over two days of racing with two heats on each day. The two-man competition will take place Feb. 18-19, and the four-man races will be Feb. 24-25 at the Olympic Sliding Centre in the Pyeongchang Mountain Cluster.

Opening ceremonies for the games will be Feb. 9. This is McGuffie’s first appearance in the Olympics, and he will become the first Rice athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics.

Transferring to Rice after one year at the University of Michigan, McGuffie was a standout in both football and track at Rice. He had a combined 2,299 all-purpose yards at Rice, rushing for 1,057 yards with seven touchdowns and catching 102 passes for 1,059 and nine touchdowns. He ranks 11th in school history with his 102 receptions.

On the track, he finished second in the long jump at the 2009 Conference USA Outdoor with a jump of 24 feet, 8.25 inches, and he finished third in the heptathlon at the 2012 C-USA Indoor Track and Field Championships.