Built for This
Franklyn Akabi-During ’28 is rewriting Dickinson’s record books—one race at a time
by Tony Moore
Franklyn Akabi-During ’28 grew up inside a tradition. At DeMatha Catholic High School in suburban Washington, D.C., the names in the hallways aren’t decoration, they’re an athletic standard. And Akabi-During absorbed all of it. He wanted to carry that legacy somewhere new. On his campus tour at Dickinson, standing inside the indoor track facility with his parents and coach, in front of the record board, he made his father a promise.
“I remember looking up at that record wall and telling my dad that my name would be up there very soon,” he says, noting that he saw how Dickinson’s athletic presence was growing. “I knew I could contribute to this program, and I wanted to be a part of what was being built here.”
He delivered. During the 2026 indoor season, Akabi-During didn’t just reach the record board—he rewrote it, repeatedly, at the biggest meets of the year. He broke the school and Centennial Conference (CC) record in the 200 meters three times in a single season: first in January, then again in February, and finally at the national championships in March, where he ran a 21.31. He earned first-team All-America honors in the 200 meters, set program and conference records in the 60 meters (6.75) and 300 meters (34.65), and anchored relay units that shattered Dickinson’s marks in the 4x200 and 4x400 relays. He was named Performer of the Meet at the CC Championships, made All-Centennial first team in four events and earned All-America recognition in two more at nationals—while also making the CC All Academic Team.
The records came in waves, but Akabi-During says the feeling never changed.
“Every time I step on the track, broken record or not, I feel thankful,” he says. “Seeing the fruits of your efforts is extremely rewarding. But I’m always hungry for more—it’s usually followed by thoughts of ‘what’s next.’ ”
That hunger extends to the relay, where individual glory gives way to something more complicated—and, for Akabi During, more meaningful. Taking the baton with his teammates’ work already banked carries its own pressure.
“It’s a bit scary getting the baton, knowing that everyone before you has done their job,” he says. “The fear of letting my teammates down motivates me. It also helps being surrounded by people you trust and believe in.”
That trust, he says, runs through the whole of his Dickinson experience, made possible by a Sheehy Scholarship, a full tuition grant open to students in the Washington, D.C., area. The political science and international studies double major found in Carlisle the same kind of community that defined DeMatha—teammates, coaches and professors who made his ambitions feel achievable.
“I had a dream,” he says, “and my Dickinson family helped me execute it. That’s what being a member of a D3 program is all about. My teammates, friends, professors and coaches have made everything I have achieved possible.”
Read more from the spring 2026 issue of Dickinson Magazine.
TAKE THE NEXT STEPS
Published June 9, 2026