By Isaac Gibson
Last year, as a freshman, Oregon’s Ariana Washington sat on the sidelines due to a broken foot during the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. “I remember watching the 100 and watching Jenna (Prandini) win and come back for the 200,” Washington said. “You just don’t think, ‘That is going to be me next year.’ You just don’t, and it never crossed my mind.”
But now as a healthy redshirt freshman, Washington was the deciding factor.
On Saturday at Hayward Field, she shocked the home crowd by winning the 100-meter and 200-meter titles, scoring 20 team points for the Ducks. She also anchored the women’s 4×100 meter relay team to a third-place finish. Her performance helped the Oregon women, who struggled on the first day of the meet, to finish in second place with 62 points, 10 points behind Arkansas.
Washington started the day with the relay, leading the team, which was without Hannah Cunliffe, who was injured on the first day, to a third-place finish in 42.91 seconds. “The 4×100 has always been a warm-up for me,” said Washington. “And after running it, I had a good feeling about how I was gonna do in the 100.”
That good feeling led Washington to a new personal best of 10.95 in the 100, her first time breaking the 11-second barrier for the first time. “I was like, ‘Umm, oh my God, what the heck, did I just do that?’ she said.
Washington beat San Diego State’s Ashley Henderson by .01 second.
After Washington won her first individual title, the next Duck to compete was Raevyn Rogers, who was looking to repeat as a national champion in the 800.
“Ari, she finishes her 100 and comes up to me and says ‘OK, it’s your turn,’” Rogers said. “In front of all the girls, and I’m like, ‘OK, it’s my turn.”
With 150 meters left to go in the 800, Rogers made a move to lead and held it, winning her second 800 meter title in 2:00.75 scoring another 10 points for the team. Stanford’s Olivia Baker finished second in 2:02.65.
“There was excitement, there was lactic acid, there was a lot of that going on,” Rogers said. “But then I realized, I was just thankful at the end of my race that that happened.”
Washington had one more race to run. She lined up next to her teammate Deajah Stevens to run the 200. Both Ducks got off to a good start, and when they came around the curve, it was easy to tell the race was over. Washington won in 22.21 with Stevens close behind in 22.25, scoring 18 points for the team in one event.
“Crossing the line was one thing, but to see 20.20 it was like, ‘Did I do that, was that really me?’” Washington said. “I don’t even fell like I ran that fast, honestly. It was an out-of-body experience.”
Going into the final day of competition, Oregon had been predicted by FloTrack to finish in third place with 48.5 points. But the Ducks did not let the rankings sway their perceptions.
“Last night we were told by Coach Johnson that we are not out of this, and all we have to do is believe in each other and push each other through,” Washington said. “Man, we just put up a fight today to just go out there and scavenge for as many points as we can and look at us now.”
