Journey To Rio Begins In Texas

EUGENE, Ore. — Ariana Washington was packing the last few items into her suitcase earlier this week when reality hit her.

On Wednesday, Washington departed along with her teammate Deajah Stevens for USA Track and Field's Pre-Olympic Training Camp, held in Texas. Wednesday of next week, they will depart for Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, site of the 2016 Olympic Summer Games.

As she stuffed her suitcase Sunday night in preparation for the trip, Washington began to process the whirlwind adventure that awaits.

"It's starting to sink in just a little bit," Washington said Monday at Hayward Field, where she was about to endure one of her final workouts in Eugene before heading to Texas.

Washington will spend the upcoming weekend practicing with other members of Team USA's pool of potential participants in the 4x100-meter relay. The UO redshirt freshman was selected for the pool after being a finalist at both 100 and 200 meters in the U.S. Olympic Trials, following her wins in both those events at the NCAA Outdoor championships in the spring.

Stevens, who will run the 200 in Rio after finishing second at that distance in the Trials, will travel to Texas with Washington but work out on her own since she's not part of the relay pool. The two women will be joined next week by 110-meter hurdles U.S. champion Devon Allen, before they all travel to Brazil for the Summer Games.

Of the three, Washington has the most at stake this week, as she tries to earn a spot on the 4x100 team for a preliminary round and beyond. As much as running fast, she knows, clean exchanges will be the priority.

"It depends on who can give a stick, and who can get a stick," Washington said. "I've done relays my whole life, so I think I'll be good."

Stevens also practiced at Hayward Field on Monday, and arrived for her workout in a Team USA shirt. Allen said the reality of his Trials victory, and accompanying Olympic berth, set in when he picked up his own Team USA gear the day after winning his second 110 hurdles U.S. title in three years.

"I've been trying to make a U.S. team — whether it be juniors or world youth or whatever — for a few years now," said Allen, the two-sport UO star who has said he plans to play at least one more season of football with the Ducks, this fall. "My first U.S. team is the Olympic team. I was like, 'Wow, this is happening.'"

While Washington and Stevens are in Texas, Allen is planning to race one more time prior to the Olympics, on Friday at Hayward Field. The Ducks' home track will host a TrackTown Summer Series meet Friday at 6:30 p.m. The meet, to be televised by ESPN, features a unique team scoring format between 36-athlete squads representing Portland, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Allen said he and his training partner — Canadian Olympian and UO hurdling alum Johnathan Cabral — have discussed participating.

"Me and Johnathan wanted to do a time trial anyway," Allen said. "If we could do it in a meet, that'd be cool. … After this Friday we'll start to taper it down, start to feel good again."

All three current UO runners heading to the Olympics said coaches have ramped up their training to take advantage of the more than monthlong gap between the U.S. Olympic Trials in early July and the start of track and field competition in Rio on Aug. 12.

"We're kind of back to the beginning, back to some of the hard stuff," Washington said. "We've got a month to work some things out."

Allen may have had an advantage over the two women, in that he planned his season schedule all along for the possibility of running in Rio. Both Stevens and Washington considered the 2020 Olympics a more realistic goal, until their breakout performances in the late spring and early summer.

"It's been tough to try to hold on to what I had in NCAAs, and try to get back in shape," said Washington, who trained all year to peak for NCAA Regionals and the NCAA Outdoor championships. "But I've been trying. I'm a little tired, but I feel a little bit more recovered than I did at Trials. Probably in the next week or two, my speed will come back."

UO sprints coach Curtis Taylor has been entrusted with preparing Washington and Stevens for Rio, after their long collegiate season.

"He's just loading us up right now," Stevens said. "When we're supposed to run fast, he knows how to trigger those muscles."

It won't be long now before it's time for the Ducks to run fast in Rio. Their bags are packed, and they're ready to fly.