Oregon’s Washington Made NCAA History In 2016

Before 2016, no freshman woman had completed the same-year sweep of the 100 and 200 in the history of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. 

Look closer and you’ll see that only one freshman had won the 100 in the previous 34 years (Angela Williams of Southern California in 1999 on her way to four in a row) and the best finish by a freshman in the half-lap final was national runner-up (Muna Lee of LSU in 2001 and Shalonda Solomon of South Carolina in 2005). 

So, it would have been easy to write off Ariana Washington’s chances that year purely based on where she stood coming into the meet. The Oregon freshman sat in a tie for 11th on the seasonal Descending Order List in the 100 at 11.18 and 26th in the 200 at 22.97 – both marks that she turned in at the Pac-12 Outdoor Championships less than one month earlier. 

Many learned over the years to doubt “Hayward Magic” at their own peril. 

Washington starred on the big stage in front of her hometown crowd at Hayward Field.

After posting the fastest time in the semifinal of the 100, Washington beat Ashley Henderson of San Diego State by 0.01 seconds for the national title (10.95 to 10.96 with a 2.6 m/s tailwind). It was also the Ducks’ fourth 100-meter crown in the past five years: Washington followed in the footsteps of two-time champion English Gardner (2012 and 2013) and 2015 The Bowerman winner Jenna Prandini. 

Less than one hour later, Washington returned to the track for the final of the 200. This time, she had posted the second fastest mark in the semifinal and would start alongside teammate and top qualifier Deajah Stevens. Together, they wanted to score big points to allow Oregon to keep pace with eventual champion Arkansas in the team standings. 

Once the gun went off, Stevens and Washington left the other competitors standing still. And by the time the race ended – some 22.21 seconds later – Washington made history and posted the third fastest wind-legal winning time in meet history behind Dawn Sowell’s collegiate record in 1989 (22.04) and Dezerea Bryant’s mark from the previous year (22.18).

Washington continued her winning ways at the NCAA Championships as a sophomore, matching her outdoor 200-meter crown with the indoor version in 2017. And while she never topped the podium again as an individual — a runner-up finish in the 200 at the outdoor meet that year would be best she did — Washington helped the Ducks complete the only Triple Crown by an NCAA DI women’s program as they won national titles in cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field during the 2016-17 academic year.