June 6, 2018
By Mick McGrane, @GoAztecs Senior Writer
(@MickOnTheMesa)
SAN DIEGO - Ashley Henderson had just gone and done her "Go Do You," the motto she lives by, the maxim she moves by.
Having rocketed to a 22.41 finish in the first heat of the 200-meter finals at the NCAA Indoor Nationals in College Station, Texas, in March, Henderson came up one-hundredth of a second shy of the collegiate record set by Oregon's Bianca Knight in 2008.
And now the ESPN cameras were closing in, confident they'd just witnessed something special, a can't miss Olympian-in-the-making whose exuberant persona and ever-present smile only amplified her achievements on the track.
Minutes later, however, the moment was gone. Harvard's Gabrielle Thomas, who but a year earlier had placed eighth in the event, used the second heat not only to steal the spotlight from Henderson, but to nudge Knight from the record book, setting a collegiate record with a time of 22.38.
And they say stardom is short lived.
"It was just one of those things where it's a two-heat final," Henderson said. "I was proud of what I did, because I came out of the prelims running a 22.8. Then I ran a 22.4 in the finals the next day, so that was pretty remarkable in itself."
"I'm not one of those athletes who gets upset about someone else's success. I was a bit hurt, because I had (the record) first, and then she ended up getting it right after I did. But that's what competition does. I set the tone with my time in the first heat, but there's always going to be someone in the second heat who's going to chase it."
This is Ashley Henderson's life, holding off her pursuers, training for it, waiting for it, confident that "Go Do You" is enough to get it done. The San Diego State senior is an eight-time All-American, a 14-time Mountain West champion (nine outdoor, five indoor), a sprinter no less talented in the 100 than the 200, one who earlier this year had the fastest non-wind aided time in the 100 (10.98) in the world in 2018 (LSU's Aleia Hobbs has since run a 10.90).
But this week, the road comes to an end, the crescendo of a career where the pursuers again will be lying in wait. The NCAA Outdoor Championships at hallowed Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., admit only the creme de la creme, the best of the bunch, not a few of whom will soon take up a new chase --finding a spot with Team USA for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.
Henderson will compete in the 100 and 200 after posting qualifying times of 11.18 and 22.90, respectively, at the NCAA West Preliminary Championships in Sacramento on May 25. She will be joined in Eugene by Aztec junior Lisa-Anne Barrow, who won her heat in the 400 in Sacramento with a personal-best time of 51.86, and members of the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
The trip to Hayward Field will be the first for Barrow and the third straight for Henderson, who didn't exactly arrive at SDSU with grand intentions of becoming one of the school's most decorated stars.
"I came in with absolutely no goals in terms of (track)," said Henderson, a native of St. Louis. "I just wanted to use it to get through school. I thought I wanted to go to law school at the time, but college has a way of changing that. But with track, it became like night and day. I suddenly realized that it was going to be my livelihood. I found so much passion for it, because there was a time when I hated it. I've been running track since I was seven, and I used to hate it. I was the only kid who could never go to Disneyland, because I was always at track meets on the weekend, going from Iowa to Texas to Michigan and everywhere else, going to AAU championships. I never saw Disney World until the end of my sophomore year in college when I won an award that allowed me to go. Finally, my parents were able to hear me stop complaining about it."
"But I'm absolutely in love with track now. It excites me and inspires me, because I don't know yet how good I can really be. Every time I run, every time I'm at practice, I think, `Hey, I'm pretty fast and I'm getting better.' It kind of scares me, because I don't really know how far I can go."
Sheila Burrell, who has steered SDSU women's track for the past nine seasons, has a pretty good hunch. Burrell, who oversaw the development of former SDSU standouts and 2016 Olympians Whitney Ashley and Shanieka Thomas, as well as five-time All-American Allison Reaser, likens Henderson to Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown, an eight-time Olympic medalist and only the second woman to win consecutive gold medals in the 200 meters.
"I think Ashley is talented in both (the 100 and 200), but when I'm looking at training and looking at what she's capable of, the athlete she reminds me most of is (Campbell-Brown)," Burrell said. "She's a power runner who has medaled in both. I think as Ashley's career moves along from San Diego State, you can expect greater things. But as I look at (Campbell-Brown's) progression and her style of running, Ashley is very similar to her. I think that in the future, come the 2020 (Olympic) Games, she's going to be a contender in both the 100 and the 200."
And be ever closer to emerging from the shadows cast by collegiate football and basketball, where any chance of a track athlete gaining similar traction on social media is both slim and unheard of. Football fans know Juwan Washington is next up, and basketball fans are delighted Jalen McDaniels is back, but finding a sizable segment of students aware of a potential Olympian in their midst is far from assured.
"I used to kind of trip over (not being recognized), but then I always reminded myself, `Ashley, you've still got to do you, regardless of who sees you or who doesn't," Henderson said. "I know God does. I know the Aztec (athletic) community does. And I know everyone who's supported me does. Those things mean the most to me, regardless of the whether the nation does. It doesn't matter at this point. For me, it's just all about going out and winning, and when I do there will be no reason why they can overlook me."
In truth, the track and field community hasn't overlooked her since 2016, when Henderson, then a sophomore, finished second to Oregon's Ariana Washington in the 100 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Washington, who ran a 10.95 to Henderson's 10.96, went on to represent the U.S. in the 4x100 meter relay at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro two years ago.
"That's when it hit me," she said. "All season long I thought I'd been running pretty well, but I never knew I could break 11.0. Everybody told me I could, but I was like, `Yeah, I don't know.' But when I hit that (10.96) I was like, `Oh my god.' That's when I knew, `Yeah, Ashley, you've got some speed.' "
"My expectations are to go and do me, because I know what I'm capable of doing," said Henderson, who graduated last month with a degree in communications. "There used to be doubt, but not anymore. With the success that I've had, there's no reason to have any doubt at this point. It's simply just a matter of putting it all out there on the track and showing everyone what I'm made of. And I want to show it to myself, too, because I still continue to surprise myself every time I run."
A consequence always possible when you go do you.