Old Oregon
ON A FAST TRACK
“I’m Just Getting Started”
UO running great-turned-pro Raevyn Rogers is set to show the world (championships) what she can do
his is an exciting time for Raevyn Rogers, and it’s easy to see why. The former University of Oregon track star—now a top pro—is coming off a 2021 season that saw her once again set a personal best in the 800 meters, and she did so in the biggest race of her career with a bronze-medal finish at the Tokyo Olympics. She’s off to a fast start this season, having recently won the 800 at a prominent event—the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, California—with a time of 1 minute, 58.77 seconds, which broke a meet record she set as a collegiate. And she recently relocated back to Oregon to train under Pete Julian with the Union Athletics Club, a Nike team of elite runners from across the globe. To top it all, Rogers is slated to compete in the 18th edition of the World Athletics Championships, which will be held in the US for the first time July 15–24 when the event comes to Hayward Field— the site where she’s had history-making success as a collegiate. “There’s so much more that I know is going to happen,” says Rogers, BA ’19 (art). “I don’t feel like I’m even close to my prime. I actually feel like I’m just getting started. “My biggest thing is proving the impossible. I’m just excited to take that mentality and have the faith I have and keep inspiring
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O R E G O N Q U A R T E R LY
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SUMMER 2022
people that whatever you may believe is impossible or something that may never be able to happen, can still happen.” A top junior runner, Rogers rocketed to greatness at the UO, where she dominated the 800-meter event as a three-time NCAA outdoor champion and two-time NCAA indoor champion. In 2017, she won the Bowerman Award—named for the UO’s pioneering head track-and-field coach—as the top women’s collegiate track athlete in the country. That year, she left an indelible masterpiece behind in her final performance with the Ducks, one that remains her favorite Hayward Field memory. Oregon was trying to be the first women’s team to win the NCAA Triple Crown by sweeping the team titles in cross country, and indoor and outdoor track and field, in the same academic year. The Ducks entered the 4x400-meter relay at June’s NCAA outdoor meet needing to win to secure the Triple Crown; on the relay’s anchor leg, Rogers passed University of Southern California star Kendall Ellis with 200 meters to go and held her off down the homestretch to give the Ducks a place in history. “When they told us the situation—about needing to win for the
GLOBAL ATHLETICS & MARKETING
BY ASHLEY CONKLIN
