The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Watson rides rollercoaster of emotions to Olympic Trials
07.03.2016 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Pole vaulter qualifies for final despite late entry, travel difficulties
EUGENE, Ore. – Pole vaulter Reese Watson qualified for the final in the men's pole vault at the Olympic Trials on Saturday, but his journey to the meet is one only the Olympic Trials can provide.
Watson was originally scheduled to fly out with a handful of teammates and members of the Texas Track & Field coaching staff on Tuesday, June 28. Then when entries were posted, Watson was not among the field of pole vaulters.
He was ranked 27th. The USATF accepts 24 athletes in the field events.
Then, athletes began to scratch their entry status due to injuries. Some were not accepted into the meet for various other reasons, and slowly Watson began to creep up the list.
At 11 p.m. Wednesday he got a text from his coach telling him he needed to be ready to leave Thursday morning.
He was in the meet!
With Watson going from in the meet to out and back in it created a logistical nightmare of how to get him to Eugene after the rest of the first Texas travel party was already there. That was a task assigned to Director of Operations LaVera Morris, who joined the staff in mid-February and handles the team's travel among her many day-to-day duties to keep the program running smoothly.
For Morris, the challenge of getting Watson to the Trials was one that kept her up late while also organizing transports and schedules for the coaches and athletes already in Eugene who needed to get to and from the stadium for practices and competition.
"One good thing in this whole situation is Reese was very calm and easy-going throughout the whole thing. He didn't get frustrated," Morris said. "Of course, I was frustrated because I was thinking that this can't be happening. It definitely was very stressful because you don't know what time he's going to be here or if there is going to be another delay. We were just trying to get him in and make sure he gets a good night's sleep before competing."
Watson's initial flight out of Austin on Thursday morning was overbooked. Then, the next flight was overbooked. He was put on an 8 p.m. flight and called a friend to take him back to his house and wait for his flight. As soon as he got home, Morris called and said get back to the airport ASAP. He was on a 1:55 p.m. flight, but it was delayed until 6 p.m., which would make him miss his connecting flight to Portland.
Morris and Anthony Travel then managed to get him on a 3:40 p.m. United Airlines flight to Houston. His poles and luggage, thankfully, arrived in Portland earlier in the day because they were checked on his original Southwest Airlines flight that was overbooked. If Watson had not checked his poles on that flight, he would not have had them in Eugene to compete with because United Airlines does not accept pole vault poles.
With the flight to Houston and connection, Watson arrived at the team hotel in Springfield, Oregon, at 1 a.m. Friday after another one-hour delay – only 32 hours before he was to start his warmup at the track for competition.
All-in-all it ended up being a 16-hour work day for Morris on Thursday working to get Watson on a flight to Oregon while also managing the team's practice schedules and transportation in Eugene.
The roller-coaster ride of emotions Watson was on is nothing new to athletes waiting to see if they get into the Olympic Trials. Making Team USA in track and field is considered by many in sports to be the most difficult team in the world to make. And for many just the opportunity to compete at the Olympic Trials is a dream come true and a once-in-a-lifetime type moment.
Watson has seized that opportunity and vaulted better than he has all year to make the final thanks to a three-way tie for 12th place during the qualifying round. He cleared 5.50 meters (18-0.50) on his second attempt to get in that tie and the final. Watson easily went over the bar safely at 5.40 meters on his first attempt of the competition, surpassing his season-best of 5.35 meters. It also marked the highest bar Watson has ever opened a competition at.
Perhaps the crazy travel allowed him to avoid nerves and go out and do what he does best – pole vault.
"Just the excitement from saying 'oh, you're in now, you're on the plane,' even though it was last-minute, I was super-excited so it made the nightmare travel day go pretty smooth anyway. Then I get here, and my opening bar was a season-best. That was pretty exciting. I finally jumped 18 feet again, so I was holding out," he said with a smile.
Watson will be one of 14 vaulters trying to make Team USA for the Olympic Games when the final starts at 3:30 p.m. PT on Monday. If he can finish in the top three with a clearance of at least 5.70 meters (18-8.25), he would join the Longhorn contingent headed to Rio in August.
"You want to give people that experience and be a part of the Olympic Trials and he obviously came in and capitalized and seized the moment," said Head Coach Mario Sategna. "What a great thing for him as he finishes his college eligibility and now he will be in the Olympic Trials final. No matter what happens, that's a heck of a feat in itself."
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