Asia Washington, who won the 400-meter event in the ACC Championship, runs at practice.
"Once the gun goes off, it's just instinct. Just go."
That's junior Asia Washington's answer when asked what goes through her mind when she runs.
"Just go," she said. No complications, no worries, no distractions. A clear and confident mind is all the mid-distance runner for the Tech women's track team needs to be successful.
The time and effort have been put in before she toes the blocks, before the gun goes off. The preparation and hard work before is where the real difference is made.
And that difference has never been more evident than this year, as this young woman from Piscataway, N.J., has parlayed her instincts and hard work into two school records, one Atlantic Coast Conference Gold Medal and a trip to the NCAA Championships - and that's just for the indoor season.
The culmination of her 2009 indoor season could not have been better as Washington crossed the finish line first in the ACC Championship 400-meter dash with a personal-best time of 54.18 seconds. The conference crown was her first ever in her three years on the team.
She credits her improvement this year to another season's worth of hard work.
"The biggest advantage each year is I'm getting stronger," Washington said. "I'm a lot stronger this year. I'm working with a new coach. With new philosophies I've become more mechanically sound; I've been fixing the little stuff."
That new coach is Emmanuel Daux, assistant track and field coach in charge of sprints, hurdles and jumps.
"She was mainly a base distance runner, so we changed her mechanics a little bit" Daux said. "I made her a little more effective doing some speed-endurance work with her. She's a determined individual."
To one-up her ACC performance, Washington took the opportunity to improve upon her NCAA provisional-qualifying time the following weekend and ran another personal-best mark of 53.66 in the 400-meter event.
She was then officially announced as one of 13 Hokies who were invited to the NCAA Championships, which took place in College Station, Texas, on March 13 and March 14. In her first ever trip to the NCAAs, Washington wound up finishing 14th in the preliminary round of the 400-meter with a time of 54.25.
The NCAA berth and the rest of her accomplishments this year have come as no surprise to Tech Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Dave Cianelli.
"(Asia) is just scratching the surface," he said. "It's all there: work ethic, passion and love. Her maturation process has continued and it shows in her results."
"I'm most impressed with her leadership ability," Daux said. "She's took control of the younger athletes. We have a young, talented group and we would like them to follow someone like Asia."
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