Barbara Nwaba was on her victory lap after winning the heptathlon on Sunday at the U.S. Olympic Trials when she spotted her mom in the crowd, who had come up to Eugene from Los Angeles to surprise her.
“When I saw her I was like, ‘Oh my god,’” Nwaba said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Her mom didn’t want her to get distracted by searching for her in the crowd while she was competing, so without telling Nwaba, she flew to Eugene to witness her winning the heptathlon with 6,494 points to earn a spot on her first Olympic team after missing out in 2012.
Heather Miller-Koch also missed the Olympic team that year, yet this year, it was a different story as she placed second with a score of 6,423, a personal-record. In third was Kendell Williams, who scored 6,402, which was also a personal-record.
The three of them had finished in the top three after the first day of events on Saturday. Nwaba was in first with 3,822 points, Williams was in second with 3,903 and Miller-Koch was in third with 3,892.
On the Saturday, Nwaba placed tenth in the 100-meter hurdles, an event that she has struggled with in the past, with a time of 13.65 seconds.
“Once I did that, I was like, ‘Okay. Game over. I’m going to do my best in every event now,’” Nwaba said.
Nwaba found success in the high jump by hitting a personal-best of 6 feet, 2¾ inches as she won the event. The mark was a Hayward Field record and tied the meet record. At the end of day one, she was 70 points ahead of her personal record.
“I just felt so bouncey,” Nwaba said. “I was just ready to go.”
She also was successful the second day during the javelin throw as she threw the second best throw of her life at 161 feet, 4 inches, which earned her second place for the event.
Going into the final event, the 800-meter, Nwaba was in good position to make the Olympic team, which allowed her to relax and focus on the task at hand. She entered the event 40 points ahead of Williams..
“I was in the lead already, so there was not much pressure,” Nwaba said.
There was more pressure on Miller-Koch, as she was in third place and was trying to fend off Sharon Day-Monroe, who was only 25 points behind her. She was able to win the 800 in 2 minutes, 9.97 seconds.
“I trained really hard for the 800,” Nwaba said. “So, I was ready to do that.”
Follow Hannah Bonnie on Twitter @hbonnie03