![]() ![]() Spencer skipped the Olympic Trials and instead won the world under-20 title. In 2012, she became the first freshman to be NCAA champion in the 400 since Sanya Richards in 2003. She was on 4x400 relay teams that won every year, 2008-11, including a time of 3:47.37 in 2011 that broke a 28-year-old state record.įor the Illini, she concentrated on the flat 400 meters. And 2016 was Spencer’s first year devoted to the 400 hurdles.Īt Lawrence North, Spencer’s only individual state title was in the 100-meter hurdles in 2010. Coincidentally, her coach had won the same medal in the same event - at Atlanta in 1996. Thus began Spencer’s pathway to an Olympic podium.Īt Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Spencer became the first Indiana-born woman to win an individual medal in Olympic track and field, a bronze in the 400-meter hurdles. Video of that race persuaded coach Tonja Buford-Bailey to recruit her to Illinois. “Everyone here in the stands saw what happened and will never forget what you just did,” the spectator said. A spectator came up to her afterward and told her to stop crying. She was disqualified for impeding another runner. She got up, caught up, and finished second – at the state meet. So it was for Ashley Spencer.Īs a junior at Lawrence North, she fell during the 300-meter hurdles at the state meet. It’s not whether you fall, but whether you get up. Running hurdles can be a metaphor for life. ![]()
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