EUGENE, Ore. — Over the past few months, Mackenzie Long has experienced pure elation and utter heartbreak.
On Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, she felt both.
Long, who won the 100 and 200 meters at NCAA championships earlier this month, qualified for the Paris Olympics in her favorite event by placing third in the 200-meter final here, finishing in 21.91 seconds behind winners Gabby Thomas (21.81) and Brittany Brown (21.90). It was jubilant.
Heartbroken, she recalled, her mother had not witnessed it.
Jones, a former star athlete at Ole Miss, is running in memory of his mother, Tara Jones, who died suddenly of a heart attack just before the start of the season at just 45 years old.
“Crossing the finish line and knowing I'm an Olympian is so surreal,” a tearful Long said after the race. “I can see my mom smiling and I know she's proud of me and that's all I want.”
At the NCAA Championships, where she won the 100 and 200 meters, Long told reporters that she talks to her mother every day, and when she stood on the starting block in her final race, she said with emotion, “I said, 'Mom, this is my last race, so cheer me on,' and she did.”
She did the same thing at trials on Saturday.
“I could hear her before she even stepped on the line,” Long said. “I just told her, 'Good luck, Mom,' and I said, 'This girl's going to be OK.'”
“I could feel her presence in that moment and that's what got me through this race.”
Long told reporters after her first race on Friday that she and her mother dreamed of competing in the Olympics together, with Long on the track and Jones cheering from the stands, and she felt her mother's encouragement even after failing to make the 100-meter final at last week's Olympic trials.
“Obviously I was disappointed not to make the 100 final, but I wasn't upset at all,” she said. “I knew the 200 was the event I could really win.”
When asked what her mother said to her to get her pumped before the race, Long laughed.
“She'll probably say, 'You're Mackenzie Long, people should be afraid of you!' She'll probably say, 'You've got this girl!'”
Long said therapy was key to working through the emotional pain while striving to excel on the track. The therapist encouraged her not to “separate” her mother from anything, which she didn't.
She talks to Jones out loud every day. She listens to workout playlists he makes. She has a picture of Jones on her lock screen. Every time Long picks up her phone, she kisses it.
Long's story has gone viral this week, inspiring other runners.
“There's something really special about her,” Thomas said. “I've been so impressed with her effort this season and the obstacles she's overcome. I'm so proud of her.”
After crossing the finish line, Thomas told Long he had a dream Friday night in which Long, along with Thomas, had been selected for the Olympic team.
“Didn't you want to tell me this before you came on this line?” Long said with a laugh, adding that Thomas inspires her every day. “I always tell her, I want to be just like you. That's my goal. I want to be just like Gabby Thomas.”
As of Saturday, she is like Thomas, because now they are both part of the U.S. team.
Email Lindsay Schnell at lschnell@usatoday.com and follow her on social media. Lindsay Schnell
