From Competitive Runner To Running A Department
Running toward something better.
From her time as a college-level track and field athlete to the challenges of earning a graduate degree as a wife, mother, and working professional, Connie Washington has always relied on her competitive mindset to defy expectations and achieve success on her own terms.
âMy dad was a runner in high school, and he thought I was pretty quick (for a kid),â recalls Connie Washington, former NCAA track and field athlete and Western Governors University alumna. âThatâs how it all started for me, as a little 7- or 8-year-old girl in these little AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) meets around Salt Lake City, Utah.â
In the years that followed, the promising young athlete gained one victory after another.
Soon, Connieâs weekends were spent on the road with her dadâtraveling to neighboring states in the pursuit of more opportunities to compete. Her confidence and talents grew. Yet, Connie never fully understood her potential for greatness until her freshman year in high school.
âMy very first meet was up at the University of Utah, an invitational, which is a meet that all the high schools in the state go to. I didnât have the greatest form, but somehow, some way I won the first invitational I was at in the 200 meters,â Connie says.
âSo, thatâs kind of when I realized that I might be able to compete at a level that many people donât get to. I thought, Holy cow, maybe I can do this!â
Connie continued to break records and receive accolades as a high school track starâincluding district and state championships. Her efforts would not go unnoticed.
She would receive an athletic scholarship from Weber State, an NCAA Division 1 school in the Big Sky Conference.
The year was 1982. And Connie pushed herself even further. In college, she was now a member of an elite group of athletesâeach a high school star in their own rightâbrought together from different parts of the country to compete as one singularly focused team.
âMy sophomore year, we actually won the first championship ⊠the first womenâs (conference) championship that (the) Weber State team won. We werenât supposed to win that meet. We won the indoor championship. And I had amazingly won the long jump at that meet, won the 400, and we won the 400-meter relay. And so that was pretty exciting. It was nice to get the individual wins, but we were really pleased as a team.â
As her track and field career progressed, Connie garnered her share of âMost Valuable Athleteâ awards and nominations at a number of intercollegiate conferences and regional invitationals. Looking back, one event still leaves an impression on Connie today 34 years later.
âWe found ourselves on the track with the U.S. Womenâs Olympic Team which was ⊠awe-inspiring. It had Alice Brown, Florence Griffith-Joyner, also known as âFlo Jo.â She was the anchor on the relay. And I was the anchor on the relay. We competed in the same race. I will say that they finished quite a bit ahead of us. But it was just exciting to be in the presence of some of those Olympic runners. So that was one of the highlights of my running career.â
She would leave college that next year with an associateâs degreeâdrawing her running career to a close. In short time, Connie would begin a new chapter in her life: becoming both a wife and a mother. As the years went by, she vowed not to lose sight of the one goal that eluded her at Weber State: completing a bachelorâs degree in business.
It would take 30 years for Connie to recognize an opportunity to pick up where she left off. And she took it. âIâd been considering going back to school because my two youngest children were about to graduate from college and I decided I needed to have my bachelorâs. I did some research. ĂÛÌÒTV was very affordable, and Iâd heard some good things about it. I found that it was the best bang for my buck and the best program for where I was in my life at that time.â
In retrospect, she attributes her success at ĂÛÌÒTV to her experiences as a competitive runner.Ìę
âRunning has taught me so many valuable lessons. I was a sprinter. So I like to move quickly. I like to get things done. Thatâs my mindset."
"I wasnât a long-distance runner. I wasnât the type of person who could go for a long run and clear my head. I want to get in there, compete, get it done, and go on to the next thing.â
Using this no-nonsense approach, Connie completed her bachelorâs degree within a yearâs time. Then, earned her masterâs degree in management and leadership in less than four months.Ìę
âItâs interesting when I think about what running taught me and how I was able to carry that over into my schooling to get my degree (at ĂÛÌÒTV). I learned that itâs on you...itâs individual goalsâŠitâs on me to get it done. And finish strong. Thatâs the same thing I did during my time at ĂÛÌÒTV. There were people to support me. But, it was me getting up in that office (to study) when maybe I didnât want to. So there were a lot of parallels to being motivated, being self-driven, and to have a mindset that this is on me to get done, so Iâm going to do it.â
Although Connie no longer runs competitively, she does coach track for youth athletes in her community. Sheâs also a featured Hall of Fame athlete at her alma mater: West High School.
Not that Connie is one to dwell on the past. Always striving to achieve her personal best, sheâs already planned her next moveâ earning an MBA at ĂÛÌÒTV. A goal which already was achieved by her own husband, who was inspired in part, by Connieâs example as a model ĂÛÌÒTV student.
If an air of competition exists between Mr. and Mrs. Washington, it starts and ends in the classroom. Not on the track.
âYeah, the days of sprinting around the track are over for me. (But) Iâve got him beat by miles. He didnât get that gene. Donât tell him I told you that!â she laughs.Ìę
