Tausaga finds herself off the track

Eighteen days after the remainder of the 2020 season was abruptly canceled, Tausaga and other track athletes around the country received a piece of positive news.

The NCAA granted all spring sport athletes an additional season of eligibility (Iowa thrower Allison Wahrman started a petition for the cause, which received over 330,000 digital signatures), meaning Tausaga had one final outdoor season left with the Hawkeyes.

But while her Iowa career had been extended, it was still on pause.

Tausaga and her teammates did not have access to team facilities after the season shut down because of the pandemic, leading Tausaga to travel to local high school tracks to train. But eventually, Tausaga went back to her home state.

When she’s competing, Tausaga, described by her coaches as a perfectionist, knows she can’t throw a personal best every time she steps into the ring. But that doesn’t mean she accepts that.

A scowl or look of disappointment could appear on Tausaga’s face after a seemingly good attempt in a practice setting. Tausaga expects more out of herself, Woody said, than anybody else — and that’s saying something.

“Sometimes she will have a little fit, jumping and letting out a shout, but [Werskey] will be like, ‘OK, that looked like a good one to me,’” said Britt, one of Tausaga’s best friends on the team, who is also back for her final season with the Hawkeyes in 2021.

That competitiveness is an attribute to why Tausaga is among the elite athletes in collegiate sports, her coaches said. But with the Trials postponed and her return date to the track unclear, Tausaga had to adjust her mindset.

“I had to take a step back and find who I was without track to make sure I could come back ready for track,” Tausaga said. “It was eating at me a little too much. I kinda had to step away mentally, get myself back together while doing some of the physical things but trying to get out of that mindset of ‘We gotta go, we gotta go.’ It’s OK to just sit still for a minute.”

The communications major was back at her family’s San Diego home for about a month, which Tausaga believes is a first since she’s been in college.

While there, Tausaga rediscovered her love of cooking.

“I’m very picky in the kitchen,” Tausaga said. “I love to cook. If someone cuts onions the wrong way, I’m like ‘You need to leave the kitchen now.’ I will make everything, I don’t care if I have to cook for like a million people, I would rather do it. I don’t want anyone else to touch the food.”

Despite rejecting any extra pairs of hands when she’s in the kitchen, Tausaga would gladly offer assistance to someone else.

Tausaga describes herself as an introvert, but a helper. She doesn’t think she gives helpful advice, but could listen to someone’s problems all day. When one of her teammates needs help moving a couch they never should have bought out of their apartment, Tausaga will help move it — perhaps while rolling her eyes.

After she graduates this spring, Tausaga will pursue a professional athletic career, while also exploring graduate programs. If those career paths don’t work, Tausaga’s teammates and coaches seem to think stand-up comedy would be a realistic career path.

“She’s one of the most likeable and probably one of the funniest people I’ve been around,” Woody said. “She’s always cracking jokes.”

“That’s just her,” Britt added. “It’s not like a ‘Why did the chicken cross the road?’ She’s just naturally funny. She has everyone laughing. Literally she could just be talking and we’re laughing. It’s that natural for her.”

Tausaga sank her head into the palms of her hands after hearing those comments.

But she didn’t necessarily disagree.

“I don’t know what flies out of my mouth sometimes,” Tausaga said. “But somehow, someway it makes people giggle and I’m just standing there like, ‘What are you doing?’ When people are super enjoyable to be around, you want to see them smile. I guess I’m doing that for them.”

Assuming a last-second turn to a career in comedy doesn’t materialize, Tausaga pictures herself as a school counselor or social worker in the future.

And there’s a reason for that.

While Tausaga was succeeding on the track in high school, she said she was struggling to care in the classroom. She hated that feeling. And needed help to escape it.

Maria Garcia is the department chair of the counseling department at Mount Miguel High School, a place she’s been for the past 16 years.

Becoming a counselor was a calling to Garcia. She had been influenced by the educators who had changed the trajectory of her life, ensuring that she went to and graduated college. Garcia noticed Tausaga immediately during her first year of high school.

“She has a very vivacious personality and I saw that from the get-go in meeting her when she was a freshman,” Garcia said. “She’s someone who stood out to me as someone who had this infectious personality. In a room, she stands out. You see out in her competitive sport and she’s a beast. She’s focused, driven. But there’s this whole other side of her. She’s got a big heart. She’s a teddy bear and super comedic. She always had me laughing. You want to be around her.”

Tausaga remembers walking into Garcia’s office one day to find out a college was interested in her. Programs were seeing what Tausaga was doing in the ring. But Garcia stressed that academics were going to be just as crucial as Tausaga’s athletic performance.

“It took an adult, and I’m just one of them, who built a good relationship with her to really see her and let her know that I believe in you more than you see for yourself,” Garcia said.

By the end of Tausaga’s junior year, things started to click. Garcia helped Tausaga prepare for her ACT and arranged for her to retake classes she hadn’t performed well in during previous years. Garcia held Tausaga accountable.

Tausaga is thankful for Garcia’s impact on her life. She still visits her former counselor on her trips back to California. To hear that Tausaga is interested in becoming a school counselor and to know she’s a reason why, is why Garcia is in her line of work.

Part of why Tausaga works the way she does is because she’s still trying to make good on the opportunities people like Garcia made available to her. Earning her degree this May will accomplish one goal.

Another will have to wait until June.