One week after her runner-up finish in discus at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, former Hawkeye thrower Laulauga Tausaga will compete in the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon, on Friday.

The 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials will be held at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus from June 18-27. Tausaga previously qualified to take part in the trials in 2020 but could not compete as COVID-19 pushed the trials to 2021.

“She’s one of the top discus throwers in the U.S. and she’s also one of the top shot putters in the U.S.,” University of Iowa director of track and field Joey Woody said. “So she’s got a really good chance of competing to make the [Olympic] team… It just really comes down to her staying focused on herself, and just continuing to compete at a high level the way she’s done all year.”

Tausaga recently closed the book on her collegiate track and field career — her last meet as a Hawkeye came June 9-12 at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

As a fifth-year senior, Tausaga took advantage of the NCAA’s extra year of eligibility for 2020 spring sport athletes, returning to Iowa track and field for a final season in 2021.

RELATED: ‘Unfinished business’ brings senior thrower Laulauga Tausaga back to NCAA Championships

In 2019, the Spring Valley, California, native became the first Hawkeye NCAA Champion in 16 years, winning the women’s discus title with a 63.26-meter throw.

In 2021, she could not defend her title, coming in second place in discus at the NCAA Championships with a throw of 63.53 meters. Tausaga led the field for the majority of the event, but Arizona State thrower Jorinde Van Klinken threw an NCAA Championships-record 65.01 meters.

But Tausaga picked up two final first-team All-America honors at the event — placing sixth in the shot put with a 17.29-meter throw — making her a 10-time All-American throughout her five-year collegiate career.

Now, Tausaga is preparing for a professional career after Iowa track and field.

“It is probably the scariest thing,” Tausaga said. “I feel like college sports are so great because they kind of take you by the hand and they take you everywhere. You don’t have to worry about, ‘Oh, travel,’ or, ‘Oh, this and that.’ They take [care of that], and they take of you with that. And so like now, it’s not just that I have to compete, but I have to be an adult when I’m competing.”

RELATED: Tausaga clinches second place in discus, Iowa men’s track and field finishes 12th in NCAA Outdoor Championships

Starting on Friday, Tausaga will step into her first professional track and field event with her collegiate career fully behind her. But the former Hawkeye has international competition experience as she competed at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, in 2019, placing 12th overall with a throw of 63.94 meters.

“I think I would be a little bit more nervous if I didn’t have a world championship under my belt,” Tausaga said. “But I’m just excited to go against these women again, because you can only get better by competing against women who are better than you. And I can only get better from them, so obviously it’s kind of the same mindset as going in there and doing the best you can and taking in the beauty of the fact that you actually belong there.”

Tausaga has already competed in Qatar, Belarus, Mexico, and Peru in her young track career. If Tausaga qualifies for the 2020 Olympics, she will head to Tokyo July 23-August 8 to compete for the United States.

“I’m excited to see where it will take me internationally,” Tausaga said. “If I’m able to get out of the country and visit places that I’ve never been to before, all because of this amazing sport that got me to college, I’m just really excited to see where it takes me in the future.”