Olivia Hudson has participated in track and field for nearly half of her lifetime, so there isn’t much out there that’s new to the Oberlin star.
Except this year. The difference now that she’s a junior is that big brother no longer is watching.
Olivia and older brother Evan were brought up in a track and field family that also includes parents Jason and Virginia. Both parents competed in the sport for the College of Wooster, and Jason is the head track and field coach at Cleveland State after a stint at Oberlin College. Jason also is the head coach of the Oberlin Spikes, a youth track club that his children were participants.
There’s been lots of success for the siblings, highlighted by both winning individual state titles last year in the Division III 400 meters. Evan also won the 200 and was second in the 100, while Olivia was sixth in the 200 and anchored the Phoenix to a fourth-place finish in the 4×200 relay.
But now that Evan has moved on to the University of Notre Dame, things are different.
“It’s definitely weird,” said Olivia. “I would always, after my 400, wait and watch his 400. Or, after my 200, I would watch his 200. So, it’s going to be weird. We can’t, like, win again together.”
Sad, but true. But that doesn’t mean Olivia can’t keep the Hudson train rolling.
“It’s early in the season, but from what I saw indoors, I don’t think it’s affecting her,” said Oberlin coach Rodney Hooks. “It probably feels different for her because he’s not here. They were together for two years on the high school team, and the high school and the middle school teams all practice together, so it’s been a while. But I don’t think it’s going to affect her.”
If the indoor season is any indication, Hooks is right. Hudson led Oberlin to the state team title in the Division IV indoor state meet, anchoring the winning 4×400 relay (she made up a gap of more than 40 meters before crossing the line first) and placing second in her favorite race, the 400. The Phoenix also won the 4×200 relay using a lineup without Hudson as Oberlin totaled 42 points to 34 for runner-up Rittman.
Now that the outdoor season is just getting underway, Hudson is looking forward to more success, both for herself individually and for the team as the state meet returns to Ohio State University after one year in Dayton.
“I just want to get faster, really,” she said when asked about her goals. “I just want to bring my times down. I’m excited for the state meet to be back at Jesse Owens. And I’m excited for the amount of people we have and how we can get more people to the state meet.”
If the Phoenix are able to build upon their indoor success and make a run at the outdoor state championship, it will be with Hudson leading the way, something else that is new this season.
“We’ve always had a young team, so we’ve never had a captain,” said Hooks. “We would just do things together, collectively. But this year, I made her captain of the team, and she’s really just starting to get into it. This year is different for her. She’s leading the pack, she’s setting a standard, and that’s what we need. She’s not going to be that vocal, but she is going to lead by example. So far, she’s been a great leader.”
Last year, Oberlin had five individuals compete at the state meet and all of them were sophomores. That would be reason enough for optimism. But this year there has been an influx of talent in the freshman class, which makes Hudson’s leadership all the more important. Winning the indoor state title is something that Hooks hopes will spark a new level for the program, one that ultimately could result in an outdoor state championship.
“(Winning indoors has) been positive,” he said. “It reinforces what I’ve been telling them for a few years, that the Hudson’s are not the only ones who can go to state. I don’t say that in a bad way, but I see talent and I say, ‘Look, you can do this, you can do this.’ Now that we won indoors, I feel like the confidence is behind them, which is what I like about them. They’re more confident.
“If we stay healthy and we continue to work hard, we’re going to try to make another run.”
Hudson sees things the same way as her coach.
“I think overall, a lot of people are definitely more excited for the outdoor season,” she said. “I feel like it gives more motivation that once we get outdoors and once we start competing, we can do bigger things outdoors than we did indoors. If we can get a lot more people than we did last year to the outdoor state meet, that would be great. We want to get our relays down and also individual stuff. And then, just go place as high as we can as a team.”
