For a year, Alyssa Wilson put her track & field dreams on hold. An NCAA title and a push to make the U.S. team for the Tokyo Olympics had to wait as the pandemic turned everything upside down.
Last month, as things finally began returning to normal, that dream was interrupted by nightmare.
The former Donovan Catholic High School superstar, now a senior at UCLA, spent 30 days is isolation— at first due to COVID contact tracing, and then because she came down with the virus and spent three miserable weeks coping with it.
“It was rough,” Wilson said. “I was totally alone in my room. I couldn’t leave at all. People would come and drop off three meals a day, knock on my door and leave.”
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The 10-time All-American never had a fever or shortness of breath, but endured other symptoms that were tough to kick duringthe first halfof March.
“I lost my sense of smell, I had headaches and I was super tired,” she said. “All I wanted to do was sleep, and that’s so unlike me. I definitely lost my appetite. I lost some weight because I wasn’t able to eat like I normally would.”
She’s finally back competing, but the results have been disappointing by her sky-high standards.
“I’m struggling right now,” she said. “Slowly, I’m starting to feel a little bit better.”
Toms River homecoming
Wilson, who owns the national high school shot put record, was a first-team All-American in three events as a sophom*ore at UCLA in 2019 —finishing as high as third place in the hammer. The pandemic curtailed her junior season when the NCAA shut everything down right before the indoor championships.
So Wilson returned home to Toms River and trained with younger sister Bryanna Wilson, now a Donovan Catholic senior who will compete at Monmouth University next year. She went backto UCLA in September and redshirted indoors as part of her preparation for the long run-up to the U.S. Olympic Trials, where she plans to compete in the discus and hammer.
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Stadium made off-limits to throwers
But there was a snag. Because the Pac-12 soccer season got postponed from the fall to the spring semester, and the Bruins’ soccer and track programs share the same facility (Drake Stadium), Wilson said the throwers were forbidden from using the stadium for practicing the discus, hammer and javelin the way they normally would during the winter months.
Those are not events that can readily be practiced indoors. So as a team captain, Wilson said, she unsuccessfully petitioned UCLA’s administrators to allow for a timeshare arrangement. As a recourse, Wilson said, the throwers began carpooling two hours to use a facility in San Clemente, Calif.
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Although the athletes get tested several times per week for COVID, Wilson said, she was exposed during one of those rides with teammate who would develop symptoms the following day.
Finally, in the lastweek of March, Wilsonwas cleared to compete. Over her first two meets she won six events, posting top throws of 52-6 in the shot put, 170-7 in the discus and 218-2 in the hammer at the Bob Larsen Track Meet. That earned her recognition as the Pac-12 Women’s Field Athlete of the Week, but the performances were below her usual standards. Hence the impetus to share her ordeal.
'What's wrong with you?'
“A lot of people have been asking, ‘What’s wrong with you?’” Wilson said. “I wanted to get this out there, to explain.”
There’s time to round into form. The Pac-12 Championship is five weeks away, the NCAA Championship takes place June 9-12, and the Olympic Trials are June 18-27 in Eugene, Ore.
“Even though I’m not throwing where I’d like to be throwing, hopefully I will be in the next month or so,” said Wilson, who is on pace to earn apsychology degree in December but plans to compete forUCLA throughthe spring of 2022. “It’s nice to be out there competing again, and it does feel relaxing to know things are somewhat getting back to normal.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him atjcarino@gannettnj.com.
