University Southern California Trojans
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Sprints
/ Track & Field
Getting To Know Eric Allen Jr.
February 20, 2019 | Track & Field, Features
Freshman Eric Allen Jr. has had a strong indoor campaign, including setting the USC freshman record in the indoor 200m dash. He is expected to be a big part of the Trojan sprint corps moving forward. We had a chance to sit down with the Geoscience major this week.
Q - How have you been enjoying USC so far?
E.A - I love it, this is my home away from home. I come from Maryland – that's a five and a half hour flight, 2000 miles, and I don't miss it at all. I love USC.
Q - What has been the biggest adjustment since coming from Maryland?
E.A. - Probably being self-reliant. My parents won't always be there to fall back on, and I have to be independent with being on top of my work, motivating myself in school, practice, et cetera.
Q - Your 200 meter time (20.63) at the Texas Tech Classic set a USC Freshman record and ranks fifth-best all time for USC. How does it feel to already have these achievements under your belt so early in your college career?
E.A. - It feels great. In my mind, I knew that I was going to run something special that day. It's a great achievement, but I have more to accomplish
Q - Do you think that having that race behind you will be a help going forward in the season?
E.A. - Oh, absolutely, it's a real big confidence booster. It showed me that I could compete with anybody on the NCAA level.
Q - How do you prepare for races? Do you have a specific routine you follow the day before or day of?
E.A. - No, my routine is pretty simple. Lunch… I don't really contact anybody, I'm not really on social media. I like to watch The Dark Knight the night before a competition, and on the day of a competition I'll just listen to music, I don't watch TV. When I warm up, I'm pretty quiet, just focusing, getting ready to compete.
Q - Do you have a preference for running indoors versus running outdoors?
E.A. - Living in Maryland, at first I hated indoor track, like really, really hated it. Then, I guess I got to liking it, but outdoor is way better than indoor.
Q - Are you planning on continuing to run track after graduation?
E.A. - Oh, absolutely, that's the plan. I have big aspirations for the Olympics and world championships after college.
Q - Your bio mentions that someday you want to go storm chasing in tornado alley. What inspired that?
E.A. - Well, meteorology has been a passion of mine since I was seven or eight years old. And one of the TV shows that was around during 2008 or 2009 was called Storm Chasers. On that show they basically chased these violent storms in the Plains and in the South, and I was very intrigued. And then my passion for meteorology just grew through the years. It's just neat to love a field that you can never stop learning about. You can learn something new every day, and every storm is different in its own way.
Q - What is your proudest achievement from high school?
E.A. - I would say it's either my U.S. No. 2 all-time 300m run of 32.84 or it's my U.S. No 4 all-time 200m indoors, 20.91. It's a toss-up between those, but outside of races, I think my greatest achievement was helping build the Bullis Track and Field team, which just broke two high school national records in January in the 4x200m and the 4x400m relays.
Q - What are you most looking forward to for the rest of this season?
E.A. - To competing and winning a national title!
Q - How have you been enjoying USC so far?
E.A - I love it, this is my home away from home. I come from Maryland – that's a five and a half hour flight, 2000 miles, and I don't miss it at all. I love USC.
Q - What has been the biggest adjustment since coming from Maryland?
E.A. - Probably being self-reliant. My parents won't always be there to fall back on, and I have to be independent with being on top of my work, motivating myself in school, practice, et cetera.
Q - Your 200 meter time (20.63) at the Texas Tech Classic set a USC Freshman record and ranks fifth-best all time for USC. How does it feel to already have these achievements under your belt so early in your college career?
E.A. - It feels great. In my mind, I knew that I was going to run something special that day. It's a great achievement, but I have more to accomplish
Q - Do you think that having that race behind you will be a help going forward in the season?
E.A. - Oh, absolutely, it's a real big confidence booster. It showed me that I could compete with anybody on the NCAA level.
Q - How do you prepare for races? Do you have a specific routine you follow the day before or day of?
E.A. - No, my routine is pretty simple. Lunch… I don't really contact anybody, I'm not really on social media. I like to watch The Dark Knight the night before a competition, and on the day of a competition I'll just listen to music, I don't watch TV. When I warm up, I'm pretty quiet, just focusing, getting ready to compete.
Q - Do you have a preference for running indoors versus running outdoors?
E.A. - Living in Maryland, at first I hated indoor track, like really, really hated it. Then, I guess I got to liking it, but outdoor is way better than indoor.
Q - Are you planning on continuing to run track after graduation?
E.A. - Oh, absolutely, that's the plan. I have big aspirations for the Olympics and world championships after college.
Q - Your bio mentions that someday you want to go storm chasing in tornado alley. What inspired that?
E.A. - Well, meteorology has been a passion of mine since I was seven or eight years old. And one of the TV shows that was around during 2008 or 2009 was called Storm Chasers. On that show they basically chased these violent storms in the Plains and in the South, and I was very intrigued. And then my passion for meteorology just grew through the years. It's just neat to love a field that you can never stop learning about. You can learn something new every day, and every storm is different in its own way.
Q - What is your proudest achievement from high school?
E.A. - I would say it's either my U.S. No. 2 all-time 300m run of 32.84 or it's my U.S. No 4 all-time 200m indoors, 20.91. It's a toss-up between those, but outside of races, I think my greatest achievement was helping build the Bullis Track and Field team, which just broke two high school national records in January in the 4x200m and the 4x400m relays.
Q - What are you most looking forward to for the rest of this season?
E.A. - To competing and winning a national title!
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