Eighteenth birthdays are special, but for one area teen her 18th birthday will be extra special.
That’s because on Aug. 12 when Mariana Cress celebrates her birthday she’ll be doing it in Brazil as an Olympian, running in her heat of the 100 meter dash. And sure, some people are thinking they know all the members of the U.S.A. women’s track and field team and Cress is not one of them. That’s correct. Cress isn’t on the U.S. squad. She’s running for the blue, white and orange of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Just shy of 18-years-old and entering into her senior year of high school, Cress is the island nation’s top ranked sprinter. She has been representing the nation for a few years now, earning three bronze medals (100 meter, 200 meter and 4×100 relays) in the 2014 Micronesian Games in Pohnpei.
The Marshall Islands, with a population of just more than 53,000 and located halfway between Hawaii and Australia, is competing in the Olympics for just the third time. Cress has not set foot on the island, but her father was born in the islands, thus under international rules, Cress is eligible to represent the island chain. For Cress, who was a member of the 2015 state championship 4×100 relay team of Minneapolis’ Edison High School, it doesn’t matter how she made it to the Olympics, but that she made it to the Olympics. And now that she is going, reality is setting in.
“It didn’t really hit me until recently and I was sitting in my room by myself and I started crying and saying, ‘I’m really going to the Olympics,’” said the bubbly Cress.
Cress, whose best time in the 100 meter is 12.78 seconds, said her goals are not to win – though that would be nice – but to compete hard and positively represent the Marshall Islands and Minneapolis.
“I’m just excited to get the experience,” said Cress. “My goal is to break my personal record. I just want to have fun and meet other athletes. I want to meet Usain Bolt.”
Cress arrived in Brazil this past Sunday (July 31) and will be there until Aug. 24. Her mother, Briana Cress, will join her later in the week, stay for the race and depart a few days later. Briana Cress said she’s still in disbelief that her daughter is a soon-to-be Olympian.
“It’s kind of surreal. It’s monumental,” said Briana Cress.
The Marshall Islands is only sending a handful of athletes to compete in the 2016 Olympics and for Mariana Cress, her selection wasn’t a lock. She was pressed by an unlikely competitor.
“There was this girl who was a wrestler and she didn’t qualify in wrestling, so she switched to track and I’m like, ‘Oh no, she’s not about to take my spot,’” said Cress, who said her friends motivated her to train harder. “If I’m having a day when I’m not motivated they say, ‘Girl, you about to go to the Olympics. You better get out there and train.”
Mariana Cress isn’t the first Olympian in her family. Her father, Roman Cress, represented the Marshall Islands in the Olympics in 2008.
Beyond this year’s games, Cress hopes to earn a college track scholarship and four years from now compete in the 2020 games.
“Hopefully they’ll (Marshall Island Olympic Committee) send me again,” laughed Cress.
