Raevyn Rogers’ race-day makeup takes many meanings

Posted on May 31, 2017

Originally Posted on Emerald Media via UWIRE

Look good, feel good, run good.

That’s why Raevyn Rogers dedicates an hour and a half of her pre-race routine to work on her appearance. The Oregon 800-meter specialist usually straightens her hair for a superhero effect, contours her face, attaches eyelashes and applies a dark lipstick color – dark green is her favorite – to channel her inner warrior.

Ever since Rogers won her first NCAA title two years ago donning a flower crown, the four-time NCAA 800-meter champion has kept the winner’s crown sitting pretty on her hair. Sometimes it is afro-like, other times it is straight as a ruler and reaches her hip.

Raevyn Rogers’ style has evolved throughout her collegiate career. From left to right: 2015, 2016, 2017. (Photos from Emerald archives)

Rogers didn’t always know how to channel her feminism while exploring her athletic passion. When she first started running fast in middle school, someone passed a comment likening her to a boy because she was good at what she did.

That prompted Rogers to look up how to be “girlier,” which led her to adopt pink as her favorite color and attempt to match her eyeshadow with her clothes.

“That’s an issue as far as girls being good in whatever sport they do and then being compared to a guy,” Rogers said.

Then there’s the conundrum that female athletes face when they put effort into channeling their feminism. Rogers tweeted a photo of the 4×400-meter relay team at Florida Relays, in which she and her teammates Elexis Guster and Makenzie Dunmore boasted dark lipstick colors and had on a full face of makeup. A male Twitter user marveled at how the women “had their face beat” just for a race.