Details

Written by Dave Hunter

Category: Event Coverage

Published: 02 July 2022

The Men's 110m hurdles, USATF Outdoors, photo by Kevin Morris

Eugene, Oregon

University of Oregon / Hayward Field

June 26th, 2022

As is often the case, the final day of the 2022 USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships offered a crescendo of performances as the USA assembled its best to represent America in the World Championships to be held on this same Hayward Field track in mid-July. Here are the highlights from the fourth and final day.

Read more: USATF / Day Four: USA’s Assembled Team Is Ready!

Details

Written by Dave Hunter

Category: Event Coverage

Published: 01 July 2022

McLaughlin’s 51.41 WR Highlights Amazing Day

Sydney McLaughlin, USATF Outdoor Track and Field Championships

Hayward Field, University of Oregon, June 23-26, 2022, photo by Kevin Morris

Eugene, Oregon

University of Oregon / Hayward Field

June 25th, 2022

On a sun-drenched, cloudless day presenting accommodating conditions to run, jump, or throw, America’s most accomplished athletic performers delivered a cornucopia of outstanding performances on the track and on the field.

The most stunning event on this special day was provided by Sydney McLaughlin and her world-record performance in the final of the women’s 400m hurdles. While her victory was widely anticipated, breaking her own world record really had not been given wide consideration. As the reigning Olympic champion crossed the line, the Hayward Field crowd roared as her time – 51.41 – was displayed on the board. Her clocking today is a 5-second improvement on the global best she set at the Tokyo Games.

But McLaughlin’s new global best was not the sole cause for excitement. Here are some of the other happenings that the Hayward Field fans savored.

Read more: USATF / Day Three: Glorious Performances

Details

Written by Dave Hunter

Category: Event Coverage

Published: 29 June 2022

Eugene, Oregon

University of Oregon

Hayward Field

June 24th, 2022

Frank Shorter, gold and silver Olympic medalist in the marathon, has long been attributed to the saying, “You can’t run away from speed.” It was the Yalie’s way of saying that on the track or in the field or even on the roads you cannot escape the need for speed, the need to be able to accelerate your pace, to step on the gas, to meet the challenge of your competitors. Here in Eugene, those in Hayward Field had the opportunity in Day Two of the USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships to witness in action four tremendous athletes who clearly live by that credo and can really dish out the speed.

Read more: USATF / Day Two: Focus On Speed

Details

Written by Dave Hunter

Category: Event Coverage

Published: 28 June 2022

USATF Outdoor Track and Field Championships held

Hayward Field, University of Oregon

June 23rd, 2022

Mu, McLaughlin, Norman, and Kerley Look Unbeatable

A good number of track & field fans attending the USATF outdoor track & field championships may be crestfallen after first reviewing the Day One start list. Day One features only 3 championship finals. Of course, the Under 20 meeting is also simultaneously taking place at Hayward Field. And while the U20 activity offers “Coming Attractions” for our sport, it presently does not have anything like the world championship qualifying drama that accompanies the USATF national championship meet as athletes pursue their goal of securing world championship berths. But not to worry. For many – the athletes and the fans – their Day One attention will be focused on the preliminary activity – “the Rounds.”

Of course, the athletes’ most important goal in the preliminaries is to advance and to ultimately earn a spot in the finals. But the rounds offer more than that. For the competitors, the early, non-final competitions provide an array of helpful opportunities – a chance for the sprinter to see if that new and much-practiced starting technique really does provide a better opening surge in the heat of genuine competition; an opportunity for the jumpers to test that runway or apron and get those all-important steps just right in a bona fide competition; an experience for middle distance racers to not only test-drive a new race strategy but also to see how that healing hamstring fares in an actual race. And in the non-sprint events, athletes are given the opportunity to gain insight into the race strategies of their competitors that can be quite helpful in later, more important rounds. And finally, all of these nuanced observations are also available to coaches, spectators, and other competitors.

So for all at the other-worldly Hayward Field, sit back in your new comfortably- padded chair, complete with cup holder, and enjoy the opening rounds and all they can reveal.

Read more: USATF / Day One: Navigating The Rounds

Details

Written by Dave Hunter

Category: Event Coverage

Published: 20 June 2022

Abby Steiner, KU, lo 1.jpeg

Abby Steiner took 3rd in the 100m, won the 200m in WL (21.80) and anchored Kentucky to the 4x400m title! Who said 100/200 can't run the 400m? photo by Cierra Hitner

Shining Moments Abound

Eugene, Oregon

University of Oregon

Hayward Field

June 11th, 2022

Coming on the heels of the men's terrific finals the day before, the NCAA women were given center stage to show what they could do on the concluding day of the 100th anniversary NCAA collegiate outdoor track & field championships. And they didn't disappoint.

Read more: NCAA / Women / Day Four: Florida Gators Run the Team Title Table

Details

Written by Dave Hunter

Category: Event Coverage

Published: 19 June 2022

Florida lo .jpeg

Florida celebrates their 2022 NCAA Men's victory! photo by Kevin Neri

Eugene, Oregon

Univeristy of Oregon

Haywatd Field

June 10th, 2022

This is the day the men have been waiting for. Those athletes who have worked, have trained, have met qualifying standards, and have made it through regional competition and preliminary rounds in this championship setting know today is the day. It is the day to focus and to perform at your highest level.

With points being earned today in the 14 remaining men's events, here are the current standings of the top schools in the race for the team title heading into this final NCAA Championship session for the men: Tennessee 21 points; Texas 20 points; Florida State 16 points; Princeton 15 points; Arkansas 12 points.

On the men's final day of the competition, here are some of the truly stunning performances:

Read more: NCAA Men: Gators Romp as Florida's Fanbulleh Snags Sprint Double!

Details

Written by Dave Hunter

Category: Event Coverage

Published: 18 June 2022

Camryn Rogers, Hammer throw Champion (set a Canadian NR as well), 2022 NCAA Champs, June 9, 2022, photo by

Kevin Neri

Eugene, Oregon

Hayward Field

University of Oregon

June 9th, 2022

After the performance of the men on Day One, which, among other things, featured a gripping pole vault competition that resulted in a new national record; a buzzer-beating 6th-round winning heave in the shot put; and a dramatic 10,000-meter race in the sole track final of the opening day, it was time for the women to take center stage. Could they match the excitement the men had provided? No problem. The collegiate women are exceptionally talented, are poised and at the moment, and are tough as nails. While there were many notable moments on Day Two, here are four athletes who truly stood out:

Read more: NCAA / Day Two: Exceptional Women; Outstanding Performances

Details

Written by Dave Hunter

Category: Event Coverage

Published: 17 June 2022

M10,000m, Cierra Hitner.jpeg

Dylan Jacobs, (Notre Dame) used a 55.45 last lap to hold off Alex Maier (Oklahoma State) to take the Men's 10,000m, June 8, 2022, photo by Cierra Hitner

Without question, the collegiate track & field championships are exciting, hard-fought contests. But one of the special and rare aspects of these gatherings is the quest for the team title. Global championships aside, most professional meets are all about individual performances - individual athletes focusing on running the fastest, jumping the highest, and throwing the farthest. There are no team titles in the Diamond League. But at this NCAA championship meet, there is a duality. The collegians, of course, want to perform at their best. But they also want to ring up points for their alma mater, to contribute to the ultimate goal: for their school to take home that coveted national championship trophy.

Read more: Men's NCAA / Day One /10,000m: Attempted Larceny Foiled

Details

Written by Dave Hunter

Category: Track

Published: 02 June 2022

Nick Willis lolo 3.jpeg

Nick Willis, 2020 New Balance Indoor GP, photo by Mike Deering / The Shoe Addicts

June 1, 2022

It is difficult to become a professional athlete. Aspiring athletes in all sports must perform at a very high level to even enter the professional ranks. Once there, all athletes face the difficult task of maintaining - or improving - their performance level. Most eventually find it too difficult over time. That is why professional athletes who miraculously maintain that superior performance level over extended periods of time are rare indeed. Oh, there are a few: consider football's Tom Brady (7 Super Bowl rings; widely considered as the greatest of all time; going strong at age 44)); basketball's LeBron James (the 37-year-old James has 4 NBA Championship rings; is definitely in the conversation for NBA's G.O.A.T, and will become NBA's all-time leading scorer next year - his 20th NBA season) and baseball's Cal Ripken (31 year MLB career; holds MLB record of competing in 2,632 consecutive games). And worthy of joining that select company of long-enduring, high-performing athletes is a well-accomplished track & field middle-distance specialist: New Zealand's Nick Willis.

Read more: Nick Willis: His Enduring Career

Details

Written by Dave Hunter

Category: Field

Published: 15 May 2022

Olympic Gold Medalist Katie Nageotte Is A Steely Performer

Katie Nageotte PV lo 1.jpeg

Katie Nageotte, 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, photo by Kevin Morris / @kevmofoto

May 2022

We've all seen it before: the game-winning field goal with no time left; the late-inning walk-off homer; the Game 7 buzzer-beater. Those game-ending come-from-behind victories comprise some of the most exciting moments in all of sport. And, yes, track & field has those electrifying moments as well: a stirring anchor leg; a torrid finishing kick; or a final round throw or jump that lifts a down-and-out field athlete to the top step of the podium. Katie Nageotte, USA's Olympic gold medalist in the women's pole vault, has been there. But she first had to travel a pathway that featured disappointment, courage, revamping, and self-confidence.

Read more: Vaulting Hot While Staying Cool