Olympic Trials Highlights July 6-10, 2016 Eugene, Oregon

First, let me give my regrets for getting this out so long after the trials is completed.  We returned home and I am just now wrapping this up.  In any case, thanks for checking back in!

Women’s 3000 Meter Steeplechase

Emma Coburn was the class of the women’s steeplechase.  She took over with 3 laps to go and won in a trials record time of 9:17.48.  Courtney Frerichs of New Mexico and Colleen Quigley of Florida State were second and third, making their first Olympic team.  Ohio’s Bridget Franek, a member of the US team in London, dropped off the pace with a little over 3 laps to go was not able to repeat as an Olympian.

Women’s Shot Put

Michelle Carter won the shot put.  Carter threw her best on her third attempt with a 64-3’1/4.  This was her seventh US title and third Olympic team.  Seven women had throws of 60 feet or better - the most in trials history.

Women’s 100 Meter Hurdles

Sixteen year old Chanel Brisset, of Wynncote, PA. equalled the third best time in US high school  history with a 12.95 qualifying race.  She advanced to the finals.  The women’s 100 meter hurdle final was the fastest in Olympic trials history as the top six finishers ran 12.62 or better.

Men’s 200 Meters

Noah Lyles, a high school runner from Alexandria, VA ran the fastest ever 200 meters with a 20.04 to qualify for the final.

In the final, Justin Gatlin, running in lane 8, beat a younger field with a 19.75.  LaShawn Merritt placed second, in 19.79 followed by Ameer Webb in 3rd for his first Olympic team.  Noah Lyles ran 20.09 for 4th.

Women’s 5000 Meters

In the first round of qualifying, Molly Huddle had the fastest time in 15:26.33, followed by Conley, Mackey, Taylor, Houlahan, Tully, Ostrander, Emily Infeld of Ohio, Sara Hall of Redding, CA., Hall, D’Agustino, Tebo, and Welling.  Angela  Bizzari of Nike and formerly of Mason High School in Ohio did not advance.

Men’s 1500 Meters

In the first round Craig Engles had the best qualifying time of 3:41.92.  Avila, Blankenship, Winn, Manzano, Colby Alexander of Strongsville, Ohio, Crawford, Wheating, Centrowitz, and McNamara all advanced.  In the semis, Ben Blankenship led all qualifiers with a 3:44.24.  Oregon alums Matt Centrowitz, Colby Alexander, Daniel Winn, Andrew Wheating, Jordan McNamara, and Johnny Gregorek all advanced to the final.  The final was not decided until the final 200 meters when Matt Centrowitz put on a beautiful fluid sprint to win in 3:34.09.  Robby Andrews put on a kick of his own to finish in second in 3:34.88.  Ben Blankenship had to outkick Manzano for third in 3:36.18 for the final spot on the Olympic team.

Men’s 3000 Meter Steeplechase

Evan Jager and Donn Cabral made their second Olympic team and earned a trip to Rio in the steeple.  Jager took the lead after the 3rd lap and kept it to the finish line in 8:22.48.  Cabral ended  up third.  Hillary Bor moved from 5th to 2nd from the final water barrier to make the Olympic team.

Mens’s 5000 Meters

A Hayward Field crowd of 22,847 was anxiously awaiting the final of the men’s 5000 under perfect sunny skies.  McGorty took off after 2+ laps.  Shrader ran after him and caught him within a half lap.  The two of them forged the pace and opened up a 30+ meter lead at one point.  Galen Rupp took off after them and reeled them in to the roar of the Oregon fans.  After a few laps with Rupp pushing the pace, it was obvious that the chase pack was closing on all three leaders.  After a few laps, the chase pack of 6 or 7 caught them all, including Rupp!  Now the race was on for the three spots on the Olympic team!  The crowd was in a frenzy.  Bernard Lagat was in 6th place with a lap to go.  He was in 2nd with 200 meters to go.  HIs final lap of 52.82 passed leader Paul Chelimo to win in 13:35.50. The 41 year old Lagat made his third Olympic team in this event.  Hassan Mead, a former Minnesota Golden Gopher, who runs for Nike Elite now, finished second in 13:35.70.  Chelimo, of the US Army, took the lead from Galen Rupp (who faded to 9th) with 300 meters to go for a 13:35.92.  UO alum Eric Jenkins was 4th by 6/100 of a second - the closest  fouth place finish in the 5000 in trials history. 

Men’s 110 Hurdles Final

Devon Allen, Oregon redshirt sophomore, attacked the hurdles.  Allen, an Oregon wide receiver on the football team, ran 13.03 to win.  It was the first time since 1956 that the college champion won the Olympic Trials in the same year.  Ronnie Ash and Jeff Porter, 13.21, finished second and third to make their first Olympic teams.  Aries Merritt and Jason Richardson, two favorites, did not make the team.

Off the Track

Bud and Jim introduced us to Kelly Green from Burton, Ohio.  Kelly is a former Kent State 800 meter runner.  Kelly joined us in the cafeteria from time to time.  We bought an extra ticket from Kelly when son-in-law and daughter Brett and Betsy came up to Eugene.

We ran into the Austintown trio of Rich Kempe, Bob Lunn, and Andy Sasson in the exposition area behind the west grandstand.  In addition to running against these guys in high school, all three ran at Mount Union with Lunn transferring to Bowling Green after his freshman year. We reminisced about running summer races at Goodyear Park in Akron in the summer between high school seasons.

Hal and I met Marc Hunter and Larry Coy and their wives in the exposition area one afternoon.  Along with these two, Guy Abrogast, Terry Williams, Kevin Ryan, Tom Tepley, Nate Ritchie and Bob Lunn were also there.  Another time, I met up with Marc again and was able to visit with his son Drew who had just signed a pro contract witih Adidas. 

During one meal, a young lady stopped by and asked if I was who I appeared to be (in consideration of the beard).  It was a former track standout from Cloverleaf - Kelanie Nuckols!  While not a distance runner, she was on the Cloverleaf track teams during the time I worked with the distance runners.  Kelanie is entering her senior year at Mt. Union and is a volunteer for the trials.  We had a good time catching up and were able to visit often with Kelanie during the trials.

We saw Matt McGowan (Ohio Northern distance runner and publisher of the RUNOhio Magazine) every night in the cafeteria.  Matt was probably my closest rival throughout my four years at Wooster.  This rivalry began with my first college cross country meet and ended at the OAC Track Meet our senior year.  He gave me a RUNOhio shirt, which has become a trials tradition.  I proudly wore my new shrit the next day.  

Jim, Teare, Hal, Barb and I went to the Wild Duck where we had a chance to meet Ed Carruthers ( 3rd in ’68 HJ), John Carlos, (2nd ’68 200m), and Craig Virgin (3 time Olympian in the 10,000m.  He was on multiple world cross country teams.  We visited with Craig who told me he is still in Lebanon, IL.  Terry Hart, our Michigan friend (and former Michigan pole vaulter) was there along with Martin Nolasko (former college runner and Humolt Toad road racer).  We ran into McGowan and other RunOhio folks and we surrounded Terry with our Ohio State and Run Ohio shirts on for a “Lonely Wolverine” photo.

Craig Virgin was there again when we returned with brothers Jim and Art.  Tim Breiner (College of Wooster), and his friend Pete were there as well as Terry Hart and Martin.  Craig followed me back to our table where he proceded to tell old Big 10 track stories involving people that a lot of us recognized.  One of the stories Craig recalled was when Tom Byers of Ohio State was hired as a rabbit for a mile in Oslo.  Tom did his job leading through 1200 meters.  Nobody was staying up with him and Tom kept running instead of stepping off the track and went on to win despite a furious closing kick by Steve Ovet from Great Britain.  Craig added “Tom and Steve did not hang out after that”!

Westfield friend and track official Julie Gauvreau stopped by the cafeteria one night with Tommy Dann.  Tom, (a former Wittenberg runner,) and I had some close races in college.  It was great to see Tom and catch up after all these years. 

Going back to the Eugene Olympic Trials of 2008, we have come to know a guy by the name of Dave Casper.  Dave always wears a Mt. Sac Relays hat and is a fixture at the trials.  His friendly personality and love of the sport make him a great guy to visit with in the cafeteria - where he likes to linger and make his rounds.  We recently learned that Dave was national class in two events in the 1950’s.  He was one of the top contenders in the 400 hurdles and he was also a 1:47 880 runner in 1955.  Dave showed us photos of his family and he liked to play track trivia with me.  One day he showed me a photo of three runners in an indoor race.  Two were immediately recognizable as Steve Prefontaine and Frank Shorter.  He challenged me to come up with the third guy in the photo who was leading at the time.  Well this was easy because I had just been talking to the very same guy an hour earlier …. Terry Williams.  Dave’s jaw dropped and the trivia game was over.

Speaking of incredible coincidences, as Teare and I were about to board our flight in San Francisco, who should be on the same plane but our new friend Kelly Green of Burton, Ohio!  Not only was she on the same plane, but she assigned to the seat next to us!  This resulted in a five crowns card game that took us across much of the USA!

In addition to the people we met, we all were able to get exercise via walking the campus or to the trials events.  For the walkers and runners in the group, we had the bike trails and Pre’s bark chip running trail just down the street and across the river.  One day, Teare and I rented bikes and went on a couple rides on the river trails.  Kelanie Nuckols joined us for a ride that same afternoon.

In Conclusion

Our Lighthouse adventure, including the drive across America and Olympic trials has come to an end.  We had a great time during every phase of this trip and were glad to have you along!

For those of you who stayed for the trials reports, I hope you enjoyed them as well!  Our best to all and we hope you enjoy planning whatever makes your tail wag!

Bill and Teare