As Oregon miler Elliott Cook turned the final corner of the 1500 meter race at Hayward Field, something began to happen.
Cook was heaving, stuck behind Northern Arizona University’s Colin Sahlman and South Carolina’s Anass Essayi. The race hadn’t gone to plan — he knew to expect a messy field, but he’d been forced into a situation he didn’t like, stuck on the rail for the opening laps and struggling for position.
But he was at home, and the crowd knew it. Cook made his move, and as Essayi fell away, he was side by side with Sahlman. His “kick” — the final burst of energy after nearly a mile run — was in full swing. With 100 meters to go, he was bearing down on the finish line. The crowd roared its approval, urging him forward.
Then another “kick” hit. Washington’s Joe Waskom, who trailed the pack for much of the final 400 meters, passed Essayi, then Sahlman, then met Cook at the finish line. As the two athletes hurled themselves past the mark, it would be Waskom who finished first, nine hundredths of a second ahead of Cook.
They exhaled.
It’s not unusual for athletes to feel the “Hayward magic”. It’s been talked about by just about everyone who’s run there. It’s the idea that the unusual — perhaps the improbable — can happen there, especially down the final straightaway.
On Friday, the magic was in Cook’s spikes.
“You guys heard when they announced my name,” he said after the race. “It’s an unbelievable feeling when you hear the whole stands erupt when they call your name, wearing the “O” on my chest, swinging that last 100 meters, making the moves that I did in that last 400. It was exciting because coming down that homestretch, everyone’s roaring.”
That advantage has benefited the Ducks’ athletes throughout the week, as the men and women of Oregon strive to add to the bulging trophy cabinet at Hayward Field. Each time a Duck is announced — be it national champion thrower Jaida Ross or decathlete Rafael Raap — an outsized roar is drawn from the spectators. It’s what’s pushing them into that final sprint.
But sometimes that “kick” takes a little longer.
Raap sat 18th place in the decathlon after the first day. “Definitely, day one was not what I wanted it to be,” he said. Crucially, though, the decathlon — a grueling ten-event competition — is competed over two days.
“Coming out here on the second day,” he said, “I motivated myself to start fresh and believe in myself and make sure that I put 100% out there, regardless of what happened yesterday. And I was able to do that every single time in every event, I just got more fired up, and more fired up.”
He’d have an incredible day in front of his home fans, setting collegiate personal-bests in four of five events on the day, including his final three events. He vaulted up the standings, 12 places into sixth and onto the podium. That’s his “kick”. And it, too, was made possible by the Hayward faithful.
After hoisting his trophy in the south end of Hayward Field, he made his way into the media zone. Grinning, he stepped into the crowd of home press alongside Ross, where the question emerged again.
“How important is running at home?”
He smiled. “It’s amazing, I mean — Hayward Field…it doesn’t get any better than that, and I felt that magic today. Especially in the [javelin], I had a moment where I got the crowd going and I put down a good mark…it felt so amazing.”
Raap (now eighth in Oregon decathlon history) and Cook were the lone two men of Oregon in the men’s finals. Their personal achievements will live on, and Cook will be back in two weeks to compete for a spot on the US Olympic team — Raap, who hails from the Netherlands, could compete in Paris as well. The pressing matter, though, is much more immediate.
On Saturday, there will be eleven Oregon women in position to win points for the Ducks. Oregon currently sits fourth, eleven points behind the Florida Gators. If they are going to bring another national title to Eugene, it’ll take a little more than everything they’ve got — their kick plus just a little more.
Luckily, they’ve got it. It’s called Hayward magic.
