As the countdown to the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials reaches two days, Oregon students and Eugene residents will have their own hometown favorites to cheer on. For the first time since the likes of Bill McChesney Jr. and Leann Warren stole the show in 1980, a group of Oregon Ducks will be competing at Hayward Field for the right to go to Beijing as a member of the U.S. Olympic team.
Five Ducks – Andrew Wheating, Ashton Eaton, Galen Rupp, Nicole Blood and Rachel Yurkovich – have already been accepted into the meet, with two more – A.J. Acosta and Jordan McNamara – on the bubble. Oregon head coach Vin Lananna said Monday he thought Acosta would get in. McNamara is unlikely to be selected.
The athletes will try to become the first Ducks to make a U.S. Olympic team as students since McChesney, Tom Hintnaus and Alberto Salazar in 1980.
Rachel Yurkovich
The javelin thrower from Newberg, Ore., just finished her best campaign yet for the Ducks. After sweeping the Pac-10 and West Region championships for the third year in a row, Yurkovich broke through two weeks ago at the NCAA Championships, winning her first national title with a throw of 185 feet, 7 inches.
She will enter the Trials with confidence knowing she can be competitive with the best, but knows that the Olympic Trials will be different from the NCAA meet.
“Knowing I can beat people that are ahead of me, that made me a little more comfortable, but other than that, it’s a completely different atmosphere, it’s completely different people and a different level,” she said.
Yurkovich, the school and Pac-10 record holder in the javelin with her mark of 191-1 from the Oregon Relays this year, has the fourth best throw in the U.S. this year.
In order to make the Olympic team, Yurkovich will need to meet the Olympic ‘A’ standard of 198-6.
“I hope it works out and I hope that everyone in the stands and the atmosphere can help, but what happens happens,” she said.
She has had many of her best throws at Hayward Field. Both her Oregon and Pac-10 record of 191-1 and her national high school record of 176-5 from 2005 were set here.
The women’s javelin competition starts with the qualifying rounds Saturday at 12:45 p.m. The final will be Monday night at 8:20 p.m.
Nicole Blood
Nicole Blood has been looking forward to this moment for years.
“I remember running as a sophomore in high school,” the Duck sophomore said. “My 1,500 was a 4:24 and I was like, ‘Oh, I only need seven seconds to take off,’ and you never knew. It was a dream, really, and for this dream to become a reality is just huge. It’s so exciting and I can’t wait for the opportunity to race out here.”
Having met the qualifying standard in both the 1,500m and 5,000m, Blood has a choice of events, though she said she’s leaning toward the 5,000m.
Her personal best in the 5,000m of 15:43.82 is the fourth-best in school history and the fastest by a Duck in 20 years. Her 1,500m time of 4:14.73 also ranks fourth and is the best in 24 years.
She placed third at the NCAA Championships two weeks ago with her second-fastest time of the year and is bringing that confidence into the Olympic Trials.
“I’m ready to run a faster time, I think I’m capable of it,” Blood said. “NCAAs, I was relaxed the whole race, but I pressed too much that last lap, so I learned another lesson.”
The women’s 5,000m semifinals are June 30, with the final scheduled for July 4. If all goes according to plan, Blood hopes to be in that field.
“The goal is to make the final, which is no easy task,” she said. “I think if I run what I’m capable of running I think I can make the final and gain a great experience from it.”
Ashton Eaton
It took Ashton Eaton almost a day after his win in the NCAA decathlon to realize he wouldn’t be returning to Eugene just to relax.
After sorting through dozens of text messages and missed calls to his cell phone, he realized his season would be extended by at least two weeks.
“I got that (‘A’ standard) and I was like ‘Wow … I actually get to compete at these Trials.’ That’s crazy to me,” said Eaton, who set a personal best by scoring 8,055 points two weeks ago in Iowa.
Last June, Eaton placed third in the decathlon and second in the long jump at the U.S. Junior Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis. He entered the 2008 season with a personal best of 6,977 before winning the Pacific-10 Conference decathlon with a score of 7,604. He is also an NCAA Championships qualifier in the long jump, 4×100 and 4×400-meter relays.
At the Nike Elite decathlon held at Sacramento State University in March, only 18 months after first learning the decathlon, Eaton put together the second-best performance ever by an American in the decathlon’s four running events, scoring 3,590 points. Fellow Oregonian Dan O’Brien holds the record of 3,656 set in 1991.
Even in Eugene, he believes, or at least hopes, he’ll be out of the professionals’ spotlight.
“I guarantee they don’t know who I am yet,” Eaton said. “But that’s the position I like to be in.”
Third place at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials was 8,312 points.
The decathlon begins Sunday at 10 a.m. and finishes Monday night around 8:30 p.m.
A.J. Acosta
Life on the bubble has become something of a specialty in the past two weeks for the Oceanside, Calif., native.
Two weeks ago at the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, Acosta wasn’t sure whether his time was fast enough to make the 1,500 meter final, a race he eventually made and finished ninth in, good enough for All-American honors. It is Acosta’s third All-American award since he enrolled at Oregon in September 2006.
This week, Acosta is once again left wondering whether he’ll make the U.S. Olympic Trials field. His time of 3 minutes, 40.52 seconds is the 13th-fastest in the U.S. this year, but ranks 21st for Olympic Trials seed times, which can include times from 2007.
Preliminary heats for the 1,500m begin Thursday, July 3, at 8:25 p.m., and end on the meet’s last event at 5:50 on July 6.
For events that have both the Trials’ ‘A’ and ‘B’ standards, athletes with ‘B’ standards who are provisionally accepted can only be entered if there aren’t enough athletes with ‘A’ standards to fill the field.
In or out, Acosta’s keeping his focus the same.
“I kind of have the mindset that I’m in the meet, and if I’m not then I’m not,” Acosta said.
Acosta’s goals is to make the 1,500m final, meaning he’ll have to shut out his “awe factor” and beat runners he idolized growing up.
“A couple years ago in high school I was the geeky nerdy kid looking up to guys like Alan Webb and Bernard Lagat and those guys,” Acosta said. “That ‘awe’ factor will still be there a little bit but at the same time I guess it’s time to race.”
Andrew Wheating
Just like Acosta and Eaton, Andrew Wheating finished his second year of classes at Oregon last week. Unlike all but a handful of University students, however, Wheating spent his finals week running for a national title – and came .01 of a second away from doing just that.
After Wheating became the first Vermont native to ever run a sub-four minute mile at the Oregon Relays, he went on to upstage a visit by Barack Obama by running a then-U.S. leading 3:38.60 1,500 meters, sixth all-time at Oregon. Wheating is entered in the 1,500 and 800 meters and says he will definitely run the 800.
His latest feat, a 1:45.32 personal best in the 800m at the NCAA Championships, leaves him third all-time at Oregon. It’s also the fifth-fasted entry for the Olympic Trials, and leaves him in position to make his first Olympic team.
“I can’t wait to get out here and race,” Wheating said. “I’m 20 years old, I’m shooting at a shot on the Olympic team. It’s a bonus. Four years later would be more pressure, but I’m just looking to have fun.”
The men’s 800m quarterfinal begins Friday night at 8:20 p.m., with a final at 8:25 on June 30.
Wheating possesses a finishing kick that has dusted more than a few would-be winners in the 2008 outdoor season.
At the NCAA Championships, the 6-foot-5 Duck went from third to a photo finish in less than 30 meters. During his 3:38 1,500m, Wheating ran the final 200 in an unofficial 26.1 seconds.
You can be sure Hayward Field will be as loud as it’s ever been if Wheating is in the mix with 100 meters to go in the 800-meter final.
Galen Rupp
The collegiate record holder in the 10,000 meters and seven-time All-American returns to Eugene to race for the first time since the mile of the Oregon Relays. Although he’s been in the spotlight of the running community since his time at Central Catholic (Portland) High, this week’s trials mark the first time he’ll run for a shot at the Olympic team.
He chose the perfect place to do it – even if he’s stopped by Hayward Field only a handful of times since he left Oregon in the winter to train with Nike coach and longtime friend Alberto Salazar.
Rupp hasn’t raced for Oregon since taking second at the NCAA cross country championships and leading the Ducks to the team title in November.
His seed times – from 2007, as he barely raced during the 2008 season – have Rupp ranked 10th in the 5,000m. Although he has the second-fastest 10,000m time, he is yet to declare whether he will run in the event at the Trials.
A year ago, Rupp was the runner-up at the U.S. championships in Indianapolis, earning a berth on the U.S. national team at the World Championships in Osaka.
The men’s 10,000m final will be run at 9:20 p.m. on July 4.
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