“There was a guy in Hawaii named Eddie,” Oregon’s sophomore sprinter Endia Abrante explained. “He used to always go out to the big waves. He was never fearful. He would always go out and do what he loved ­ surfing. Unfortunately he died, so they have bumper stickers and stuff in remembrance that say: ‘Eddie would go.’”
So it was no shock when a few years ago, members of Hawaii’s growing track and field community began donning shirts that read, “Eri would go.”
Eri Macdonald, a freshman from Honolulu, is the sixth-best 800-meter runner (2:08.62) in the Pacific-10 Conference and one of the Ducks’ top young guns.
The phrase suits her because she’s game for a variety of events, excelling in the 800 and as a member of the 4×400 relay team. And also because she can’t ever be counted out.
“I know if she’s coming in with 100 or 200 meters to go, she’s gonna win,” middle distance runner Erinn Gulbrandsen said. “She’s so incredibly fast, just has that incredible finish.”
Indeed Macdonald, so inconspicuous off the track, has been winning races since high school with her electrifying kick. “Ever since I’ve been running I’ve had a kick, I guess,” said Macdonald, whose father broke Steve Prefontaine’s American 5,000 record.
This weekend’s competition could be a case in point to Macdonald’s natural late-charge approach.
“Eri is ready to run well,” head coach Tom Heinonen said. “She can make the finals. I think the prelim race will be to her liking because they tend to be big kick races — and she can kick with anybody. She’ll be ready to strike.”
But of course.
As for the shirts? Abrante still has hers.
“I’ll show up occasionally to practice with it, and she just blushes because everyone asks ‘What’s the shirt?’ So I just have to explain it.”
Because it just fits. -M.S.