It’s been perhaps the worst-kept secret in Oregon sports this spring. Sure, the Duck coaches and men’s track and field team have kept from speaking of it to the press, but its presence lingered, like a precious object in a transparent case. No one was ready to openly acknowledge it, even though it has been on the tip of many tongues.
Chad Barlow turned out to be the one who let it slip, at the track and field media day on May 26, the Tuesday before the NCAA West Regional.
“Getting toward the end of the season, and especially with a chance (at the) Triple Crown this year, we’re all very anxious,” Barlow said.
And there it was, out in the open. The possibility of winning the Triple Crown – NCAA titles in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field – manifested into a topic of discussion. Barlow cannot be blamed for it; he merely called it as he saw it.
“It’s unspoken, for sure. I think I might be the first one,” Barlow said with an impish grin. “I just spoke it.”
A rare event
Only two schools have ever successfully completed all three legs of the Triple Crown.
The Arkansas Razorbacks, led by head track and field coach John McDonnell – arguably the best collegiate track coach in history – completed the feat five times, including two straight in 1991-92 and 1992-93. UTEP, featuring legendary collegiate distance runner Suleiman Nyambui, completed the first collegiate Triple Crown in 1980 and duplicated the feat in 1981.
Of the Ducks’ national championships in cross country and track and field, none before this year had come indoors; Bill Bowerman and Bill Dellinger, according to Oregon lore, never focused on the indoor season. The Ducks have five NCAA outdoor track and field championships and six NCAA cross country championships, but none in the same year.
The Duck men are considered the favorites to win their sixth NCAA title in outdoor track and field next weekend in Fayetteville, Ark. Murphy’s Law and other supernatural forces, however, stand in the way along with the competition. The key for director of track and field Vin Lananna and associate director of track and field Dan Steele is to control what they can and forget about what they cannot.
“It requires a lot of good planning,” Lananna said, “and it requires a little luck.”
Kept under wraps
Lananna, who prides himself on keeping his athletes’ focuses in check, has tried to lead by example in this instance.
“As far into the Triple Crown that I’ve thought,” he said, “is where we’re going and where the meet is and how we’re getting there and getting all the athletes to the event.”
However, even Lananna cannot stifle the excitement that a Triple Crown could bring to Track Town USA – trademark pending. In establishing Oregon as a premier destination for collegiate athletes and rekindling fan and school enthusiasm in the team and in the sport, this piece of the puzzle fits all too well.
“We talk about it rarely, but when it comes up we’ve got a little sparkle in our eye,” said Andrew Wheating, the odds-on favorite to win his first-ever individual title at 800m. “I think it’s always in the back of our minds.”
As are the Ducks’ chances.
“We’re definitely in the running for (an outdoor) title,” Wheating said.
Lananna knows that an outdoor title weighs more in this particular case, but don’t expect him to show any strain.
“I think our goal this year was that, in every event, we put every athlete in position to try to win,” Lananna said. “The way the outdoor nationals is – it’s a very difficult task for the University of Oregon. It’s the most difficult of all. But just because it is doesn’t mean we’re not going to take a crack at trying to do it.”
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Title, Triple Crown seen not heard from excited Ducks
Daily Emerald
June 2, 2009
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