Five: Events to watch
Men’s decathlon: Reigning Olympic gold medalist Bryan Clay, NCAA record holder Trey Hardee and three-time NCAA champion and former Oregon Duck Ashton Eaton figure to provide plenty of fireworks over their two days of competition.@@http://www.treyhardee.com/@@
Men’s 800m: Thirteen U.S. men have eclipsed the IAAF ‘A’ standard in the event for this season, virtually guaranteeing a show for the spectators at Hayward Field. OTC Elite and former Willamette University runner Nick Symmonds, a Beijing Olympian in 2008, looks to bounce back from a subpar Pre Classic (eighth, 1:46.78). As always, expect a kickers’ race, with former Duck Andrew Wheating and reigning NCAA champion Robby Andrews in the field.@@both names correct@@

Men’s 10,000m: The matchup that never materialized at the Pre Classic re-emerges to great fanfare: Chris Solinsky vs. Galen Rupp. The current American record holder (competing for OTC Elite) and the former Oregon star (competing for Nike) add local star power to the event. OTC Elite’s Matt Tegenkamp and Tim Nelson and Brooks’ Ryan Vail may have something to say over the outcome.@@names correct@@
Women’s 200m: The way Hayward Field performed for the Pre Classic, Eugene could stake a claim to a “Sprint Town USA” moniker. Five-time USA Outdoors champion Allyson Felix remains the class of the field. Texas A&M’s Jeneba Tarmoh may be the class of the college field, but LSU sophomore Kimberlyn Duncan posted the fastest time in the world this year (22.24) in winning the 2011 NCAA championship.@@http://www.trackalerts.com/index.php/news/lead-stories?start=10@@
Women’s 100m hurdles: Two-time world champion Lolo Jones and 2010 NCAA champion Queen Harrison are the stars of the hurdle ranks, and both figure to put on a show for the Hayward Field crowd. USA Indoor 60m hurdles champion Kellie Wells, competing for Nike, has the fastest time in the field (12.58) this season.@@http://www.runlolorun.com/@@
Four: Athletes to watch
Carmelita Jeter (women’s 100m): Jeter’s blazing 10.70-second 100-meter dash at the Pre Classic was the fastest time in the world this season. Jeter won bronze medals at the IAAF World Championships at 100m in 2007 and 2009; if she makes the U.S. team again this year, what more could she do?@@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmelita_Jeter@@
Tyson Gay (men’s 100m): This season, Gay is America’s fastest man, having run 9.79 seconds in a lesser meet in Clermont, Fla. His history at Hayward Field is mixed, punctuated most ignominiously by a fall in the 200 meters at the 2008 Olympic Trials.
Scott Roth (men’s pole vault): The 2011 NCAA Outdoor champion and Washington graduate holds the top mark among Americans this season. Roth cleared 18 feet, 9 ¼ inches at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 16, setting a Washington school record.@@http://www.mtsacrelays.com/@@
Shalane Flanagan (women’s 5,000; women’s 10,000): Flanagan, who won the bronze medal at 10,000 meters in Beijing, has the second-fastest 5,000m seed time and the fastest 10,000m seed time entering the meet.@@http://www.shalaneflanagan.com/@@
Three: Thoughts from Andrew Wheating
Former Duck and Beijing Olympian Andrew Wheating is entered in both the 800m and the 1,500m at USA Outdoors this week, the two events in which he won NCAA championships in 2010. Wheating, now a member of Oregon Track Club Elite, is personally coached by Oregon’s Vin Lananna and trains with fellow OTC Elite member Russell Brown. He spoke with the Emerald on June 14.
On life as a professional:
“Honestly, it’s not that much different (than in college), outside of not having classes. That’s why I joined Big Brothers, Big Sisters to put my time to good use. (Wheating mentors a 9-year-old boy in the Eugene area.) It’s the same situation: You run track, run track, run track, go home, take a nap – there’s so much time. That’s the big difference.”
On Lananna’s candidacy for the USA Track & Field CEO position:
“I heard about it, a while ago, that Vin was in contention. It kind of scared me that Vin would have to move to Indiana to work there. I didn’t want to move to Indiana. When I finally asked him, ‘Are you going to take the job?,’ he said no. He’s got such incredible vision. He really understands what this sport needs to be popular. But in order to move things forward, he needs full control.”
On what USATF can do to improve track and field’s standing nationally: “That’s a touchy subject. The sport isn’t as cool to a lot of people as it could be. A lot of people don’t understand that the 2011 USA Championships is very similar to the Olympic Trials, in what it means to us – to go to the World Championships. You see U.S. Nationals, you don’t think, U.S. Nationals, where everybody competes to go on to Worlds.”

Two: Duck national champions
Men’s 1,500m champion Matthew Centrowitz and women’s pole vault champion Melissa Gergel are among 24 Ducks competing at the junior and senior levels. NCAA Outdoors were held on June 8-11 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Centrowitz accomplished something that his father – former Duck and Olympian Matt Centrowitz – never did in winning a national championship. The Arnold, Md. native crossed the finish line in 3:42.54, ahead of University of Arkansas’ Dorian Ulrey.@@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Centrowitz@@
Gergel opened her season at the Oregon Relays on April 22-23, having been set back after a loose bone in her ankle began hurting her on takeoffs. At NCAAs, the Glenwood, Ill. native cleared 14 feet, 7 ¼ inches along with University of Arkansas’ Tina Sutej, but was declared the winner with fewer misses.
Sophomore Anne Kesselring, a native of Nurnberg, Germany, captured Oregon’s third individual NCAA title at 800 meters.
One: Vacant CEO position
Who will be the next Chief Executive Officer of USA Track & Field? A better question may be, who wants the job in the first place?
Doug Logan was fired on September 13, 2010, from the sport’s national governing body, primarily due to internal disagreements. Logan successfully sued for the money remaining on his contract after his dismissal in May, and since then, the position has been left vacant, leaving USATF in flux. The timetable on naming a replacement has not been made public.
The city of Eugene has once again readied itself for an athletic spectacle, accommodating hundreds of athletes and thousands of spectators for what promises to be four competitive days of track and field. However, the question of USA Outdoors’ impact beyond the confines of Eugene has been asked repeatedly, and no one seems to have a good answer.
“Track and field is going nowhere fast in the United States,” writes Olympics blogger Alan Abrahamson. “There are really only two meets this year that matter — the nationals, June 23-26, and the worlds, Aug. 27-Sept. 4. The rest has devolved, regrettably, to varying degrees of noise, and everyone knows it. Why should fans care if the athletes, coaches, shoe companies and other sponsors — everyone else who has a meaningful stake in the game — make it plain that an event such as the (Prefontaine Classic), allegedly one of the nation’s top meets, is something you can skip without any real consequence because you’re way more worried about the nationals?”
Abrahamson cited, by way of example, the lack of national news coverage of the event by seminal publications such as the New York Times and Sports Illustrated at the Pre Classic. Coverage, so vital in any form to sports outside of football, basketball and baseball, has been fleeting in the lead-up to USA Outdoors. The Emerald was unable to contact one prominent athlete for this preview, and The Oregonian’s Ken Goe has reported similar troubles.
“That wouldn’t happen in the NFL, which makes sure every player is available to the media prior to the Super Bowl,” Goe wrote on June 17. “Ditto for the Bowl Championship Series. NBA locker rooms are open before games. Players who don’t talk to the media are fined. Of course, the people running those sports get it. They understand the importance of connecting with a mass audience.
“Some track coaches and athletes get it too. There are athletes who understand their connection to the public goes both ways. Unfortunately, this attitude doesn’t come from the top. Track and field is run by participants, for participants. It exists in a bubble of self-absorption, even while wondering what happened to the fans.”
A lack of national interest in the main events and competitors in the sport of track and field is driving potential, casual and avid fans away in droves. The new USATF CEO, whoever he or she might be, will find systemic and structural problems in the way the sport is run in the United States. Choosing the right candidate, then, becomes all the more important.