Eugene will earn its “Track Town” nickname Saturday.
Almost 900 athletes will descend on the city for more than 10 hours of competition in the Oregon Invitational, the biggest meet at Hayward Field this year.
The headlining event will be the Bill McChesney Jr. Memorial Mile, which was moved from its original meet, the Oregon Twilight. The mile will feature at least four athletes with sub-four-minute personal bests and one former Olympian, Jason Pyrah. Two more events — the men’s hammer and the women’s 1,500 — will feature former Olympians or U.S. champions.
All three of those events will take place in Saturday’s evening session, which starts at 5 p.m. and requires a ticket. The day session starts at 10 a.m. and is free.
The men’s mile, which is scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m., has the most lucrative field of Saturday’s events. Along with Pyrah, an Olympian in the 1,500 in 1996 and 2000, the field also includes 2001 Twilight-mile champion Mike Miller and Ray Hughes, who ran the mile in 3:59.78 earlier this year.
In the men’s hammer, Kevin McMahon will take on challengers including James Parker, who finished third at the U.S. Championships at Hayward Field last season. McMahon was the U.S. champion last season and an Olympian in 1996 and 2000.
In the women’s 1,500, former Oregon standout Lisa Nye will return to the Hayward track for the first time since her victory in the 2001 U.S. Championships steeplechase. Nye holds the second-fastest American steeplechase time ever.
Amid the chaos of post-collegiate talent, the Oregon athletes will also try to make an impact at one of their few home meets of the season. On the women’s side, the most interesting spectacle could be the javelin unit, which starts competition at 6:05 p.m.
“We’re looking to go one-two-three-four” this weekend, standout Sarah Malone said of the four-person Oregon javelin squad. “That’s always our goal.”
Other women to watch include Eri Macdonald, an NCAA provisional qualifier in the 800, and Becky Holliday, who recently set the school record in the pole vault.
On the men’s side, pole vaulter Trevor Woods and sprinter Micah Harris will represent the NCAA qualifiers from the squad. Harris recently set the school record in the 110 hurdles, while Woods is six inches short of the school record in the vault.