Three months of the year the Pacific Northwest is the finest place in the U.S. One weekend of the year it is the finest place in the Track and Field World. Athletes and spectators alike descend on this laid-back college town to celebrate great athletic performances every year, like lemmings to the sea, they flock to Hayward Field for the Prefontaine Classic.
This year the meet was even more important than past as the last Grand Prix event in the United States for 2004 and just weeks ahead of the Olympic Trials in Sacramento. As the meet approached, more athletes announced that they would be joining the celebration of one of the finest runners to ever wear the yellow and green of the Ducks. Unfortunately some of the athletes had to withdraw due to health issues, but it was still one of the best fields ever assembled in 2004.
This article is not a piece of journalism to document the event, there are plenty of others doing that, but this article is a story of a track and field family heading back to their roots and is purely my rendition of our experience.
Saturday morning we went down to Hayward Field around 10 am with clear skies and 72 degrees to pick up our will-call tickets purchased on-line from home in Florida. Got a great parking spot right in the middle of everything, photographers everywhere, athletes and coaches milling around the Bowerman Building, and other folks like us just soaking it up. Wow.
Back to the parents house to pick up my 80 year old father to take him back to the same place that he took me back in the late 50's, 60's and 70's. Three generations of track maniac's at the premier meet of the season…with great weather and fantastic competitors?…priceless! We dropped part of the party off at the gate, went to park the car and when we got back we had to wait in line for the security searches. Even Eugene can't escape the terror of the times.
First event was the hammer throw. Staged just south of the track we watched Koji Murofushi of Japan throw a current world leading 271'-2". Well back was James Parker of the US at 255'-2" and Vadim Khersontsev of Russia at 247'-10" for second and third respectively. Its always great to see these under-acknowledged athletes take a victory lap at Hayward Field, they make no effort to go fast and just stroll along waving to a very appreciative crowd. When was the last time you saw a standing ovation for a hammer thrower?
The men and women's pole vault was the next event to start. We were in the east grandstands so both pits were right in front of us. They could have a meet just with the vaulters that were there, Dragila, Schwartz, Suttle and Saur in the ladies pit and NCAA Champ Tommy Skipper (freshman Duck), Jeff Hartwig, Dmitri Markov, Brad Walker and my personal favorite, "Crash" Stevenson in the men's pit. Competition was fierce with the crowd clapping and stomping on demand by the vaulters. Crash's energy and exuberance was contagious and the crowd followed every attempt. Dragila passed until the bar got up to somewhere around 14'-0" and didn't stop until she was jumping for a new world record of 16'-0.25". Three great attempts without making the mark and Stacy was blowing kisses to the crowd, thanking them for the support. 15'-5" was her winning mark for this event with Schwartz at 15'-1" and Suttle at 14'-9". Jeff Hartwig won the men's pole vault with 19'-1/4". Markov, Walker and Crash were 2nd, 3rd and 4th with the same height.
Next was the 400M Hurdles with Felix Sanchez cruising to a 48.12 win. Bershwn Jackson and James Carter, both of the US followed in 2nd and 3rd with 48.79 and 48.83. Wow.
Now the men were starting to school around the start of the 1500M just south of the east stands. The gun goes off and Charlie Gruber of the US leads the rest of the pack to a victory in 3:37.23 with Said Ahmed and Michael Stember following in 3:37.49 and 3:37.75 respectively. From our point of view in the stands opposite the finish we had to wait for the final results to see who had won.
The shot put was even enjoyable with the energetic Adam Nelson exhorting himself for each throw. But his 70'-6 ½" throw lost to Christian Cantwell with his best toss of 71'-4".
Competition in the women's 100M was full of pre-race hype with controversy about Marion Jones. She skipped the race press conference and stayed at the Nike store signing autographs and posing for photos with the fans. Unfortunately her 'A' race stayed at home and she finished fifth in 11.12. Inger Miller won a close one with an 11.05 nipping Gail Devers also at 11.05 and Chryste Gaines with an 11.06.
The men's 100M was filled with names like Tim Montgomery, Maurice Greene, John Capel and Shawn Crawford, among others. It was an awesome show of speed with a legal wind and Shawn Crawford pulling a 2004 world leading time of 9.88. Maurice Greene and John Capel both went sub 10 with 9.93 and 9.95 respectively for 2nd and 3rd. Triple wow, three runners under 10! A brief computer glitch on the scoreboard at first showed 4th place runner Mickey Grimes as the winner with the super time. I hope he got a picture of that before they corrected it.
The hurdles and high jump were also great, but on the other side of the field so we didn't get a great view of them. The men's hurdles were awesome with Larry Wade coming from behind in a super tight race to win with 13.14. American record holder Allen Johnson was second with a duplicate 13.14. The women's hurdles were won by Perdita Felicien who ran a 2004 world leading 12.46 (which is also a Canadian national record). And we did see Jamie Nieto's celebratory back flip after winning the high jump with a leap of 7'6 ½".
In the women's 1500M Yelena Zadorzhnaya of Russia won with a time of 4:02.15 followed by Kelly Holmes of Great Britain and Malindi Elmore of Canada with 4:03.73 and 4:04.06 respectively. Hometown favorite Marla Runyan finished in 4th with a 4:06.37 and proclaimed herself ready for a 5,000M/1500M double in the Olympic Trials. She has already qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 10,000M.
Did I mention that the meet vendors had run out of current Prefontaine Classic T-shirts even before the pole vault? I didn't think we got there that late!
Marion Jones got some redemption with a leap of 22'-9" breaking a second round tie with Grace Upshaw at somewhere around 22'-6". Wind stayed legal through the event and the day I guess.
I considered moving around like I usually do at a meet of this type to get interesting angles and close-ups with my camera. But with the meet moving so fast (the crew at Hayward knows how to keep a meet moving) and the pleasure of being with my family I just stayed in my seat and ate it all up.
OK, now the women's 800M was going on as I was trying to keep up with the pole vault. Maria Mutola fought off the effects of all the grass seed pollen to win in 1:57.58 successfully achieving her 12th Prefontaine Classic victory.
Now the men's 5,000M competitors were beginning to warm up on the backstretch in front of the east grandstands. Dan Browne, Joseph Koskei, Martin Keino, Luke Kiposgei and Bob Kennedy were cruising around with their poker faces. There was Daniel Lincoln, fresh out of University of Arkansas now running with Nike staying in the groove with his pre-race warm-up and Matt Lane with his surges getting ready. What a race! With 200M to go, the three Kenyans, Koskei, Keino and Kiposgei just took off from the group with Brown, Lincoln and Kennedy. We clocked a fading Lincoln with a 30 sec 200M and Koskei finished 5 seconds ahead of him. That would be about a 25 sec 200M at the end of a world-class 5,000M race. Too fast! But way to go Daniel on your indoctrination to super fast fields!
Now the announcer began to introduce all of the Oregon Ducks, past and present who have gone sub 4. This was a stroll down memory lane with such names as Dyrol Burrleson, Archie San Romani, and of course Pre. Both of Steve's parents were there with the elder McChesney's to represent their sons. Another huge WOW on the memory parade.
The introduction of the Bowerman Mile field was like listening to the r