A Weekend In Track Town, USA

By Joe Eby, Assistant Distance/Cross Country Coach

                                                          

For any track and cross country fan getting to travel to Track Town USA is always a great trip, and for me getting to go back was very exciting. Our day started very early, 5:15, where we met at WSU to load up the vans to head to the airport for our 7 am flight. Our travels to Portland, including a layover in Denver, was very uneventful which is always the best way to travel. Once we arrived in Portland we drove to Eugene and checked into the hotel. We were located less than a half mile away from Pre’s Trail and Hayward Field, prime location. We had a little down time to relax before getting our run in, during that time coach Hunter and I drove out to Springfield to do a test drive to the course. We made a few wrong turns so it was good to figure out where we were going. After arriving back at the hotel we headed out for our run. We jogged over and got a run in on Pre’s Trail. I took the guys on the parts I remembered running on while in Eugene for the Olympic Trials in 2008. It took me a few wrong turns but it all started to come back to me. We got a great run in. One of the best parts for me was that there were all sorts of people out hiking, biking and running. We even had a few elite sightings. Jordan Hasay and the women of Oregon and Sam Chelanga both ran by on the runs. It is cool getting to see those type of people out putting in the daily miles, just like all of us do everyday. We finished up our night with some dinner at Track Town Pizza, which was delicious and walked down to Hayward Field to take some pictures and do some touristy stuff.

As I said earlier Track Town is a unique place. Friday morning after my run on Pre’s Trail I sat down to breakfast and opened up the sports page. On the front is a picture of Luke Peskedra and an article about the race and who would be running for the Ducks the next day. There are not many places in the country where a Friday morning cross country meet is the front page news in the local paper, although I wish it was, but that is a post for another time. After breakfast Coach Hunter and I met up with Jenny Ashcroft, a former Wichita State coach who is an assistant coach at Oregon and was nice enough to give Coach Hunter and me a tour of some of their athletic facilities. It was a very interesting experience and amazing with what the backing of a company like Nike can do for your school. Later that afternoon we continued our sight seeing with some of the kids from the team by taking them to Pre’s rock on Skyline Drive. I have only been there twice and both times have had an impact. How different would the world be if Pre would have made it around that narrow turn on the road and what impact could he have continued to have on the sport if he was still here today.

Later that afternoon it was time to get down to business. We drove out to Springfield to preview the course. There was a great atmosphere even the day before. I guess it helps when you have NCAA national champs and High School record holders doing workouts on the course. The course was in great shaped was marked very well and had a ton of signage. The team was very excited to be in this type of environment. I just hoped that they could take all that excitement and turn it into positive energy and race well the next day. Both teams finished up their easy run and did some strides followed by some stretching. As we drove back I felt that the team was ready to go and I started getting excited about the race the next day.

When we arrived at the course in Springfield the meet atmosphere was electric. They had upbeat music playing and the announcer was doing trivia with the crowd before and between races and keeping the fans entertained. They even had the man himself, Bill Dellinger as the honorary co-starter of the meet along with Matt Centrowitz who just picked up a bronze medal at the world champs in the 1500.

After watching both races I felt that our kids stepped up to the challenge of the day and raced like they belonged. While both teams ran well this was a huge step forward for our guys team. This was the type of meet that was a great prep for our conference and regional meets. On both sides we had people in there mixing it up with some of the best runners in the nation and the world, you can’t ask for much more than that. If we can continue down the path we are on we are going to have a very good November.

After the meet we made the 2 hour drive back to Portland because of an early flight the next day, and boy was it an early morning and a long day of travel, 4 am rolls around very quick. We arrived back in Wichita about 2 pm safe and sound and ready to get back to work with a great experience and a nice step forward toward the goal of winning MVC championship in Terre Haute in November.