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How The West (Races) Were Won

Few times were incredibly startling coming out of the West Regional Preliminary meet, but nevertheless, there were still some great stories, races and titles of note:

 

Men's Headlines

Mens 800 - Greer all Geared Up

Elijah Greer of Oregon looked like a professional. Even during his interview, citing that the sub-51 second first last felt “easy”, Greer described his strong race plan. Knowing that placing is much more important than time, he said he put himself in a strong position (between 4th and 5th through the first lap) to qualify for nationals. He did more than just qualify. Greer, administering a blistering kick with 250m left, stunned the field, catching Texas A&M junior Joey Roberts just before the final 100m, and winning by over a second. Greer set a personal best by almost a second and now stands #5 on Oregon's all-time 800m list. Last weekend, Cory Primm held the national 800m spotlight. This weekend, it was Elijah Greers' turn. His physique, mentality, and now confidence approaching the National meet will make him a strong contender. 

Note: Oregon's Boru Guyota was tripped in the prelims and did not qualify, but was allowed to compete in the quarterfinals. He still failed to qualify for nationals, having the fastest non-qualifying time of 1:48.91.

 

Mens 400 Hurdles - Anderson v. Wyatt

Washington State phenom and National 400 meter hurdle contender, senior Jeshua Anderson, competed in his last NCAA West Regional this year. Over his career, few runners have been as entertaining and exciting to watch as Anderson. His heat victory in 49.59 was the fastest qualifying time, but was a hard fought battle over USC sophomore Reggie Wyatt. Anderson has basked in the Pac-10 and National Hurdling limelight for four years now. He has competed at an incredible level for his collegiate career and as it comes to an end, another Pac-10 star, Reggie Wyatt will step up, and attempt to make his own legacy. With strong competition from others in the West, like Bryce Brown of Texas Tech, Wyatt will represent the Pac-10 and continue its string of strong elite hurdlers over his last two years.

 

Mens 3000m Steeple - Tyner Guts Out Win; Pilots' Basset Takes Off

What was a non-descript start to Heat 1 of the men's steeple became quite an exciting race down the stretch. Through four laps, there was still a large pack together and no one really seemed to want to take control of the race. During the fifth and sixth lap, Tyner made a move to second place behind Hillary Bor of Iowa State and Arkansas junior Rick Elliot made a push up to the front three. In the closing lap and a half, Tyner made a strong move and came neck to neck with Bor, finally closing out the win in the final 100m. Tyner looked impressive in the final laps, biding his time, patiently waiting to make his move. His patience and guts down the stretch make him dangerous at the next level. 

Note: Portland (Oregon) Pilot sophomore Jarred Basset surprised the crowd, running 8:51, making himself the first time qualifier for nationals. 

 

Men's 1500m - Centrowitz is Golden

Heat one of the men's evolved in four steps:

1. Slow start, Iowa's Jeff Thode makes move after 600m

2. Oregon's Centrowitz is the only runner to go with

3. Centrowitz absorbs the push, takes lead with 400 left,

4. Centrowitz wins running away, clocking a 1:52 for the final 800
 

Matthew Centrowitz looked incredibly impressive. He looked calm and fit. A look of fatigue never seemed to hit his face; It looked like he was jogging. The way he responded to Thodes' push and then blew by him in the final 400m made him look to be the favorite at nationals. While there were other noteworthy performances (Heat 2 came to be a kickers race, as expected) the Oregon junior was just simply that good. 

 

Men's 5000m - Tale of Two Races

Heat 1 and Heat 2 of the Men's 5000m race evolved quite differently. Heat 1 had a pack of 13 runners going into the final 800. The race came down to the final 100m, having six running finishing within 3 seconds of each other, Jake Riley being the last one across the line. Heat 2, was the Lawi LaLang show. Distancing himself from the pack by few meters after a few trips around the track, LaLang never relinquished that ground again, steadily running around 65 seconds a lap, and he made it look easy. I will continue to assert that he is the most dangerous runner in the nation right now. With the surprise of fellow Arizona runner Stephen Sambu failing to qualify, LaLang may be the favorite at Drake.

Note: The only other freshman to qualify out of the West was Wisconsin's Reed Connor, placing third in the slower of the two heats, behind Stanford's Elliot Heath, running 13:48.

 

Mens 4x400m -Texas A&M v. USC at Nationals / WSU's Anderson Fights Hard

Texas A&M and USC have 4x400m teams that were dominant to say the least. A&M won their heat by almost 4 seconds and USC won by over a second. Unfortunately, they were in different heats, but at Drake, it will be a fight to the end to finish the meet. 

Note: Jeshua Anderson made a huge push on his team's third leg to get WSU in position to go to nationals in the 1600m relay. Unfortunately, their anchor leg dropped a few places and WSU was the fastest non-time qualifier to reach the NCAA meet. 

 

Women's Headlines

Womens 100/200 - Purvis Hurt

In the final meters of the 100m race, Oregon's Ashton Purvis seemed to limp across the finish line. Those last trotting steps were validated by her pulling up in the 200m race. Purvis is a big scorer for the ducks and without her, their title hopes become a little dimmer. 

The main reason I bring this up is because after her race, she returned to the athlete's tent, and was consoled by many other athletes from different schools. Most notably, she was comforted by two sprinters from Texas A&M. These sprinters have competed against each other for at least two years and to see a connection grow between athletes and schools is quite powerful. Running has always seemed unique to me in that sense. There is a bond that grows over races and time and to see competitors such as those from Texas A&M and from Oregon who battled so hard for a Women's team title just one year ago come together to help a hurt teammate is important to see. 

 

Women's 3000 Steeple - Colorado's Coburn Gaps Field on Lap 1

Colorado Steeple runner Emma Coburn is the favorite this year going into the NCAA National Meet, and she performed that way on day two of West Regional. Her lead increased with each successive lap, blowing away the field by a staggering 17 seconds. She made running in the wind and rain look easy. She posted the only sub 10:00 time of the day running by herself for the entire race. 

 

400m/1600m Relay - All Jessica Beard

The Texas A&M senior not only took home the fastest qualifying time in the 400 (51.81) in winning her heat by over a second, but came back the next day and split a 51.31 for her team's 1600m relay. She dominated the field on her leg, blowing by the competition and helping bring her team to first in their heat. She will be a key in helping Texas A&M to the team title at Drake in the upcoming weeks.

 

Womens 5000 - Heat 1 Dog-Fight, Amanda Moreno of UCSC goes down

What came down to a few runners in both heats provided us with quite a stellar top 3 for the National meet.  Hasay, Goethals, and Kroeger have all had extensive experience running against each other during their prep years. All ran well with strong kicks at the end of the race, the most impressive being Megan Goethals of Washington, putting a big gap on the field in the final 100m to post the fastest 5k time of the day in 16:02.

Notes: On a more somber tone, my heart goes out to Amanda Moreno of UCSB, who apparently tripped on the side of the track going into the final lap and had to pull off. She had a great energetic cheering crowd there to support her. Her teammates were so supportive, as you can view in my photos, and during what was an incredible race for her, it was really sad to see the senior go out in that fashion.  She was in 4th place going into the final lap and would have easily qualified to go to the National race. 

 

Additional Headlines

Weather - Prevailing Winds Disturb Sprints

Strong winds, uncharacteristic of Eugene, moved the hurdle races to the back stretch of Hayward Field. This was not only frustrating for the athletes, but also for those paid for their seats under the cover of the west grandstand to be close to the sprinting action. 

 

Texas - Southern Speed

I don't know what they are doing with these athletes in Texas to make them as fast as they are, but they are simply on another level. As the sprint races unfolded, I began to notice that Texas was dominating these events. Now some of you are probably shaking your head saying, “Jake, this is common knowledge.” Believe me, I knew the Texas schools are talented. They are the second biggest state by population in the USA, so the pool they draw from is enormous, but couldn't you say the same of California? New York? Florida? I decided to look at the results a bit closer to see how big the discrepancy between the sprinting classes of the Texas schools was compared to the rest of the field:

 

The number by each event is the number of Texas Athlete Team qualifiers, while the number in parentheses in the number of Texas Athletes or Relay Teams that were in the top 3:

Men      Women

100m 5(1)   6(2)

200m 5(3)   9(1)

400m 7(2)   4(1)

400m Relay 6(2)   5(1)

1600m Relay 4(3)   6(2)

** 12 qualifiers in each event. 
 

In not a single one of these events did Texas either fail to qualify at least a third of the field or fail to qualify at least one athlete or team in the top 3. Dominance. Absolute dominance. While yes, recruiting brings athletes from all over the nation to these schools; these numbers are still pretty stunning. 

 

Eugene Crowd - 20,082 

Over the three day event, the crowd totaled just over 20,000 people. Simply, Eugene loves Track and Field. Yes, the crowd will cheer louder for an Oregon athlete, but they also love good competition and gutsy performances. The knowledgeable crowd here in Eugene can't get enough of Historic Hayward Field and the athletes they bring. 

 

Photos

You can relive most of the action by visiting my profile here on Flotrack and viewing the photos that I took. I am new to the whole photography realm, but I hope you enjoy. 

Note: The photos were uploaded in reverse chronological order for some reason, so if you want to view them in succession, start from the last picture, and work your way to the front.