Bruce3404

I traveled to this one. What a terrific atmosphere with what seemed like a continuous tailgate scene that enveloped Camp Randall for many blocks. The Wisconsin fans are a super friendly bunch of folks and deserve a warm welcome when they come to Autzen next season. Of course I’m happy the Ducks avoided defeat, but the experience was such that had the Ducks lost, I would still have brought fond memories back.

I was a freshman runner at Ohio State in 1968. The coach surprised us one day by bringing in Jesse Owens for a personal recap of his life as a Buckeye, followed by a long autograph session. Such a nice man and as a runner, it was like meeting God. As a student, Owens lived in a black hotel (yep, THOSE days) and made pocket money running the elevator, during which time he studied. Quite the inspiration.

As you undoubtedly know by now, the women did a great job in Boulder and edged USC for the team title and while the men didn't fare as well, Elliot Cook ran an outstanding double to win both the 800m and 1500m. What made this an especially difficult feat is that Cook had to run prelims in both races and, of course, the finals. All in a span of four days! Moving on to this year's NCAAs in Eugene, at this point the women are projected to finish 4th, a distant 10 points from a 3rd place podium finish. The regionals will be held this weekend in Fayetteville (West) and Lexington, KY (East). The regionals often shake up projections, and one major stumble could move the Ducks closer to 3rd OR further back in the pack. On the men's side, things look pretty awful this year. In fact, the men are projected to score ZERO at NCAAs. However, Cook's great performance at altitude means his marks were nothing close to sea level marks and I think his gutty performance in Boulder just might translate into a few NCAA points. Cook's focus for NCAAs is the 800m. He'll run a prelim on 5/22 and, hopefully, a final on 5/24 (in NCAA parlance it's a quarterfinal, since the semis and finals will occur in Eugene). 12 men in each region will advance to the semi-finals in Eugene.

Jaida's mark, which she's now done twice is good enough to have made the US women's team for the Budapest and Eugene WCs AND the Tokyo Olympics. In fact, third place for all three was respectively 18.62, 19.40 and 18.95. AND she'll be throwing at home in this year's Olympic Trials. Meanwhile, while Shelby Moran in the women's hammer throw would have made the US championship finals all three years, though she'll probably need 7 meters more to seriously contend for the Paris team. Nonetheless, expect her to be competing at the Trials and with more work, she could be a big factor in the future. Back to Jaida Ross, she's currently ranked No. 2 in the US, behind Chase (Ealey) Jackson's 20.02, which was accomplished indoors; however Maggie Ewen (19.14), Mya Lesnar (19.10) and Adelaide Aquilla (18.74) will also be in the hunt and only Lesnar and Ross will have to go through conference, regionals and the NCAA finals. Three slots. Five competing to fill them, Lesnar beat Ross in the NCAA indoors with a single great throw (along with 5 miserable attempts while Ross showed great consistency in that meet before being nipped by just 2 inches. Tracktown has finally gotten smart and should fill the stadium for the Trials, something that wasn't done in our World Championships in 2022. Ticket prices begin in the $35 range, which should make the meet affordable for locals, many of whom were priced out of the World's. On a final note, current marks will have the women competing for a podium slot at the NCAAs in June. They are currently ranked in a tie for third with Texas A&M. Florida is but a point lower. For now, it looks like both LSU and Arkansas are solid picks for the top two slots. And the men? Don't ask.

The Duck women caught a ton of bad breaks, but still over performed by 3 points to finish 4th, a mere two points out of a podium position. The bad breaks included a crash in the WDMR, that surely cost the Ducks 2-4 points, Ross in the SP completely out throwing the winner, but the Colorado State winner managed 1 throw that made her the winner by 2.5", thus costing the Ducks 2 more points. Finally, Aliyah McCormick tipped the final W60 hurdle and while she fell across the line in 7th, she probably would have scored a couple of points more. Any 3 of those 7 or 8 points would have put the Ducks in 3rd. On a brighter note, no one underperformed more than UW, who went -18 to win the women's Tank trophy, then doubled back on the men's side with a scintillating -19, to clinch both crowns. We sat with Jerry Schumacher during the WSP and he seemed to have good rapport with his team and we few who journeyed to Boston. A lot of good athletes coming in on both sides and patience seems the name of the game for track fans

Can’t imagine this is making our ex-trackster and current shoe magnate very happy. Hayward will be a ghost town during the regular season if, like last year, Schumacher sends his best to run anywhere but home. At this point I only buy season seats to assure good seating for Pre and the NCAAs.

In a word: Ugly. The men are projected to throw up a goosegg, falling behind such powerhouses as Lamar, S Utah, TX State....well, you get the picture. Meanwhile, the women should at least score (I'm projecting 20-25 points) which gives them a shot at a top 10 finish. Remember the good ol' days when we'd sweep and/or always finish with both squads on the podium? I know they're saving some athletes for outdoors, but will it make much difference? Hope I live long enough to see a repeat of the golden decade of 2010-2020.

Seems like their entire fan base wants Riley fired as they get trounced by UCLA and heir 3rd string QB. Chip may have saved his job.

Several things. He was an offensive genius. He made a ton of $$$ going pro. He got married. He’s wealthy, has a home life, is older, and surely has less interest in working the hours he did at OR.

Miami takes 2 completely stupid unnecessary roughness calls (well after the plays) in the last few minutes of a close loss. Miami at 6-5 vs 5-7 last year vs 7-5 before he came on board. Must be fun worrying about your job since he was Miami’s savior.

The last time a Duck or former Duck trackster failed to medal in a World's Championships was 2009 in Berlin. With three days left, the Ducks are down to only two medal contenders: Jorinde Van Klinken in the shot put and Raevyn Rogers in the 800. Neither are picked to finish in the top 8 by Track and Field News. At this point, the best Duck showing was Van Klinken's 4th in the discus; she held third in the penultimate round 5, but was passed by 21cm (8") and had to settle for fourth. Cole Hocker raced well in the 1500 and set a personal best (3:30.70), but finished only 7th in a formidable field. While several other Ducks competed (Hiltz, Hull, Weir, Ilhemeje), none were remotely close to medaling. Rogers' semi-final heat will be run tonight (11:25AM PDT). Should she advance to the final on Sunday, the race begins at 11:45AM PDT. Van Klinken will attempt to qualify Saturday at 1:25AM PDT, with the final at 11:15AM PDT.

They may get punched down a notch, but we were asking athletes and parents if traveling cross country 4-5 times a year was to their taste. I’d like to see the 4 West Coast teams play one another every year. That’s 3 games on the West Coast. Then you split 6 more with the East Coast and then a home non-conference game and at least we’ll be in the close neighborhood for 7 games, maybe 8 if you schedule another clunker at home

The whining on various SC websites is pretty funny. How dare the B1G allow two teams who can beat us into the conference?

No doubt the men will be stronger next year and if Birnbaum and Burns can both double, that could be a lot of points. If Micah Williams gets healthy, we could be good in the 100 and 200. Big question is how much will Lanning allow Roderick Pleasant to run track; as a 100/200 CA State champ, he could be a force, certainly in conference and maybe at Nationals. As the teams look stronger and stronger, that might draw in some recruits currently sitting on the fence.

The 1500 squad more than came through and Van Klinken's worst throw would have won. Great day for the Ducks and while we're not where we used to be, props to Shalane Flanagan's fine job with the milers and Coach Blu's work with the throwers. Between the two, we scored 35 of our 44 points. We might have gotten second had not our top hurdler been injured, the awful performance by World Championship finalist Shana Grebo (400H) is a head-scratcher and Pac 12 Champ Shelby Moran's shutout in the Hammer all kept us from finishing 2nd. A long way from TX, but a young team that should remain in the podium hunt the next few years and maybe win it all with continuing good recruiting.