It’s been more than a year since the SOJC Track Bureau covered a track meet — with Hayward Field under construction, our home venue isn’t available.
But we’re still committed to the sport, and we’ll be at the IAAF World Outdoor Track and Field Championships this fall. Journalists, like athletes, also need to get ready for the big events early in the season, and we’re starting our warm-up this weekend at the Portland Track Festival, which is taking place at Lewis and Clark College.
Here’s what happened on Day One:
Kenyan Elvin Kibet, who’s hoping to complete the U.S. citizenship process in time to compete at the U.S. Olympic trials next year, dominated the women’s high performance 10,000 meters, winning by nearly 28 seconds in a time of 32 minutes, 42.33 seconds. She told our Alex Castle why it means so much for her to run for the U.S. Army team, for which her husband, U.S. Olympian Shadrick Kipchirchir, once competed. (He’s with Nike now.)
Zouhair Talbi dropped well behind the leaders in the men’s high performance 10,000 meters, but he found his legs a couple of miles later and won the event in a meet record 28:02.89. He told our Nate Mann how he found a finishing kick.
Cole Lambourne, an unattached runner from Salt Lake City, won the men’s open 400 meters in 47.48. He told our Brooklynn Loiselle how finding a larger community of unattached runners is helping propel him toward his goal: qualifying for the 2020 Olympic trials. (Which will be held in our backyard, at new Hayward Field.)
Two high schoolers battled in the women’s open 3,000, with a 15-year-old from Canada, Sadie Sigfstead, beating 16-year-old Oregonian Fiona Max by six seconds with a fast final lap. Her time: 9:45.06. Our Brett Taylor was there as the meet organizers tried to hand the winner her prize, a bottle of beer, not realizing how young she is.
