A few things …
— The sea change at the University of Oregon, in which the UO women have turned to a sprints base to become college track and field’s dominant program indoors, is remarkable.
When I returned to covering the sport as a beat in 2006, the Ducks still were using a distance-throws formula.
They had some good sprinters and multi-events athletes — hello, Kelly Blair — but they weren’t the program’s linchpins.
That began to change when Oregon hired Vin Lananna as head coach in 2005, and he brought in Robert Johnson as an assistant.
The change accelerated when Johnson succeeded Lananna in 2012, and he hired sprints guru Curtis Taylor.
Johnson/Taylor-coached women athletes have completely rewritten the UO women’s indoor record book from 800 meters down, as is demonstrated in this slideshow:
http://www.oregonlive.com/trackandfield/index.ssf/2017/02/lightning_strikes_the_oregon_d.html#0
The Ducks have won six of the last seven NCAA women’s indoor titles, and are heavy favorites to win it again next month at Texas A&M.
And it’s not as if they have fallen off the map in the distances. The Ducks won the 2016 NCAA women’s cross country title.
http://www.oregonlive.com/trackandfield/index.ssf/2016/11/the_oregon.html
— Hassan Mead is the latest foreign-born, Oregon-based professional runner to weigh in on President Donald Trump’s immigration order. Four-time Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah and two-time U.S. Olympian Lopez Lomong also have spoken out.
Mead is a Somali-born U.S Olympian who trains as part of Oregon Track Club Elite.
He told Chris Chavez of SI.com he loves this country and the ideals to which it espouses, and felt like Trump’s order was a personal attack on his family.
Somalia was one of seven countries singled out in Trump’s executive order.
Proponents of the order — which a three-judge federal appeals panel declined to reinstate yesterday — say they believe it would make them safer if implemented.
The argument fails to resonate with me. No travel ban, no matter how draconian, will keep terrorists out of the country. The successful terror attacks in the U.S. have been carried out by homegrown Americans or people who would not have been stopped by Trump’s order.
In the meantime, Oregon has had three mass shootings and one armed occupation since 1998, none carried out by someone from one of the countries on Trump’s list. In fact, none was by a Muslim.
We don’t benefit from keeping the Hassan Meads of this world out of our country.
OK, off my soapbox and onto the rest of the links:
Taylor Dutch of FloTrack says the women’s 60 meters — featuring world-class UO sprinters Hannah Cunliffe, Deajah Stevens and Ariana Washington — is one of the events to watch the Don Kirby Elite Invitational.
Paul Merca: Oregon’s Edward Cheserek preps for the NCAA Indoor Championships with a challenging double at the Husky Classic.
The Ducks will look for more NCAA Indoor qualifiers at two weekend meets.
Oregon’s distance runners head to Seattle, sprinters and jumpers to Albuquerque and. Either way, the Ducks will be all-business.
Ducks split up to head in two directions.
University of Portland distance runners Lauren LaRocco, Anna Farello and Taryn Rawlings will test themselves against some of the best in the country at the Husky Classic.
Portland State wraps up the 2017 indoor regular season at three meets this weekend.
Dave Hunter for RunBlogRun: Jordan Hasay finds her groove.
Jesse Squire digs into the weekend’s best matchups for the Daily Relay, and there are lots of them.
A complete guide to the Millrose Games by Chris Chavez of Citius Mag.
The Nike Oregon Project’s Shannon Rowbury is confident heading into the women’s Wanamaker Mile.
Robby Andrews steps onto the big stage once more.
New pro Drew Hunter will wait to attend college.
Rising star Jarrion Lawson trusts the process.
Sebastian Coe says Nitro Athletics could be just the sort of innovation the sport needs.
USATF signs a multi-year deal with Lagardere Sports for international broadcast rights.
Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir breaks the world record in the women’s half marathon.
Jepchirchir digs deep for the record.
Alan Abrahamson for 3 Wire Sports: We’re getting exactly what we pay for in the anti-doping fight.
Russian Mariya Savinova is stripped of her 2012 Olympic gold medal.
Alysia Montano just won two medals at the world level.
Caster Semenya is now in line for 2012 Olympic gold.
The House of Run guys kick around a number of subjects on the their latest podcast, including the IAAF freeze of transfer rules and Saturday’s Millrose Games.
The front page for LetsRun.com.
The links package from Track & Field News.
The links from Duck Sports Now.
The links from Beaver Sports Now.
— Ken Goe
kgoe@oregonian.com| @KenGoe
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