May 2020 Contents
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May 2020 Track and Field Contents Writers of P. 1 President’s Message America P. 3 TAFWA Website Update P. 3 Five FBS Conferences, Including AAC and C-USA. Ask NCAA to Relax Division I Requirements (Founded June 7, 1973) P. 4 Hilmer Lodge Stadium at Mt. San Antonio College | Washington & Washington State Dual PRESIDENT P. 5 News Links Jack Pfeifer P. 6 Suspension of Olympic Qualification Gets Cool Reception 2199 NW Everett St. #601 P. 7 Like a ‘70s Disco Classic, Kenya and Russia (and others) Appear to Just Keep on Dopin’ Portland, Oregon 97210 Office/home: 917-579- P. 9 America’s Best Runners’ Bar is Closing 5392. Email: P. 10 For New Jersey Track & Field Godfather, a 74-year Penn Relays Streak Gets Placed on Hold [email protected] P. 11 Coogan’s Letter P. 12 An Elegy for an Old Friend: Coogan’s SECRETARY- TREASURER P. 16 Mary Cain and Nick Willis Join Tracksmith Tom Casacky P. 17 Catching Up With ... Haile Gebrselassie P.O. Box 4288 P. 17 Revised Wanda Diamond League Schedule Announced for 2020 Napa, CA 94558 P. 18 NCAA Stonewalls Calls for Universities to Sponsor Less (Olympic) Sports Phone: 818-321-3234 Email: [email protected] P. 20 Olympic Qualification Period Suspended Until 1 December 2020 P. 21 Catching Up With ... Allyson Felix | News Link FAST P. 22 News Links Dave Johnson P. 23 When You Disassemble Max Siegel’s $4.2 Million Comp Reported for 2018, It All Comes Back to Nike & USATF Email: [email protected] P. 24 News Link Phone: 215-898-6145 P. 25 Voice of New England Track and Field P. 27 Lawsuit Claims Former USOPC Chief Executive Misled Donor Over Funding for US Center for SafeSport WEBMASTER P. 28 News Links Michael McLaughlin Email: P. 29 Back In the Day: Penn Relays Streak Holds Fond Memories [email protected] P. 30 France’s Guy Drut Says the Games “Must Reinvent Themselves” Phone: 815-529-8454 P. 32 You Relays (Really) Got a Hold On Me P. 36 2020 Fixtures List NEWSLETTER EDITOR Shawn Price Email: [email protected] President’s Message Phone: 979-661-0731 For a year with no track meets, there’s been a lot of activity. By our reckoning, it’s the first spring with- out track meets in the States for at least 150 years. That’s saying something. There were of course cancellations for both world wars, but the Penn Relays, which began 125 years ago, had never been forced to cancel before this. That said, both Penn and Drake are still holding out hope for a possible event later this year, possibly in the Fall. The same is true for the US Nationals and the Prefontaine Classic, which reportedly are looking at possible dates in late September or early October, if conditions brought about by the coronavirus permit it. Other Diamond League events, in Europe and Asia, are scrambling to reschedule, still hoping to stage meets later in the summer. For the USATF meet, Mt. SAC in LA has been mentioned as a possible site. Their new Hilmer Lodge Stadium is finished and ready to host a meet for the first time in years. In Eugene, where Prefontaine would be held, Hayward Field is getting closer to completion. A dry run was held last week on both the sound and lighting systems. For the Prefontaine meet to be held, the University of Oregon campus would have to open to the student body. It is not known yet when that might take place, though the State of Oregon has begun a step-by-step reopening. Virtual events “Virtual” road running has begun as hundreds of such actual races – from 5k’s to marathons to ultras – have had to shut down. These are business ventures, so the event owners are in jeopardy without substitute activities. In New England, the meet promoter John Mor- timer has set up a “virtual” 5K on a private course where runners can pick up a chip for $10, then run and submit their time. Hundreds have signed up. Even the venerable Dipsea, which began in Marin County in 1905, has cancelled this year’s race, for the first time since the end of World War II 75 years ago. Some of the world’s leading pole vaulters found a way to have a Vaulting Challenge in their backyards, first the men, then the women. Thousands watched online, counting the clearances. There was a tie in the men’s division – what happened to the Countback Rule?? Olympic Games As everyone knows, the Summer Olympics have been put off a year. The IOC hopes to hold the Games in Tokyo in the summer of 2021. It would be the first time there has been a 5-year gap between Games, testimony to the extreme measures organizers are willing to take to keep from canceling this Olympiad. In line with that, there was a big ripple effect in Eugene. The Olympic Trials were pushed back a year, to June 2021, and the World Championships a year, to July 2022. If the Games still cannot be held in 2021, the Tokyo Games will be lost. Meantime, there are rumblings in Paris, the scheduled host in 2024. As for 2021, it is our understanding that the NCAA Championships are likely to be held in Eugene. This would mean that Texas/Aus- tin, which was in line to host again this spring, will not host a second year after all. Because of financial pressure, proposals are on the table to tighten the 2020-21 season, in all sports. It is not clear, for example, if the lucrative football season will be played at all, or begin on time, or have fans in the stands. Schools are expected to severely limit the use of air travel for travel to sports events in the coming school year. This could cause the cancellation or shrinking or some events, and make some events more local or regional than they have been. As for the spring championship season, discussions are under way to eliminate the 2021 Outdoor Regional meets, on a one-year trial basis, and as a result move the NCAA Championships earlier on the calendar. In Eugene, this would have a substantial ripple effect, as the current May 2021 schedule at Hayward Field tentatively includes the Pac-12 meet, the Oregon state high school championships, and Prefontaine. Where would the NCAA meet fit? One possibility would be to swap weekends with the Pre meet. Either way, there is not much time between the conclusion of next year’s NCAA meet and the scheduled beginning of the Olympic Trials Friday June 18. TAFWA That’s a good segue. TAFWA’s next event, postponed from this year, will be the 2021 Awards Breakfast. It will be Friday morning, June 25, at Gerlinger Hall, on the Oregon campus, on the final weekend of the Trials. Please mark this on your calendar. If you have not paid your $30 dues for this year, please do so by Paypal or check to Treasurer Tom Casacky. Preps All levels of the sport have of course been hammered – Open, college, high school, masters. Half a dozen top high school milers found an answer over the weekend, however, by running a race head-to-head on a high school track near Sacramento. It was broadcast live on the web, and sure enough, one young man broke 4:00, a remarkable accomplishment given the severe lack of training and competitive opportunities. (Yes, the race was autotimed.) In a business development, New Balance announced that it had ended its sponsorship of the national high school indoor and outdoor championship meets put on by the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation. The NSAF is attempting to have an alternative “virtual” championships online this summer. Next winter, New Balance has announced that it will stage its own version of the Indoor Nationals; that meet is expected to move to the company’s new indoor facility when its opens in Boston in 2022. Departures It’s happened so fast, it’s hard to keep up, but we would be remiss in not mentioning the retirement of one of TAFWA’s best friends and allies in the coaching ranks, Norm Ogilvie – a former TV guy as well – after 30 years at Duke University, and the reluctant closure of the best track bar in the world, Coogan’s, around the corner from The Armory in Washington Heights in New York. One of that restau- rant’s owners and founders, Peter Walsh, thankfully continues as TAFWA’s book guru. HIGH SCHOOL TRACK 1940 Jack Shepard, boys HS editor for Track & Field News and editor/publisher of the High School Track series (since 1980), along with Bob Jarvis, FAST Award winning statistician, have spent decades gathering data to continue High School Track back into the pre-1950s. The first of this historic series covers the year 1940. The booklet contains 30-deep yearly lists, with meet/site/date, along with the then HS records and 10-deep all- time lists. [26 8½” x 11” pages] Send a check or money order for $20, made payable to Jack Shepard, 14551 Southfield Dr., Westminster, CA 92683. Postage is included in the price for North America. Add $2 for foreign TAFWA Membership Dues for 2020 TAFWA dues for 2020 will remain at $30, and will buy you a series of excellent newsletters, the 2020 FAST Annual, and privileged entry to special TAFWA social events at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene (our yearly breakfast with athletes and coaches).