We Will Miss You at the Grill Meet Jill Mester, OTC Superstar By Don McLean Jill Mestler hails from Enumclaw, Washington, the 15th of 16 children of a medical doctor and the busiest mom in town. Jill first visited Eugene in 1990 to attend the Prefontaine Classic and ran her first Oregon race at an OTC All Comers meet at Hayward Field. Fast forward 14 years, she became the Volunteer Coordinator for the All Comers Meets in 2004 and the Meet Director in 2007, a position she still holds. Jill has been an OTC Board member since 2007 and serves on the OTC committee that started the OTC Youth Cross Country program. She is one of the Oregon Track Club coaches for the program. “I made the trip to Eugene to attend the Prefontaine meet with high school coaches and teammates. Then I attended track camp at the UO and ran in an All Comers Meet as part of camp activity and met my future college coach, Tom Heinonen. I attended the UO from 1991-1995 and ran cross country and track,” Mestler said. Jill obtained a bachelor’s degree in Exercise and Movement Science from UO and a master’s in education from Pacific University. After years in education, she is now a busy real estate agent with Windermere Real Estate. In addition to being a youth cross country coach, she is a volunteer coach with the Sheldon High School Track and Field and Cross Country teams. Jill is married to Rick and is mother to Jackson, Caramia, and Vincent. That fab five are former, current, or future UO track and cross country athletes. What a resume! How did being raised in such a large family in a small town develop your strength, resolve, and volunteerism? Growing up with ten brothers and five sisters certainly shaped me in many ways. eW played a lot of sports against each other just outside at our home and we were relentless and competitive for sure. There was no tolerance from siblings for pouting or whining so it became really fun to try hard and attempt to keep up with the big kids. Being from a big family, you also have a lot of practice at waiting your turn and being reminded that the world does not revolve around just you. So, being a part of the energy of teams and volunteering with large groups feels like home. When/how/why did you develop your passion for running? Family influence? Mentors? My older sister Gina, who is eight years older than me, really influenced me a lot. She gave me a pair of her hand-me-down sweatpants with a cool frog patch on them when I was in third grade. We didn’t run again until I was a freshman in high school and had been playing volleyball, basketball, and sprinting in track. I remember we finished a four or five-mile run that was so fun because we were just talking the whole time. She convinced me I was a distance runner on that run, and I joined the cross country team and switched to distance on the track. My high school coaches, Tim Tubbs and Frank Lancaster, also made practices so fun and coach Tubbs taught me so much about just loving the thrill of racing. continued Mestler My entire huge family is into sports (mostly basketball) so the family is focused on being active and always supportive. What changes have you seen in the All Comers program in the past three decades? Possible changes in the future? Back to Hayward Field? All Comers have changed venues several times due to facility availability, but schedule and format has changed very little actually. We have become more efficient I think, and we have added automatic timing for sprint races. Some of the volunteers have stayed the same for three decades: Tom and Janet Heinonen, Larry Callaway, the entire crew at Raise the Bar Pole Vaulting Club, Laura LaMena Coll, Catherine Calbreath, Kelli Walk, Erin Regali, Cathie Twomey Bellamy, and others have been consistently volunteering every year for the meets before I even arrived in 2004! We certainly hope to return to Hayward Field in the coming year! Will there be OTC Youth Cross County this year? Details on the program? Yes, our OTC Youth Cross Country Team will begin again in early September with opportunities for practices two days per week and meets through early December. The Youth XC Club Team is for kids ages 8-14 and is designed to introduce the sport of cross country and give kids a chance to have fun with their peers and build fitness. Kids get to work out with others of their same age group and participate in activities and opportunities as a larger team. Visit the OTC website for more information. Registration will open in August. There is a large and experienced coaching staff made up of runners of all ages that includes several OTC Elite athletes. Tom Farrell, Sabrina Southerland, and Hanna Green are some of the elite athletes that help coach. Best coaching memory? So many coaching memories! So many wonderful teams and kids. But this past season helping at Sheldon High School was extra special. After all that everyone has been through with the pandemic and doubts if a season would even happen, and a lot of frustrations and roller coaster for all, these resilient kids and coaches from all the local schools remained committed and extra supportive of each other. It was a great memory when we finally got to see all the big, huge smiles of the athletes when they were allowed to compete without masks for the first-time mid-season. Both you and Rick were terrific track athletes. What sort of parenting produced the super success of your children? Ugh, tough kind of question. Rick and I like to say we do not want to take much credit (or blame) for the kids! “Success” is not determined by a stopwatch or a place at the finish.Truly, they each have their own unique personality and their own stories and goals. Our role is just to listen to them, give big hugs, and be as supportive as they need in all areas of life, not just running. The running piece is such a tiny part of parenting, and there are so many other fun ways we get to enjoy spending time with all our kids and seeing what they choose to do for themselves. All the kids have great coaches who have helped with their running success. Parting advice? Come to the All Comers Meets this summer! Meets are at Springfield High School. Ages 12 and under start at 5:00 p.m. on these dates: July 7, 14, 21, and 28. Ages 13 and older start at 4:30 p.m. on these dates: July 8, 15, 22, and 29..