NIKE TRACK AND FIELD
THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2025
OH MY RECORD
Athletes at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships ripped up the record books en route to historic finishes.
Read on page 7
By Brady Ruth Sports Editor
Welcome to Hayward Field in beautiful Eugene, Oregon! We at The Daily Emerald are excited to greet you into one of the most iconic track and field locations in the world. TrackTown, USA, is bustling with life, energy and, of course, track! We hope you are able to get around Eugene and see some of the historic sights and highlights of the town’s track history. Hopefully, it gives you a feel for why we love TrackTown, USA, so much and why we’re so honored to cover track and field in Eugene!
Being a student journalist is a privilege in and of itself. This year the Emerald has produced incredible content covering a wide range of collegiate athletics, but now we have an opportunity to report on the sport that truly has put Eugene on the map in our very own historic Hayward Field.
The Daily Emerald is proud to provide coverage of the 2025 Nike Outdoor Nationals. Enjoy reading the history of this iconic stadium, the present Oregon dominance in track and field, and what the future has in store for Hayward Field and the Ducks! On behalf of the Sports Desk, the editing and design teams, our photographers and everyone else at The Daily Emerald, enjoy your time in TrackTown, USA and thank you for supporting student journalism!
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Bill Bowerman: A titan on and off the track Fifty years of magic
What is Nike Outdoor Nationals? Ranking the five best shoes from the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
Looking back at the 2024 track and field National Championships
BILL BOWERMAN: A TITAN ON AND OFF THE TRACK
How one man changed running forever.
By Beck Parsons Sports Reporter
William “Bill” Bowerman was born Feb. 11, 1911, to former Oregon Gov. Jay Bowerman and his wife, Elizabeth. Instead of politics, Bowerman dedicated his life to running and built two empires in the process.
Bowerman grew up with his mother in Fossil, Oregon. He enrolled at the University of Oregon in 1929, where he played football and basketball. As a junior, coach Bill Hayward convinced Bowerman to join the track team.
After college, Bowerman became a schoolteacher and served in World War II following the Pearl Harbor attack. He achieved the rank of major and returned to UO to coach track in 1948.
There, Bowerman became a legend. Across 24 years in Eugene, Bowerman won four national titles and coached 33 Olympians. He also developed the now-commonsense ‘“hard-easy”’ training method, which stressed that athletes not overwork themselves. In 1964, three weeks of ‘hard-easy’ training shaved 27 seconds off Olympian Kenny Moore’s best two-mile time.
It was as Oregon’s track coach that Bowerman met Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight, who walked onto the Oregon track team as a middle-distance runner in 1955.
“It was Bowerman who’d first made me think, really think, about what people put on their feet,” Knight wrote in his 2016 memoir Shoe Dog
“Bowerman was a genius coach, a master motivator, a natural leader of men, and there was one piece of gear he deemed crucial to their development,” Knight continued. “Shoes. He was obsessed with the way human beings are shod.”
According to Knight, Bowerman was notorious for stealing his runners’ shoes. He’d then return them days later “with some minor modification, which made us either run like deer or bleed.”
Bowerman tinkered with every aspect of these shoes, but he prioritized weight above all else. He calculated that removing an ounce of weight from a shoe would translate (the male average of 880 steps per mile multiplied by one ounce per step) to 55 pounds less lift required over a distance of one mile. By Knight’s senior year in 1959, Bowerman was making Knight’s shoes himself.
In 1964, while still coaching the Ducks, Bowerman again partnered up with Knight, this time in distributing Japanese Onitsuka
Tigers under the name Blue Ribbon Sports. While Knight handled the expansion of the company that would one day become Nike, Inc., Bowerman continued to fuel his passion for footwear, combining the best elements of existing Onitsuka shoes into what would eventually become the world-famous Nike Cortez training shoe.
Released in 1972, the Cortez was Nike’s first track shoe. The company’s popularity immediately skyrocketed when the American athletes Bowerman was coaching at the 1972 Summer Olympics were seen wearing Cortezes.
Bowerman’s subsequent development of the “moon shoe” and “waffle trainer” outsoles drove Nike’s continued ascension, paving the way for the Jordan Brand and the billions of dollars that followed.
Bowerman retired as Oregon’s head track coach in March of 1973, but stayed on Nike’s board of directors until June 1999. He died in Fossil on Christmas Eve 1999 at 88 years old.
However, over 25 years later, Bowerman’s legacy remains. Nike has been a Fortune 500 company since 1995. Meanwhile, Oregon’s track and field team has won six outdoor national titles since his retirement, and another 13 in indoor competition since 2009.
Eugene’s Hayward Field bears several tributes to Bowerman. A statue of Bowerman — installed in 2000 and preserved in Hayward’s 2018 to 2020 renovations — stands in the northeast corner, facing the track with a stopwatch in hand. Bowerman is also depicted atop Hayward Field’s 10-story tower, offering his legendary coaching to an unnamed Oregon runner.
The history behind one of track and field’s most beloved meets.
By Lily Crane Sports Reporter
The fans at Hayward Field slowly got up for a standing ovation as Kenyan distance runner Beatrice Chebet began her final lap around the track.
Chebet trailed the favorite to win, Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay, for most of the 2024 Prefontaine Classic 10,000 meters. Chebet lapped several runners coming off the belt, then crossed the finish line at 28 minutes and 54.14 seconds — a new world record. History-making performances like Chebet’s — the only world record from the 2024 edition — are what the track and field world has come to expect from the Prefontaine Classic.
The meet honors Steve Prefontaine, a former University of Oregon and Olympic dis-
tance runner. The start of the meet can be traced back to 1973, but it operated under the name the Hayward Restoration Meet.
Bill Bowerman, the legendary Ducks track and field coach and Nike co-founder, and the Oregon Track Club started the meet to raise money for the renovation of the West Grandstands at the old Hayward Field.
The inaugural event was highlighted by former Olympic gold medalist David Wottle defeating Prefontaine by 0:01.3 seconds in the mile. Wottle wowed the 12,000 fans in attendance as he recorded what was at the time the second fastest mile ever by an American man, doing so while running in his signature golf cap.
The Hayward Restoration Meet was renamed the Bowerman Classic, but eight days before the 1975 meet, the track and field world lost Prefontaine in a tragic car accident. Bowerman and the Oregon Track Club decided to rename it again to the Prefontaine Classic that year.
Since the first Prefontaine Classic, the world’s top track and field athletes put on a
show every year in Eugene, with world records broken on multiple occasions.
While this year’s meet is the 50th anniversary, one of its most prestigious events — the Bowerman Mile — is in its 25th year.
The Bowerman Mile began in 2000, shortly after the passing of the former UO coach.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist, Jakob Ingebrigsten, recorded the fastest Bowerman Mile in 2023 at 3:43.73. Almost every year, it has taken less than four minutes to win the event.
“Always excited to race at Hayward Field,” Ingebrigsten said to the media ahead of the 2022 Bowerman Mile, which he also competed in. “The Bowerman Mile has always been special, as everybody knows. That’s how I felt when I raced here the first time.”
Ingebrigsten will be joined by Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse, the reigning Olympic gold and bronze medalists, respectively, in this year’s Bowerman Mile. Hocker himself left the UO track and field team in 2021 to go professional, signing with Nike and continuing to train under
his former coach, Ben Thomas. Track and field athletes relish the opportunity to compete in the Prefontaine Classic. The 2023 100-meter World Champion, Sha’Carri Richardson, spoke about the thrill of competing at Hayward after her first-place finish at last year’s edition.
“It’s exciting that the stadium here has the magnitude, has the magic and embraces the sport and the love that we as track and field athletes deserve,” Richardson said. “It’s always magical running here.”
Every Prefontaine Classic has taken place at Hayward with the exception of 2019, when it was held at the Cobb Track at Stanford. Hayward Field once again underwent renovations ahead of the 2022 World Championships. In 2020, the meet was cancelled due to COVID-19.
The 2025 Prefontaine Classic is set to be held on July 5 at Hayward Field.
TOP 10 MOMENTS FROM THE 2025
NCAA OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
two extra points on the Razorbacks and the Trojans’ sole point meant that Arkansas finished just one point behind its competitors, who shared the title, in the final standings.
Five women’s 10000-meter athletes run sub-meet-record times
By Owen Murray Sports Reporter
The 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships produced stunning results, including three collegiate-record results and team titles for the Georgia Bulldogs (women’s) and the Texas A&M Aggies and University of Southern California Trojans (men’s, shared).
The Daily Emerald breaks down the top-10 moments from last week’s meet:
Washington pole vaulter Hana Moll breaks (her twin sister’s) NCAA event record on her way to a national title
The Moll twins, Hana and sister Amanda, aren’t strangers to winning. Amanda won the pole vault for the Huskies in Eugene at May’s Big Ten Outdoor Championships, and Hana won the NCAA indoor championship last year as a freshman. In 2025, Amanda won the NCAA indoor title before setting the new collegiate outdoor record (4.78 meters) with her Big Ten win, but Hana raised the bar even further at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a clearance at 4.79m — the new collegiate record. Both sophomores, the Molls finished fifth (Amanda) and sixth (Hana) at last summer’s U.S. Olympic Trials and have their eyes on the 2028 Olympic Games.
Doris Lemngole sets new worldleading time in women’s 3000-meter steeplechase
University of Alabama sophomore Doris Lemngole was one of two athletes to run under the previous collegiate-record time in the women’s 3000m steeplechase — but her 8:58.15-second time was more than 10 seconds faster than second-place Lexy Halladay-Lowry (Brigham Young University). Her time is the top time in the world in 2025 (Halladay-Lowry is second), and featured a 1:07.975 final lap to dive under the nine-minute mark for the first time in her career.
Stacked women’s 800-meter field produces three sub-meet-record times
Three athletes ran under the previous meet-record time in the women’s 800m final, including Stanford University junior Roisin Willis, who won the event in 1:58.13. She ran a personal-best time but finished second in the event in 2024 to teammate Juliette Whittaker — and returned to Hayward Field in 2025 with eyes on the title. Willis finished third overall in the preliminary round behind Louisiana State University senior Michaela Rose (who ran the thenmeet record time in that round), but kicked to victory over the final 100-meters to secure her crown.
Men’s 4x400-meter relay decides the team title
Three collegiate-record marks headlined last week’s meet at Hayward Field. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The men’s team race came down to the final event — the 4x400m relay — where Texas A&M, USC and Arkansas were all still in the running for the national championship. University of South Florida won the race with a new Division I No. 1 time, but A&M finished second after leading for multiple laps, while Arkansas climbed from fifth to third over the final three and USC finished eighth. The Aggies’
After former University of Florida star Parker Valby set the meet record in a runaway 10000m win at last year’s meet, expectations were high in 2025. Valby, who won the 2024 title in 31:46.09, turned professional after the season. In her footsteps was a stacked field which rose even higher than expected. 12 of the 22 athletes who finished the race ran personal-best times, and all of the top five athletes dove under Valby’s mark from last year. The winner, University of New Mexico freshman Pamela Kosgei, ran 31:17.82 — a new personal-best, meet-record and collegiate-leading time.
Bulldogs dominate the women’s 400-meter, 4x400-meter finals en route to championship
University of Georgia crowned its championship with a win in the women’s 4x400m relay, but built its unas sailable lead when the Bulldogs finished first and sec ond (accruing an 18-point haul) in the women’s 400m final. Juniors Aaliyah Butler and Dejanea Oakley ran the new Division I No. 1 and #2 times, respective ly (Butler’s 49.26-second time is the new collegiate leader), to push Georgia into the largest single-event point total of any women’s team at the meet. Butler and Oakley then led the Bulldogs’ relay team to another Division I No. 1 time in the final event to seal its first-ever outdoor women’s championship.
University of Georgia thrower Stephanie Ratcliffe returns to Hayward, wins women’s hammer national title
One year ago, Ratcliffe (a ham mer national champion at Harvard University in 2023) qualified for the national championship in 2024 but threw three foul at tempts that year — eliminating herself from the competition without logging a legal throw. In 2025, she returned and won the event at Hayward Field. Her winning throw was the new collegiate-lead ing mark (71.37m), and also boosted the Bulldogs into a lead on the end of the first day of competition.
Three athletes run Division I top-four times in men’s 400-meter hurdles final
Winner Nathaniel Ezekiel led a stunning men’s 400m hurdles race that saw each of the top three finishers run new DI top-four times; Ezekiel (from Baylor University) won and set the new Division I No. 1 mark in 47.49 seconds, while Ja’Qualon Scott (Texas A&M) finished in a Division I No. 2 48.29 seconds and Kody Blackwood (Texas) ran
a Division I No. 4 48.66-second time. All three times were personal-best marks for the athletes.
Texas A&M University senior Sam Whitmarsh seals career with first 800-meter national title
Several top competitors were eliminated from the 800m final in a tactical first semifinal heat, but Whitmarsh (who finished second in the NCAA outdoor final in 2024) wasn’t concerned. With his Aggies searching for a national team title, Whitmarsh slid past the field on the final back straight of the race to pull away from the group and cross the line alone. His win, the only one A&M earned on day two of competition, ended up being key as the Aggies tied for the national men’s team title.
Aaliyah McCormick sweeps Big Ten outdoor, NCAA outdoor 100-meter hurdles titles
Ducks hurdler Aaliyah McCormick won the Women of Oregon’s lone event of the meet in the 100m hurdles final, where she ran 12.81 seconds. McCormick won the Big Ten outdoor title at Hayward Field earlier this season, before setting a new personal-best mark at the NCAA West Regional (the preliminary round to the NCAA Championships) and winning the national title in Eugene — Oregon’s first outdoor 100m hurdles title in program history.
WHAT IS NIKE OUTDOOR NATIONALS?
The country’s best u20 runners come to Hayward for an exciting weekend of competition.
By Jack Lazarus Sports Associate Editor
Hayward Field’s summer schedule gets underway as Eugene welcomes the best high school track athletes from across the country.
Teams from places as far away as Hunter College Campus Schools in New York City or West Bend West in West Bend, Wisconsin will feature in one of Nike’s biggest sponsored events. There are athletes competing from all 50 states as well as from four Canadian provinces, Namibia, South Korea and Singapore, according to the Nike Outdoor Nationals’ website.
The Nike u20 Outdoor Nationals will include athletes from middle school, high school and a para division.
Qualifying for Nike Outdoor Nationals is no easy feat. As outlined on the event’s website, the standards for qualification are up there with times needed to compete at the highest collegiate levels.
The competition will take place from June 19-22 and will happen all day for each age group.
The event is facilitated by USA Track and Field, and high school athletes have been able to qualify and sign up all throughout the year. The standards are high for reaching the highest level of the meet, according to the Nike Outdoor Nationals website.
“Athletes accepted into the Emerging Elite section are eligible to move to the Championship division,” Nike’s website said. “Once the Championship standard is met, you must update your entry with the Championship result link for review and acceptance. Entry into the Championship division will be accepted if the event has not reached capacity.”
This is after the season for most states in the country, so most high school ath letes have completed competition for the year, which makes this event a much less competitive atmosphere and centered around celebrating the sport in Trac kown USA.
There are five national record hold ers and 27 athletes ranked No. 1 who will be running in Eugene. Those hold ers include Tate Taylor in the outdoor 100-meter and indoor 200-meter, Jayden Horton-Mims in the indoor 300-meter, Cooper Lutkenhaus in both the indoor and outdoor 800-meter and Jane Hedengren in the indoor 1500-meter, mile and 5000-me ter as well as the outdoor mile, 3000-meter, 2 mile and 5000m.
In the fall, Hedengren won the 20242025 Gatorade National Girls Cross Country Player of the Year and the Nike Cross Championships. Hedengren comes
from Timpview High School in Provo, Utah and is currently committed to stay home at Brigham Young University.
The Gatorade National Boys Cross Country Player of the Year and Nike Cross Champion Charlie Vause is also competing, and is also committed to run for the BYU Cougars. He currently attends Rio Rancho High School in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
Three of the five fastest boys 100m sprinters in high school history will be competing including the aforementioned Taylor, who holds the national record. Taylor attends Harlan High School in San Antonio, Texas.
The girls 100m also includes a stacked field with the six highest ranked high school sprinters competing at Hayward. Dana Wilson, the fourth fastest in high school history and University of Tennessee commit, will battle against Mariah Maxwell, the fifth fastest in high school history who attends Atascocita High School in Humble, Texas.
NON is co-hosted with the 2025 USATF U-20 Outdoor Championships — several of the attending athletes overlap between the two qualifying categories, and the races will be mixed together throughout the week. That event, which is the official national championship for American U-20 athletics, has spent its last three iterations at Hayward Field.
The nation’s best athletes are making their way to Eugene, which means that Hayward magic will be alive for the next generation.
RANKING THE FIVE BEST SHOES FROM THE NCAA OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Which athletes had the most heat on their feet?
By Joe Krasnowski Sports Reporter
Nike and the University of Oregon are synonymous with greatness. But before the iconic shoe brand and Big Ten powerhouse connect over the weekend in the Nike Outdoor Nationals, the best in the country participated in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships from June 11-14. During competition, the best athletes in the country touted some of the best kicks in the game. With that being said, the Emerald has composed a list ranking the top shoes worn from the Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field.
Note: this list is made entirely on how cool the shoes look and holds no merit in wearability and performance.
1 Nike High Jump Elite, Track and Field Jumping Spikes, Volt/Mint Foam/ Cave Purple. Nick Bianco, University of Colorado #
The green has always and will always work for me. I, for one, was definitely a highlighter kid and Bianco’s look proves to be a timeless classic in my book. The strap on the inside of both shoes is a nice touch and although just one color, the neon is as good as you can get while competing. This look has a ton of versatility and overall is just a really solid combination, good for the No.1 spot.
2
Nike Zoom Mamba 6, Track and Field Distance Spikes, White/ Bright Spruce/Vapor Green/Black. Koitatoi Kidali, University of Oregon #
This one and the Bianco’s look were neck and neck for my top spot. Kidali’s look not only works due to the impeccable colorway that comes with the Zoom Mamba 6, but also fits perfectly with Oregon’s look over-
all. The neon bottom (yes more neon) is a great finishing look and helps this claim the No. 2 spot in these rankings.
3 Nike Maxfly 2, Track & Field SprintingSpikes, Total Orange/Dark Obsidian. Connor Washington, University of Arkansas #
Washington’s look might be the most unique and it works well for me. Although untraditional, the ostrich marks add a nice design and provide a lot of elements I wasn’t really expecting. Yes, there’s a lot of orange, but it looks nice overall and matches the track well. Well done.
4 Nike Zoom Rival Sprint Track & Field Sprinting Spikes. (unknown) #
A mystery wearer of these shoes here, the Zoom Rival spikes work well for me and the solid red colorway is a very solid look. Not a ton going on with the black classic Swoosh, but there are a lot of interesting elements that work well for me and help this timeless classic grab the No. 4 spot in these rankings.
5 Men’s Adidas Adizero High Jump, High Jump Spikes, Blue. Cole Wilson, High Point University #
A lone non-Nike selection, Wilson’s look is just clean and cool. The three stripes are pretty timeless and worked well with the rest of his outfit as well. There’s not a ton of color going around (not enough neon) but overall, this is everything a shoe should be and a worthy selection for the No. 5 selection.
LOOKING BACK AT THE 2024 TRACK AND FIELD NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
What happened in 2024’s version of NCAA Outdoor National Championships?
By Max Koebel Sports Reporter
It’s that time of year again in TrackTown, USA. As the University of Oregon student body trickles away from campus for the summer and the sun heats up the Willamette Valley, Hayward Field remains in full swing with the Nike NCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. Division I track and field teams from every corner of the United States make their way to Eugene to perform on the highest collegiate stage.
Like all other years, last year brought four days filled with
Southern California Trojans. Stevenson’s best jump was 8.22m.
That evening, Men’s Shot Put went to sophomore Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan from the University of Mississippi Rebels, recording a high of 20.88m. The evening closed out with the Men’s 10,000 meter race. Finishing first was freshman Habtom Samuel from the University of New Mexico Lobos, who finished in 28:07.82.
The second day was the same series of events for the women’s athletes. The Hammer went to Texas State University Bobcats’ sophomore Elisabet Rut Runarsdottir, with a high of 70.47m. The Pole Vault went to junior Chloe
that lasted until the end didn’t all achieve the results they were aiming for. The teams with the most memorable experiences in Eugene are the ones that finished the Nationals in the top five.
In 2024, Texas A&M University finished at No. 5 on the men’s side with a score of 31, and Mississippi came in at No. 5 for the women’s events, scoring 38. At No. 4, it was the Ducks on the women’s side with a score of 40.5, and the University of Alabama on the men’s side with 32. The USC men’s team and Texas women’s team finished at No. 3 with 33 and 41, respectively. At No. 2, the Florida women’s team finished with 59, and the Auburn University men’s team
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