“Yea baby, track is back at Oregon State!” With this terse yet jubilant utterance Erin Jones, a cross country & track runner of OSU, aptly described the mood of the fans and officials of OSU yesterday. The young harrier’s words may have been one of the last expressed but her words most aptly describe the mood of the day.
Tuesday June 14, 2011 – mark it down in your ‘This Day in Track & Field’ database, for ground was broken for a new track and field facility at Oregon State. From 1893 until 1988 there was a long chain of track meets at OSU, which Olympian Dick Fosbury noted “was broken”, when the school terminated the sport of track & field. Despite that decision, however, and in the face of serious obstacles a tireless cast of Beaver alumni labored to reinstate the program. The first major step was taken in 2004, when head coach Kelly Sullivan debuted his women’s Cross Country team at the Pier Park Invitational in Portland. That team has continued to improve and is now a force in the region. The winter of 2010, where we were fortunate enough to be on hand, saw the next major step, when Jordan Bishop and a number of other football team members were allowed by the NCAA to compete at the Dempsey Indoor Facility at the University of Washington. That was the second major step for the revival.
While these were both crucial moments in reviving the program, there was still a void. If runners wanted to measure themselves in a speed workout, they had to travel to Corvallis or Philomath High School to find a track and, while the generosity of both schools was appreciated, the situation was hardly optimal. Summit High in Bend alone has a number of former athletes, who would love to compete, but the additional travel made it too difficult. Edward Ray, Oregon State University President addressed the issue bluntly Tuesday, when he stated “we should not ask our athletes to compete, if we do not give them the right tools." With the creation of a new T & F facility that issue has been addressed.
OSU head football coach Mike Riley spoke to the audience, as a supporter of the program, just as he had done last fall at the announcement of a major donor for the funding of the new stadium, He noted that it will aid in his own recruiting, as numerous players prefer having the option of competing in two sports. Mr. Riley even stated that athletes like Jordan Bishop “should compete in two sports.” Jordan Bishop, who was one of the football players, who competed that winter day at the Dempsey Center, was a speaker yesterday too. Jordan spoke about qualifying for the NCAA National meet last spring seeded 24th out of 24 jumpers. As fate would have it, the NCAA meet was held at Hayward Field on the campus of rival Oregon University and Jordan remarked that “I did not think I’d get a standing ovation because I was in Eugene – but I did.” The memory of the Hayward field bleacher fans standing to applaud the return of OSU still lingers and was more than touching. It was another proud moment for OSU track and it was augmented by Jordan’s achieving All-American status in the High Jump. It should be noted that Vin Lanana, head coach at Oregon for Track & XC, was on hand yesterday in support of the renewal of the program as was former Oregon women’s coach Tom Heinonen. It will be great to see the return of the rivalry on the track and it will be good for both programs.
Jim Whyte, who is the principal donor, spoke briefly and noted that contributions are still being happily accepted and that “matching funds are still available.” He and a number of others gathered on the grounds after the speaking and with shovels in hand the group began to break ground for the new facility. With all the rain of the past few months one might have thought, that digging for a shovel-full of dirt might be easy and it is probably a testament to the overall challenge to reinstate the program, that it was much more of a challenge than might have been anticipated. Still in the end the ground was broken and after the celebrities had had their turn Erin Jones, Jennifer Macias & Laura Carlyle gave it a go despite wearing dresses and high heels. Those Beavers are a determined lot!
So now we can look forward to finishing the track and all the many advantages that will be brought to the university in general. Of course the goal is a truly competitive team, which will be producing Olympians and national champions like the former program. A strong OSU contingent will even be a boon to the Oregon program for competition makes for a better quality of athlete, while a rivalry tends to bring out the best in individuals involved. The goal is to return to challenge even their rival to the south and Dick Fosbury underscored that goal, when he stated: “We don’t walk like a Duck or talk like a Duck. We don’t surrender, when opposed. We are industrious and clever like a Beaver.” Yes indeed, track is back at Oregon State!