It's so easy to see why Eugene is a mecca for runners. I begin each day with a drive to Alton Park and a run on Pre's Trail - a wood-chipped covered and scenic path that is inhabited by a plethora of runners. And with the USATF Championships in town, often those runners are fast and familiar. I've seen Lagat, Tegenkamp, Solinsky, and many others each day on my morning run. What an amazing place to run each day.
 
The weather is incredible. Cool nights, warm days, low humidity. I left Chicago in 90 degrees and 100% humidity on Wednesday and landed in 66, sunny and no humidity in Portland. Each day we've been here has featured beautiful blue skies and perfect temps. 
 
And we spent another beautiful day outside in the stands at Hayward Field. We saw semis of the men's and women's 400-meter run and 800-meter run as well as the semis and finals of the 100-meter dash and the finals of the 5000-meter run.
 
No surprise to anyone in the 400 semi, Sonya Richards had the fastest qualifier in 50.96. Some of the other qualifiers included Sharisse Woods and Debbie Dunn in 51.46 and 51.39 respectively. The men's 400 featured favorite LeShawn Merritt and Kerron Clement coming through in 45.45 and 45.08. Should be a great final.
 
The women's 800 had two heats chock full of great talent. Speedy Maggie Vessey did what she did in her prelim race; sit quietly near the back of the pack then with 200 to go, move up, eventually sprinting past the whole pack. She did so again, coming across first in her heat in 2:03. The other five qualifiers were Geena Gall in  a blistering 2:01. Phoebe Wright in 2:02. Morgan Uceny in 2:04, Hazel Clark in 2:02 and Reebok's Katie Waits in 2:04.
 
In the men's 800, favorite Nick Symmonds had the fastest time of the semi's going 1:47:5. Khadevis Robinson and Christian Smith were top in their heat in 1:47:6 and 1:47:9 respectively. The rest of the qualifiers included Ryan Brown (1:47:8), Karjuan Williams (1:47:9), Tevan Everett (1:48) and Michael Rutt (1:48).
 
The women's 100 final was a thriller. Carmelita Jeter had been dominant the whole meet, turning in times it seemed no one could touch. Muna Lee had been surprisingly quiet through the prelims and semis. She'd run hard enough to advance but not at the speeds we are used to seeing her run. That changed in the final when Lee crept up to the shoulder of Jeter and they crossed the finish at what appeared to be exactly the same time of 10.78. To the naked eye, Lee had just run a huge upset. But when checked with electronic timing, Jeter had beaten her by 1/100 of a second. What a race! Lauryn Williams rounded out the U.S. team heading to Berlin for the worlds in 10.96.
 
Tyson Gay did not run the semis or the final of the men's 100, as he was already qualified for Worlds. Instead Michael Rodgers and Darvis Patton ran shoulder to shoulder finishing in 9.91 and 9.92. Monzavous Edwards completed the U.S. team, in 10.00.
 
The women's 5000 was over fairly early. Though the pack was together for about 3000 meters, it was clear Jen Rhines and Kara Goucher were the strongest in the pack. With 1200 meters to go, Rhines and Goucher made a strong move to separate themselves from the pack. Much like the 10,000 final, the race came down to a battle between two women, Rhines and Goucher. Goucher looked smooth and powerful, proving that marathon training can make you faster at the shorter distances. With 500 meters to go, Goucher downshifted and put a sizable gap between herself and Rhines, closing in a 64-second last lap. She crossed in 15:20 with Rhines across in 15:26. Goucher told the crowd after the race, she would not race the 5000 at the World Championships, but would stick with the marathon. After her strong third place finish at Boston, she said she'd run the 5000 to work on her kick, which she feels cost her the top spot at Boston.
 
Oregon Track Club had a 1, 2, 3 sweep in the final of the men's 5000. The race began with Anthomy Famiglietti taking it out hard as he always does and staying in that spot for about 1600 meters or so, with Tegenkamp, Solinsky, Asmeron and Jager close behind. After Asmerom took the lead  and Famiglietti fell back to 5th, he sat there for less than 200 meters and rocketed himself back into first. But it didn't last. Asmeron stayed in first until about 300 to go, when Solinsky passed Asmerom and Illinois native Evan Jager moved to pass them all. Solinsky and Tegenkamp moved with Jager and the three separated themselves with a final push, crossing with Tegenkamp in first, Solinsky in second and Jager in third (13:20:5, 13:20:8, and 13:22). A sweep for the Oregon Elite.
 
Another noteworthy event took place when 18 year-old German Fernandez broke Chris Derek's American Junior Record in the 5000 by more than three seconds, crossing in 6th place and in 13:25:4. I spoke with Fernandez after the race.  He said he the race was "pretty tough" and he'd left all he had on the track, but that he was really looking forward to his future to see what he could do.
 
It was another amazing day and I'll be back with more tomorrow.