Nelson Feels The Love In Hayward Return

EUGENE, Ore. – As the fourth heat of the women’s 100-meter preliminaries took to the blocks Saturday night at Hayward Field, the crowd was buzzing.

Each of the previous three matches had been won by a Jamaican. That country was well represented in the stands in Hayward for Saturday’s session of the World Track and Field Championships, and they had another athlete to cheer on in the fourth heat — one who was also an alum of the meet’s host, the University of Oregon. . .

And so, as the reigning NCAA runners-up Kemba Nelson from both Jamaica and Oregon prepared for its heat.

“Come on Kemba,” yelled a man dressed in Jamaican green, black and yellow. “Your trail!”

A smiling Nelson later said, “One thing about Jamaicans, we’re everywhere. It’s never a surprise to see how many of us are out there.”

If her fans showed up for Nelson on Saturday, Nelson obliged them by showing up as well, running 11.10 seconds to finish third in her heat and automatically qualify for Sunday’s semifinals. Nelson will run as part of an action-packed day for UO alums on Sunday that begins with Galen Rupp in the marathon at 6:15 a.m., will see Jillian Weir go for a medal in the hammer throw at 11 a.m.: 35, followed by Devon Allen, Johnny Gregorek and Nelson run into the evening – with Allen and Nelson able to compete in both the semifinals and finals of their events.

So continues a busy season for Nelson – but also one that has been extended more than a year ago, when she was seventh at the Jamaican Championships and failed to make the Tokyo Olympics.

“Last year, Trials wasn’t my best,” she said Saturday. “I got into my head, saying, yeah, I’m really tired from a long season.

“But I’ve put it behind me. I’m tired when I say I’m tired.”

Oregonian Jessica Hull isn’t buying into any talk of a busy schedule. For the second day in a row she ran a controlled 1,500 meters on Saturday, advancing to the final of Monday’s event, after which she will turn her attention to the 5,000.

After finishing second in her heat on Friday, Hull was advised by her coach to think more about third or fourth place in Saturday’s semi-final, saving energy for the final. That advice was put to the test when 2019 bronze medalist Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia began pushing the pace in the 700 before Saturday. But Hull allowed Great Britain’s Laura Muir to take over behind Tsegay and followed her home in third place, clocking 4:01.81.

“I’m actually very proud of how patient I was at that point,” Hull said, “because it’s easy to take the bait. I knew Gudaph was going to get away, and I didn’t want to be the one to go with her. She . I wanted someone else to go ahead of me, and Laura did just that. So I was proud of myself for not doing, like, 10 meters too much anxiety.”

“All I had in my head at that moment was calm, calm, calm.”

As the pitch hit the fairway, Hull glanced around to make sure she was in good position. And she had a sneaking suspicion that Muir in particular had more to give but was “probably holding her cards”. Thus, Hull obliged.

Playing such cat-and-mouse games with elite international competition is a relatively new sensation for Hull, who are in their second World Athletics Championships and were also an Olympic finalist in Tokyo.

“It’s really different to be in the position where I can take these good women away,” Hull said. “Whereas in 2019 in Doha, I was the athlete who came home. Now I’m up there and we’re looking at each other, not wanting to give too much away.”

UO alum Johnny Gregorek also has another 1,500-meter race to look forward to after advancing to Saturday’s opening round in the men’s event. The 2015 Oregon graduate was ninth in his bell lap but moved up to sixth in 3:35.65, claiming the final automatic qualifying spot in his heat.

That time was less than half a second off Gregorek’s season best. He predicted that kind of effort would be required to make Sunday’s semifinal.

“It’s where the event is right now — great depth of talent, a lot of strong guys,” Gregorek said. “So I know what to be ready for — a long burn.”

Among that depth of talent was another UO alum, Cooper Teare, the recently crowned US champion in the event. Teare ran in Saturday’s opening heat and was in the top six for most of the race before fading to 13th over the final lap in 3:41.15.

Teare said afterward that he won the US title despite feeling the effects of a stress reaction in his left tibia. The condition limited his training for the Worlds in swimming and cycling, which came at the bell on Saturday.

“I just felt so flat,” Teare said. “You can do all the endurance stuff on the bike or in the pool, but that lap stuff is hard. When the world-class guys are starting to turn it around and really hit it, that’s hard to replicate doing anything other than running.”

Teare’s friend, training partner and fellow UO program Cole Hocker also had to work out due to injury this summer, and didn’t even make it to Oregon22.

“So it goes,” Teare said. “You’ve got to roll with those punches. I worked my ass off to do my best to come out here and go as far as I could go, and that’s all it was today. It’s tough to get this result at my start. Really big World Stage, and especially when it’s here. But there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Allen was the first UO alum on the track Sunday, for his opening round of the 110 hurdles. After mourning the death of his father in the weeks since the USATF championships — Allen finished third despite learning of the loss the same weekend — Allen won his heat Saturday morning in 13.47 seconds.

“I was a little clumsy today, but it’s OK,” said Allen, who will go through football and training camp with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles in a few weeks. “It doesn’t really matter. 100 percent, the goal (on Sunday) will be to go for a sub-13 time. It could be my last 30 hours on the track.”