US Olympic Trials
Former Ducks Cyrus Hostetler and Sam Crouser added to Oregon’s Olympic tally on Monday at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials at Historic Hayward Field in Eugene as both will represent their country in Rio this summer. Hostetler, who still holds the Oregon school record, won the event by jumping to the top of the leaderboard from fourth place on his fifth attempt of 273-1 (83.24m). The throw was a meet record, topping the throw of Curtis Thompson who broke the previous record on his first attempt of 271-11 (82.88m). “The second I hit it, I knew it was gone,” Hostetler said. So did the crowd. And the former Duck said the 21,713 fans in attendance played a big part in that. “I definitely knew the only way I was going to throw far was to get that crowd behind me and sort of absorb the energy of Hayward Field,” he said. “There’s always some magic here and I definitely got that magic on my fifth throw.” Crouser finished in fourth place with a best throw of 256-1 (78.06m), but because he was one of three athletes to have reached the Olympic standard of 83.00m, he became the second qualifier to team USA. Athletes will have Tuesday off before the hammer throw takes place on the Hayward Field infield, Wednesday. former Ducks Greg Skipper and Britney Henry are entered in the fields, with preliminary round qualifying starting at 11 a.m. Halfway through the meet, six athletes with University of Oregon ties have qualified for the Olympic team.
