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Dave Hunter

Dave HunterDave Hunter is a track & field journalist, announcer, and broadcaster.  Dave reports on the premier track & field gatherings around the globe, frequently serves as an arena or stadium announcer for championship events, and has undertaken foreign and domestic broadcast assignments in the sport.

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Category: Track

Lananna_Vin-USind17.jpgVin Lananna, photo by PhotoRun.net

TrackTown USA's Lananna Upbeat About Domestic Track & Field

June 6th, 2017

Eugene, Oregon

On the eve of the 2017 NCAA Div. I outdoor track & field championships, Vin Lananna - President of TrackTown USA and Associate Athletic Director at the University of Oregon - was relaxed and smiling as he watched scores of hopeful athletes get their final warmups in at Hayward Field. Fueling his upbeat spirits is Lananna's optimism about the present state and likely trajectory of American track & field.

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Category: Track

Clement_KerronFL1-Rio16.jpgKerron Clement, Rio 2016 Olympic champion, photo by PhotoRun.net

Reigning Olympic Hurdle Champion Unafraid of Candor

April 9th, 2017

As is the case in virtually every undertaking in life, goal-setting is an essential ingredient for track & field success. The better athletes in our sport reflect upon past accomplishments, assess their fitness level, target their goals, and map out a strategy to achieve them. Yet without the athlete's commitment, the prospects for goal achievement are slim indeed. Studies show that when an athlete does commit, but then also verbalizes and shares the targeted goals with others, it serves to strengthen the resolve of the athlete who has gone public with the dream. Some athletes - who see risk in sharing their goals with others - are coy about their annual or long-range objectives and are reluctant to share their goals with others. Other bolder and more confident track & field performers do not fear publication of what they hope to accomplish and see it as technique to inspire them to employ their best efforts to succeed. Kerron Clement is one such athlete.

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Category: Event Coverage

 

April 29th, 2017

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

In 2000, Penn mastermind Dave Johnson concocted a novel plan to incorporate track & field professionals into the Penn Relay Carnival. The idea was grounded upon the concept of a global team relay competition. The United States - the "home country" - would take on teams assembled by other nations comprised of pros looking for an appropriate season opener for their extended outdoor seasons. When the approach was embraced by both USATF and NBC, the threads of both professional track & field and international team competition were weaved into the Penn Relays tapestry.

18 years later, USA vs. The World is a beloved fixture and a critical element of Penn's concluding day. Yellow, black, and green are predominant throughout Franklin Field as roving throngs of Jamaican fans - armed with air horns - help fill Franklin Field on Day Three. With a new pact recently inked among USATF, NBC, and Penn, the USA vs. The World concept - borne at the turn of the century - will march on for at least another 4 years.

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Category: Event Coverage

 

'Nova's Piccirillo Now Penn's Most Decorated

April 28th, 2017

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

As Day Two dawned, Penn Relays athletes, coaches, officials, and fans were greeted by another gorgeous spring day in the City of Brotherly Love. While some may have complained that the temperature was a little warmish for the longer running events, no one could quarrel with the dominating sun, blue skies, and only an occasional light zephyr out of the south.

Penn is more than a superb track & field carnival. It is an exercise in multi-tasking - as one attempts to absorb the results from events just completed, watch progression in the high jump, check out form in the long jump warmups, record times in the shuttle hurdles, and appreciate the athleticism in the series of age-group 100 meter finals. Amid the constant swirl of activity, here are some of the more notable track moments from Day Two of the Penn Relays:

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Category: Event Coverage

Granddaddy Of All Relays Is Like No Other!

April 27th, 2017

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

OK, so you consider yourself to be a track & field aficionado - a connoisseur of athletics. But let's be honest: if you have not personally experienced the majesty, the cultural immersion, the electricity of The Penn Relay Carnival, your résumé is incomplete. Over the next three days of perfect springtime weather, the University of Pennsylvania will host approximately 20,000 athletes from more than 1,000 high schools, 200 colleges from 32 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 11 countries, and a professional gathering featuring some of the most accomplished track & field athletes in the world who will compete in 302 events to the delight of over 100,000 frenetic fans.

And the excitement is not limited to inside the ivy-covered walls of Franklin Field. After all, this Relay is billed as a carnival - and it is. A festival-like atmosphere surrounds this historic landmark: nervous athletes stretching and completing their warm-ups, fans relaxing and enjoying a bite to eat, others trying their hand at sideshow games, food stands offering standard fare and exotic cuisine, and the ever-present, irrepressible green-black-and-yellow clad Jamaican fans - all amid the blare of party music and the unusual blended aroma of sizzling Philly cheesesteaks and analgesic balm.

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Category: Event Coverage

 

Stefandini_Ekaterini-OlyGame16.jpgEkaterina Stefanidi, photo by PhotoRun.net

 

A successful track & field athlete needs several critical traits: natural talent; a disciplined work ethic; a reliable support system; knowledgeable coaching; an unflappable demeanor; an unshakeable focus; and - among the most important - an engrained sense of motivation which inspires the athlete to employ all of those other characteristics in the quest to achieve the targeted track & field goal. A survey of the current marquee track & field athletes suggests that Ekaterina Stefanidi, reigning Olympic and Diamond League pole vault champion, is among those few athletes who receive high marks in virtually all of these categories - especially motivation.

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Category: Event Coverage

 

Kiplagat_EdnaA-Boston17.JPgEdna Kiplagat, photo by PhotoRun.net

One Cruel Move In The Newton Hills Seals Boston Win

Boston, Massachusetts

Patriots' Day

Monday, April 17th, 2017

On a sun-drenched Patriots' Day morning, Boston Marathon legend Kathrine Switzer - who would celebrate the 50th anniversary of her historic 1967 participation in this race by running 121st Boston Marathon in a later wave - fired the starting pistol to send an elite group of world-class women storming out of Hopkinton to begin their 26 mile 385 yard odyssey to Boston's Back Bay. The 70 degree temperature at the race's start promoted conservatism early as a pack of about 15 pacesetters - led by defending champion Alsede Baysa of Ethiopia and her country woman Buzunesh Deba - split the first downhill mile in a guarded 5:55. The lead pack - which included hopeful Americans Desi Linden and marathon debutante Jordan Hasay - was in warm-up mode as it glided by 2 miles in 11:31. The 5K split - 17:45 - projected a finishing time of around 2:29. Everyone in the lead pack knew faster racing was ahead.

 

Kiplagat_EdnaA-Boston17.JPgEdna Kiplagat, photo by PhotoRun.net

One Cruel Move In The Newton Hills Seals Boston Win

Boston, Massachusetts

Patriots' Day

Monday, April 17th, 2017

On a sun-drenched Patriots' Day morning, Boston Marathon legend Kathrine Switzer - who would celebrate the 50th anniversary of her historic 1967 participation in this race by running 121st Boston Marathon in a later wave - fired the starting pistol to send an elite group of world-class women storming out of Hopkinton to begin their 26 mile 385 yard odyssey to Boston's Back Bay. The 70 degree temperature at the race's start promoted conservatism early as a pack of about 15 pacesetters - led by defending champion Alsede Baysa of Ethiopia and her country woman Buzunesh Deba - split the first downhill mile in a guarded 5:55. The lead pack - which included hopeful Americans Desi Linden and marathon debutante Jordan Hasay - was in warm-up mode as it glided by 2 miles in 11:31. The 5K split - 17:45 - projected a finishing time of around 2:29. Everyone in the lead pack knew faster racing was ahead.

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Category: Event Coverage

 

Kirui-RuppH-Boston17.JPgGeoffrey Kirui and Galen Rupp, in the heat of the battle, photo by PhotoRun.net

 

Boston, Massachusetts

Patriots' Day

Monday, April 17th, 2017

The elite men danced nervously just behind the starting line as they waited for the first wave start of the 121st B.A.A. Marathon. As the men's favorites were introduced, the largest ovation was saved for American Meb Keflezighi - the 2014 champion and the first American to win this Patriots' Day race since 1983. As the crowd favorite joined other elite Americans Galen Rupp, Luke Puskedra, Jared Ward, Abdi Abdirahman, Shadrack Biwott, and newbie Augustus Maiyo at the starting line, there was pervasive speculation as to how the Yanks might fare in the 42 kilometer battle against a field that included the defending champion Lemi Hayle of Ethiopia, Kenya's Geoffrey Kirui, Emmanuel Mutai, Wilson Chebet, and 2012 Boston winner Wesley Korir.

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Category: Track

Spratling_BrycenQ-USind17.jpgBrycen Spratling, photo by PhotoRun.net

Brycen Spratling To Experiment With 800 Meters

March 16th , 2017

Back in the late '60's, Martin McGrady - a terrific middle distance racer - dominated the indoor scene. His specialty was the frenetic 600 yard run - an event upon which he was virtually untouchable on those creaky 160 yard banked wooden tracks. Dominating the likes of Olympic 400m champion and world record holder Lee Evans and every other middle distance great, McGrady was a 3-time indoor national champion and 3-time Millrose Games winner. In 1970, he set the indoor 600 yard world record of 1:07.6 - a global best that endured for 22 years. With all due respect to my friend Eamonn Coughlan, McGrady was the original, the authentic "Chairman of the Boards." Superior at the indoor Imperial distance, McGrady could never find his groove in an outdoor, metric Olympic distance event. Unable to transform his indoor success to the big outdoor oval, McGrady has been relegated to the footnotes of track & field.

Memories of McGrady are evoked by watching the speed, the grace, the talent, and the indoor superiority of middle distance performer Brycen Spratling. Two years ago, Spratling flashed around the Armory's 200 meter oval to win the Millrose Games 500 meter race in a world best time of 1:00.06. Several months later - as part of a USA quartet - the long sprinter ran the 400m leg on a world-record setting distance medley relay team. Yet like McGrady a generation ago, the two-time world record holder is still searching to find the outdoor event that is right for him.

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Category: Event Coverage

Harrison_KendraQ-USind17.jpGKendra Harrison wins 60m hurdles, photo by PhotoRun.net

Houlihan_ShelbyFH-USind17.jpGA busy weekend double for Shelby Houlihan, photo by PhotoRun.net

Sowinski_ErikFH-USind17.jpGEric Sowinski wins a big 600 meters! photo by PhotoRun.net

Morris_Sandi1-USind17.jpGSandi Morris wins pole vault, photo by PhotoRun.net

Day Three of USATF Indoors Showcases New And Old Stars

Albuquerque, New Mexico

March 5th, 2017

Day Three of these championships had a tough act to follow. With two world records - Gwen Berry's terrific 84 foot heave in the weight throw and Noah Lyles' stunning 31.87 in the 300 meter dash - a national high school record of 2:43.18 in the women's 1000 meter run by Samantha Watson in the preliminary rounds, and pentathlon winner Erica Bougard's last-jump win in the women's long jump adding spice to Day Two, Day Three athletes would need exceptional performances to top Saturday's show. Sunday produced no additional world records, but the depth and breadth of the final edition of this national gathering was stunning as the 2017 indoor championships concluded with 8 meet records either tied or broken.

RunBlogRun Some photographs on this site have been reproduced with permission from runblogrun.com.