The CHill Zone of T&F: Conway's View From the Finish Line

Events I’ll Be Watching at US Nationals

Jun 25th, 2014
7:41 pm PDT

Typically Nationals is one of the two hottest meets of the year behind only the World Championships or Olympics. This is an "off season" however, that once every four years non championship season. So the full complement of elites looking to make a global team is a bit lighter than usual. My biggest disappointment in this regards is the Men's 100 which is missing Justin Gatlin and the new kid on the block Trayvon Bromell,  as neither of the year's two fastest Americans is entered in the competition Read More...

You Know It’s an Off Season When …

Feb 17th, 2014
5:28 pm PST

Track and Field exists in its own alternate universe where semi finals consist of THREE heats, and the focus on promoting the sport is NOT on the competition, but  individual performances! In that same vein, it's the rare sport where its most outstanding performances tend to occur outside of  championship settings and in seasons where there is no major championships at all - the Off Season Read More...

Mary Cain to Go Pro

Nov 17th, 2013
8:19 am PST

It had to happen sooner or later, a high school phenomenon turning pro. After all, we've seen world class high schoolers in the past. Certainly several WAY back during the early days of track and field when youngsters like Bob Mathias were dominant internationally. Even during what I consider the modern era of the sport – The 1960's forward, athletes like, Houston McTear, Mary Decker, Dwayne Evans, and Gerry Lindgren among others were among the top world class level athletes Read More...

World Championships Review–Individuals Pt1

Aug 27th, 2013
9:22 pm PDT

Now for the fun part, looking at individual performances - and there were certainly some very good ones. First however, let's get a bit of perspective by taking a look at medal counts. The double digit medal earners: United States 25 total, 6 gold, 14 silver, 5 bronze. Russia 17 total, 7 gold, 4 silver, 6 bronze Kenya 12 total, 5 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze Ethiopia 10 total, 3 gold, 3 silver, 4 bronze As expected Russians performed well at home Read More...

The Final Prep for Moscow is Done

Jul 28th, 2013
10:19 am PDT

The London Diamond League was pretty much what I thought it would be - best meet of the year and perhaps a preview of several events in Moscow. If this weekend was any indication, we've got a Wild West shoot out kind of World Championships coming up, because there just aren't that many "sure things" out there this year Read More...

Rollins’ 12.26 Leads Weekend at Nationals

Jun 24th, 2013
7:56 am PDT

As I thought prior, this was one of the hottest National Championships in a long time - and it was lead by women and youth. Don't get me wrong, the men got the job done and we're sending a nice male squad to Moscow. But the women were doing spectacular things everywhere you turned - and none were any more spectacular than Brianna Rollins Read More...

Prefontaine – Post Meet Thoughts

Jun 2nd, 2013
11:18 am PDT

Ok people, like Christmas the Prefontaine Classic has come and gone - and just like Christmas I find myself the day after trying to figure out how it compares to meets past. It's not a question of whether or not I liked the meet. It was track and field, of course I liked it. The question is to what degree was my appetite for the sport satiated? Perhaps because of the discussion about the sport in general over the past week I may be a bit more "critical" than usual, but I found the meet to be "just ok" for me Read More...

Big Weekend – Birmingham & Millrose

Feb 18th, 2013
9:42 am PST

The indoor season is just about ready to come to an end. It's short and sweet and usually ends with a bang as the athletes that are competing indoors like to really test their fitness before hitting the track outside. These “season ending” meets usually a test of early fitness and sharpness. The best of this weekend were the meetings in Birmingham England and New York (Millrose) Read More...

Rupp (3:50.93) & Cain (4:32.78) HOT!

Jan 28th, 2013
12:42 pm PST

The Olympic year might be behind us, but it's clear that winning at World's means something too, because those athletes that are competing indoors are crankin out the marks. This weekend the mile was the star of the show, with the 600 making noise as well. And I must say that the internet played one of it's greatest supporting rolls to date as those of us on Twitter were able to follow both Galen Rupp and Mary Cain and their fabulous mile runs simultaneously! Rupp showed tremendous extended range in the mold of the East Africans as he dropped his mile PR down to 3:50 Read More...