They should run the men’s 1,000 meters more often.
“That was the first time I’ve been pushed to the line in a year,” said Mac Fleet, a seven-time All-American at Oregon and current member of the prestigious Nike Oregon Track Club Elite.
Many athletes used Friday’s Oregon Twilight as a tune up opportunity. A chance to “race against yourself, not the competition,” as Oregon sophomore Ashante Horsley put it.
If that was the case for the men’s 1,000 meters, it certainly didn’t show.
The order of finish: Fleet in 2 minutes, 21.25 seconds, Oregon senior Johnny Gregorek in 2:21.32 and OTC Elite’s Jordan McNamara in 2:21.40.
As the trio entered the final straightaway, an elbow fight along the inside rail broke out.
“I saw Mac drift very slightly—there was about half a lane open,” said McNamara, who was racing healthy for the first time in months. “I thought, ‘I bet I can squeeze in there, I’m pretty slender.’ But he heard me coming and went back down, and we threw a few elbows.”
The two battled inside for the final 50 meters, but with Fleet in the lead, he wasn’t about to be passed on the rail.
“That last final straight was fun. Jordan should know better coming on the inside,” said Fleet. “I definitely closed down on him. That’s fun. That’s racing.”
Though competitive during the race, afterward the teammates were light-hearted about the way things shook out.
“I hugged him afterwards because I would’ve done the same thing if I had someone coming,” said McNamara. “I’m not going to do that again. I’m definitely going to find an open lane and then turn it on. It was a good experience. Now is the time to do something like this.”
Fleet admitted that the most recent 1,000 meters race he competed in prior to Friday’s Twilight, last summer, hadn’t gone well.
“It was probably my worst performance probably ever in my whole running career,” he said. “So I was a little tentative racing the K this week just because of that.”
While those two—and perhaps the eyes of the Hayward crowd—were occupied with their battle, Gregorek turned things on down the stretch.
“With about 50 to go, I thought I might be able to get it,” said Gregorek, who had never run an outdoor K before and hadn’t run one indoors since his high school days in Massachusetts. “But you know Mac, you’ve seen him in those NCAA finals—he’s got that last little bit down.”
