On any list of Oregon track and field legends, Raevyn Rogers is near the top.
She won six NCAA titles for the Ducks, and her anchor leg on the 4×400 relay in 2017 cliched the NCAA outdoor title and the Triple Crown – titles in cross country, indoors and outdoors – for the women’s team. She won the 2017 Bowerman Award. She’s one of the five Oregon track icons pictured on the tower of the remodeled Hayward Field.
And Saturday, Rogers will compete for the first her first time in the new stadium in the USATF Grand Prix, part of the Oregon Relays and the first professional meet in Eugene since 2018.
“Every time I go back, it just feels like that home warming feeling,” said Rogers, who is now training with Pete Julian’s group in Portland. “To feel like it’s the same track that I ran on as a freshman at the University of Oregon … has definitely been all the feels since I’ve been back.”
The slate for this weekend’s events is a good one. The star-studded lineup includes not only Rogers in the women’s 800 meters, but U.S. men’s 800-meter record holder Donavan Brazier as part of a strong field in the 1,500, two-time Olympic gold medalist Christian Taylor in the triple jump, and world-championship caliber fields in many events, including the women’s 1,500 and the women’s shot put.
Brazier, who also trains with Julian, appreciates Hayward Field, but in a slightly different manner than Rogers.
“Probably one of the best stadiums in the country,” he said. “I don’t know if I would say it’s the best stadium in the country. Maybe I’m just salty saying that because I wanted to go to Oregon, but they never gave me a scholarship.”
Rogers and Brazier do share a similar mindset for this weekend’s events: continue to get better as the Olympic Trials approach, which is how Julian has designed their spring training and season.
“He was just really reassuring with his words and making sure that we’re staying focused on the goal,” Rogers said. “Which is to not be ready for now in April, but to be ready when it matters.”
Brazier, for instance, acknowledged that there isn’t anything that he could do to motivate him to pursue the 1,500 meters for the Olympic trials. It’s only for training purposes.
“I found my home in the 8, and I haven’t perfected it the way that I need to yet,” Brazier said. “All my focus and my energy is towards the 8, and if I have to run some 4s to get me quicker or some 15s to give me some endurance, it’s all to get better for the 8.”
