EUGENE, Ore. — Over two decades of racing at Hayward Field, first in the former Pac-10 conference as a collegiate runner at Washington State, and then later through numerous Olympic trials and U.S. Championships, Bernard Lagat has become an adopted son of Track Town U.S.A.
“These are the same people who saw me when I was running in college, you develop that relationship with people,” Lagat said Saturday night.
So after he failed to finish the Prefontaine Classic earlier this spring, and then had to drop out of the 10,000 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials last week, Lagat said he was determined that he wouldn’t go out like that in front of the Hayward Field crowd.