ROAD TO EUGENE '08.
Byline: The Register-GuardWomen welcome, finally: In 1976, Hayward Field was the site of the first combined Olympic Trials for men and women in U.S. history. "It's about time," said former 100-meter gold medalist Wyomia Tyus, working the meet for ABC. "Why, I remember when we had maybe 50 people in the stands for some of our old women's Trials."
In Eugene, attendance averaged more than 13,000 per day, and Track & Field News wrote that "fans, athletes and coaches alike seemed to be in general agreement that it (the combined Trials) was a major step forward for the sport."
Brenda Morehead of Tennessee State and the Tiger Belle Track Club won the 100 and 200, holding off 17-year-old club teammate Chandra Cheeseborough, who set a high school record, 11.13, that lasted 15 years. The Oregon Track Club's Joni Huntley - described in this newspaper as "one of the glamour-girl hopefuls for the U.S. Olympic team" - finished second in the high jump as she dealt with a leg injury. Cyndy Poor set an American record in the 1,500.
The other AR was set in the 800 by the great Madeline Manning Jackson (below), who ran 1 minute, 59.81 seconds to win her third straight Trials final. The Olympic gold medalist in 1968, Jackson became the first American woman to break two minutes.
By the '76 Trials, Jackson was 28, with a five-year-old son. She quit track after failing to make the finals in the 1972 Olympics, then launched a comeback in 1975 so that she could share her devotion to Christianity with other athletes. At the time of the '76 Trials, Jackson was working on a gospel album, "Running for Jesus." Before the 800-meter final she gathered the other seven runners - the "girls," as more than one story put it that year - and they held hands and bowed their heads in prayer.
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| Title Annotation: | Sports; TRIALS MOMENTS |
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| Publication: | The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) |
| Date: | May 22, 2008 |
| Words: | 316 |
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