Portland Track Festival sees triumphant returns and scorching times

Donavan Brazier

,

Jessica Hull

and

Raevyn Rogers

made themselves at home on a warm Sunday evening at Lewis & Clark College’s Griswold Stadium.

Brazier and Hull ran away with the top sections of the men’s and women’s 800 meters at the

Portland Track Festival

in scorching times. Not to be outdone, Rogers won her section of the 800 by more than 2 ½ seconds.

All three athletes trained until recently with the Portland-based, Nike-sponsored Union Athletics Club. Brazier, Hull and Rogers all have moved on, and the UAC has since reconstituted and set up shop in Boulder, Colo.

But they seemed to relish familiar surroundings Sunday before an estimated crowd of 1,000.

Brazier took over his race in the final 300, winning in 1 minute, 43.81 seconds. Kyle Reinheimer of the University of Washington was a distant second in 1:45.73.

Hull ruled the last lap to win in 1:58.69, comfortably in front of Samantha Watson, second in 2:00.73.

Rogers, who didn’t make up her mind to run until minutes before her race, placed first in 2:00.45. She was followed in by Avery Pearson in 2:03.18.

For Brazier, the 2019 world champion who has been sidelined by left foot injuries for the past three years, this was a welcome return.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said. “I’m just grateful to be healthy and running again.”

Brazier now is being mentored by former Northern Arizona coach Mike Smith. He returned to competition in a big way by clocking a winning time of 1:44.70 earlier this month in Nashville. He blew that time away Sunday. The fans rose to their feet in a standing ovation as he motored down the home straight.

“Coming to the track today felt more like a family reunion or a party,” he said. “It was kind of hard to focus because I was so busy saying hi to so many former teammates and coaches.”

But focus he did when the situation called for it. Brazier purposely hung back until partway through the final lap before dropping the hammer.

He won from in front in Tennessee. This time, Smith wanted Brazier to deal with some traffic.

“He said I should put myself in an unfamiliar position and execute some race tactics,’ Brazier said.

Hull was a late entry to the track festival. The former

University of Oregon

star and 2024 Olympic silver medalist in the 1,500, had been scheduled to compete at the end of the month in Los Angeles in the Grand Slam Track series. After that meet was canceled, Hull went looking for another place to run.

This one emerged as the right choice, and Hull took care of business. She had the lead at the bell signaling the final lap and held it.

“It felt strong,” Hull said. “It didn’t feel comfortable.”

Winning from in front isn’t always easy and very rarely comfortable. But Hull, whose training base now is Australia, made it work. She will stay in the U.S. and do some fine-tuning before next month’s Prefontaine Classic in Eugene.

Rogers, who trains now in Los Angeles with UCLA assistant Joanna Hayes, wasn’t necessarily comfortable either. The former UO star and 2021 Olympic bronze medalist is returning from some Achilles tendon woes.

“Six minutes before this race, I was thinking about not running,” she said. “I hadn’t competed since April. Whatever happened, I would have been OK with. I was going to see what the pace was doing and what comes out of it.”

She didn’t look rusty, kicking in to win easily.

Sinclaire Johnson, another former Union Athletics Club member, won the women’s 1,500 in 4:01.46, more than two seconds in front of Simone Plourde.

In the women’s 5,000, Katelyn Tuohy overtook former Grant High School star Ella Donaghu 15:04.07. Donaghu, who led for much of the race, crossed second in 15:08.03.

Here results from the Portland Track Festival:

https://live.athletictiming.net/meets/54469/events/individual/2057564

— Ken Goe, For The Oregonian/OregonLive |

KenGoe1020@gmail.com

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