Strap in and be prepared. Room for error is much
slimmer in basketball. You lose one player and
it changes your entire team. It's not like that
in football. It's just not. It's not. Interesting
guests. Kelly Graves, Mike Parker, Coach Mark
Waszkowski, Noah Eagle, Melissa Lombardi, Kenyon
Barnard, Jonathan Stewart. Sharp opinions. Dana
Altman probably earned a pass for a down year
after almost 20 years. of what he's done for
Oregon basketball. And some smiles. Guys, I was
stuck in a car wash. Sounds like an R. Kelly
song. It's not an R. Kelly song. It's Danny Havel.
I can't remember, and I've been doing this for
longer than you've been alive, which is really
horrible that I have to say that, but it's the
truth. Justin Grossweiner. It's like the saying
in Alaska, that you don't have to be faster than
the bear. The bears have to be faster than your
friend. Danny and Justin starts now on Fox Sports
Eugene and Fox Sports Newport. Sitting in for
Danny today, it's Goose, Steve Mims. Welcome
into the Danny and Justin show. Yes, it is another
Danny free day as Danny is in Pendleton today.
Pendleton High School, to be exact, covering
the 2A. boys and girls basketball tournaments
and he is currently on the air on the OSA radio
network with Oakland and Stanfield one of four
games going today so we hope Danny's voice survives.
to get back for next week. But as for now, Justin,
day two of a three day run of the Steve and Justin
show. So thanks for having me in. Yeah, we're
not doing anything straight because we're going
to get a little bit next week as well. Correct.
We got a little Danny back Monday and Tuesday.
You're going to be back Wednesday. But yeah,
day two of three. We're out here at the track
town offices and yeah. It's a little bit of a
red carpet rolled out for us, and they did a
great job making us feel really welcome. I feel
very at home here, very comfortable, so a lot
going into the show. I was doing it not from
the studios. You've been here all day. Yeah,
I've been here since 10 o 'clock. I just pop
in. You've been here all day. So yeah, but I'm
excited, and we've got a ton to talk about, a
ton of fun guests. Yeah, so we are live, as Justin
mentioned, from the Track 10 USA Media Day. We
are here at the Track 10 offices at Oakway Center,
a beautiful office, the first time I've been
in here. And right across the street. It's a
beautiful day out We got a nice window looking
out and look right across the street is my friend
Jeff careers State Farm Office So if you're listening,
give us a thumbs up and let us know how it sounds.
So yeah, we have a chock full of Interviews today
with some of the local track and field greats
Coming up in our next segment the 220 segment
Aliyah McCormick, who just won the Big Ten title
indoor in the women's 60 meter hurdles, and is
last year's NCAA outdoor champion in the 100
meter hurdles. She's going to join us along with
Luke Tewall, and Luke is a distance events runner.
He just transferred to Oregon from Wake Forest.
He ran the 1500 at the World U20s in 2022. So
we're going to chat with Aliyah and Luke at 220.
And then in the final segment of the show, we
are going to have with us Karen Ramming who's
the chief marketing officer here at Track 10
USA and Jody Smith who's the chief operating
officer of Track 10 USA. Happy to be out here
today. We really appreciate all the staff here
at Track Town USA for welcoming us out here.
They've given us a beautiful room. I mean, I
thought sometimes, you know, people give you
like a hall closet or something, but we've got
room more than more than enough room for two
guests to come in. And like I say, a beautiful
sun out there. So it's a it's a it's a beautiful
setup for today's show. Yeah, we got food. We've
got drinks. We got the banner up. You're on the
wall over there. I'm on the wall. Danny's got
two pictures on the wall. Yes. Yes. And if you
want to see us. The Danny and Justin YouTube
show right is where we're at Danny and Justin
YouTube and the and the Fox Sports Eugene YouTube
correct and Twitter was you the Danny and Justin
Twitter and YouTube and you can also listen to
us of course on Fox Sports Eugene calm and Fox
Sports Newport calm Alright, so if you want to
see what it looks like here go ahead and tune
into the Danny and Justin on YouTube And again
our guests will be coming up in both the final
two segments today as we do a lot of track conversations
out here Before we get into track though, we
do need to follow up on, we were chatting yesterday
about Oregon -Purdue and talking about how it
was a really important game for Oregon, which
was the 11th seed in the Big Ten tournament.
The Oregon women opened up against Purdue, which
was the 14th seed. We had said, hey, we think
Oregon's in, but a loss to Purdue to wrap up
the season heading into selection Sunday could
be a mar on the record. Well, Oregon didn't worry
about that. They go out and beat Purdue, 82 to
64 for Oregon, led as often by Katie Fiso with
20 points. Eusey Tutte has 16 and 12 and then
14 for Mia Jacobs. So 82, 64. That gives Oregon
up to 21 and 11 overall. And they get 10th seeded
Maryland tonight at six o 'clock on the Big Ten
Network. As far as I'm concerned, Oregon is now
in the NCAA tournament. You feel good about them
now? Yeah, they got to be in. I was feeling that
same way ahead of yesterday's game, but I know
you had a little bit of consternation, so I think
it's fair. I thought it was 92 % yesterday. Now
it's 99, because you never know with those bracketologists.
They can do some weird things when they get in
those meeting rooms. So I would never say 100
% for a team that's an 11 seed in their conference
tournament. But I think with 21 wins, and even
if they lose at this point, they would be losing
to a team. That's in the tournament because everybody
else, you know, they're going to have Maryland
tonight. They win that they get Michigan. Then
they'd get into the semifinals. Any team that
they would face the rest of the way would just
be lost to a team in the NCAA tournament. So
tonight will be an interesting one. Maryland
and Oregon had a good game in the regular season
where Oregon went out there and won. So I think
they have a chance. I. You know, there's a lot
of times you look at it and think, oh, the, you
know, we, I know we've gone through a hundred
times in the college football playoff is to buy
the advantage or not. Yeah. I often think that
in this, the buy pays off, you know, like for
Maryland, if you get to the semis and you're
facing a team that's played one more game than
you. But I know coaches and Dana Altman said
this a lot. Sometimes when you have that first
buy in the other team and won a game the night
before, they've gotten used to the rims. They've
gotten used to the court. They've gotten warmed
up. They've gotten used to the hoops. Sometimes
the team like Maryland that hasn't yet comes
out and takes a while to get get going so I'm
not sure that the buy is not an advantage for
Oregon tonight again if they were to get on do
you know to share four games the wear and tear
might but I think for tonight it might be an
advantage for me because Maryland no that's totally
fair and there's something to be said about momentum
yeah just Athletic momentum as well. And so,
you know, they're coming off of a win Obviously,
it was a fairly comfortable one. They didn't
have to stretch too much I think at times you
see I mean this is more in like the baseball
MLB playoffs where you'll see a team That's a
wild -card team and whoever wins that wild -card
game is gonna be like riding high off of that
And then there's a team that's been sitting with
the by that hasn't had a game and they don't
have any momentum and maybe they haven't played
a big game in a few weeks at times so Maryland
obviously is a big ten You know as a NCAA tournament
team the Ducks had an opportunity earlier in
the season to take them on and they had a big
comeback win against them. They had a big fourth
quarter. So I think that in a way this has played
out really well for them because you could make
the argument. Okay. Yeah, they have a little
bit of an advantage maybe tonight maybe overall
later down the road of the tournament. But any
win they get right now is going to only add to
the resume. Like we said they're in the tournament.
Yep. Most likely we think. Yes. But. Don't want
to wear some wood that I can knock on there you
go But any wind is gonna help them out and it's
all about that eight nine line, right? We don't
want to see them in a nine seed. Yeah No, like
you say, I think they're at that eight nine and
you beat Maryland Maybe you can get off that
and get to the seven And then you'd be Michigan
maybe you can get to that six or something suddenly
you're completely out of that and as you mentioned
It's a good point by you as well, you know, Oregon
last night was able to play 11 people So if you're
in a tournament where you know, everything goes
well, you're playing five games in five nights
But even for tonight playing, you know the second
game in two nights you want to have a little
bit of rest So they were able to play 11 players
last night Uh, now Sophia Bell played 33 and
Katie Fiso played 20 minutes, but the Chute played
only 20. Um, you know, Tahina played 21, Muhammad
Rambis, Kane Williams, Tillendeere off the bench
didn't play a whole lot. So I think if they need
to go to use their depth, they're going to have
some people who are ready to go tonight. And
that could be an advantage again against the
team in Maryland that, uh, is, uh, you know,
again, it's not exactly a home court for them.
It's, it's in Indianapolis. So it's a court.
They probably haven't played on the game bridge
field house the first time they would have played
there. this year and Oregon now has again seen
the hoops bent the rims a little bit and shot
them up so it'll be a fascinating one at six
o 'clock and tonight is Big Ten Network so for
the people like me who were complaining last
night that you couldn't watch that I don't have
peacock we're on Big Ten Network tonight so we
should get a chance to settle down and watch
it yeah no I'm excited I think that This team,
they can be streaky. And you know what I think
it is? I think it's all about that first quarter.
We've seen them come out flat at times, and they
always seem to come back. They always seem to
have the momentum to get the game tied. But a
lot of times, you see a team do that, they're
going to waste a lot of energy getting to that
point. So I want to see them have a strong start.
And I think that if they can do that, then they
certainly have a shot at Maryland. I do think
this team, it still feels like it's a year away
from really being a real contender or being one
of those teams that can make a run. But I do
think they have a lot to like, and it does seem
like it's a team, you have a young team, you
know, Katie Fiso, like... There was times when
I was watching her against Washington in that
game where it was just like man like she's special
Yeah, she can find a way to just turn it on at
the right time and a team You know if they don't
have that into your defense against her like
she can finish like and she could just decide
to go so it'll be interesting to see how Marilyn
decides to play her. Yeah, and it'll be interesting
to see how the young team and you know there's
some seniors as well but how they'll handle the
emotions of playing in bigger and bigger games
as the tournament goes along. We do have the
first final from today there was an upset nine
over eight so not a huge upset but Washington
knocks off USC today so a lot of people thought
that the first game tomorrow in the quarters
would be USC UCLA in a rematch from the other
day but Washington which obviously ended the
regular season defeating Oregon in a last second
victory It was brutal. They now rode the momentum
of that. It wasn't brutal for them. They felt
some good things about it apparently. They're
a good team. Yeah, they are a good team. And
they knock off USC. And so they will be the ones
to face UCLA in the first quarterfinal tomorrow
and actually the worst news out of that was Jazzy
Davidson the freshman from Clackamas apparently
had a Injury scare and is going in for an MRI.
I saw after the game So we just hope I mean kind
of team that last year has Juju Watkins and loses
her for the year and now you have the freshman
of the year in the conference Hopefully everything
comes back well there and we get to see Juju
and Jazzy Which by the way is just built for
an LA marketing campaign when they're both two
of the best players in the country and they got
names like Juju and Jazzy that's hopefully we'll
get to see them both out there next year so that's
your Oregon women's update as they will be going
tonight at six on the men's side the men we know
wrap up the regular season on Saturday, they
host the Huskies at eight o 'clock at night.
I saw, as I talked about yesterday, it might
be hard to get fans out at eight o 'clock tonight.
I saw today, Oregon came up with a solution,
and they're just making beer and hot dogs cheap.
There's gonna be some cheap meal deals. So three
dollar hot dogs, three dollar cokes, six dollar
beers. So if you were thinking about getting
out there for that one, that's it. But I wanted
to bring up... This we chat I'm not convinced
that Dana Altman or somebody on his staff wasn't
listening to our show yesterday because We discussed
Illinois and you were talking about their uh...
recruiting strategy which is they've gone out
and brought in quite a few uh... europeans eastern
europeans and they've kind of done uh... get
some international players brought in kylan boswell
and some transfers from you know you know you
had stojkovic some transfers from u .s. schools
and then filled in with some freshmen uh... with
wagler who's a potential lottery and they have
some local guys too and some local guys so you
were saying hey maybe that's the oregon plan
go do that and today i see that oregon has gotten
a uh... a visit that is coming from a four star
and I was look it's we on saying and I was looking
him up and when I googled him the first thing
that came up was the headline. Illinois twenty
twenty six target we on saying skyrockets up
recruiting ranking so it's almost like they've
decided the same thing you said hey let's do
that Illinois. Yeah and saying is a really is
a six seven. forward plays down in California
right now and he is a 2026 so this is his senior
year and with Zhang is going to be he's six seven
two hundred pounds plays down in Garden Grove
California small forward and looks like Oregon
is locked in official visit for him this week
so we had talked about Mean, we've got a Reza
is coming in as the five -star The Kendra Harrison
who I've said I wouldn't count on right because
I think the football team's made a pretty good
point and he'll do both But now if you could
bring in a buoyant Zang who's a six seven score
pair him with the Reza Boy, if you bring back
a shell stad, maybe an Evans and kind of fill
it around Maybe we can start to see something
interesting, but I'm glad to see because Oregon's
really strong. The last two years, you know,
Jamari Phillips was the kind of the one recruit
two years ago. This year, the only recruit they
had, he hasn't even played. He's red shirted.
So they've kind of missed out the last few years
on having kind of an impact freshman. And if
they can get Zang and put him with a Riza, you
have the potential now to kind of get back to
the Oregon way, which is having at least a couple
of real contenders out of a freshman class. Yeah.
Well, the question is, I guess, is. The oregon
way as you call it the right way at this point.
Yeah, you look at illinois I mean illinois is
not doing that I mean they got a couple they
got you know wagler like he's he's a kind of
guy like that but a lot of these teams are just
going to Europe or going to players that have
been playing professionally since 2019 2020 2021
I mean that's like a long time at this point.
Those are true professionals playing in those
are grown men. Yeah, no actually So, you know,
it's it's interesting how the lines of amateurism
and professionalism has blurred and in college
now these top programs and especially in the
Big 10 and the SEC and you know top conferences
they're gonna be really viewing every single
option they have but you have to get the freshman
class like it is important that they do that
because you have to have some sort of long -term
hopefully if players don't transfer yeah stability
of your roster and they haven't had that it's
been a lot of bringing in new guys every year
and obviously Jackson's been around and KJ's
been around and Nate's been around but you can't
just have like two guys. It just feels like this
is a team that needs to have a foundation led.
for the next few years. Yep. And Zang is a top
25 recruit in some of the spots. ESPN has him
right now at number 48. And again, he is going
to be visiting this weekend. So he will be at
the game when Oregon takes on Washington on Saturday
night. And that's Boo Yeon Zang. So a big visit
for Oregon. And we'll see if they can get a commitment
out of it there. A couple other things before
we head into our break and bring in some of our
athletes. First off. Congratulations in order
to Bo Nix and we saw Bo and his wife had a baby
Riley Bell Nix Riley Bell Bo Chapman Nix I guess
is the full name and so congratulations to Bo
and Izzy Bo Nix is has is now a father for the
first time and there was a big softball win last
night for Oregon. Oregon Gates we had talked
yesterday taking on Oregon State 11 to 3 Stephanie
Mackey who you've been talking about had been
one that they were trying to get going homers
twice last night. And it's 11 -3 Oregon beats
Oregon State that was at Oregon State. So a good
road win for Oregon They'll beat them again here
this week as part of the Jane Sanders classic
But a nice win for Oregon and nice to see Maki
get kind of going on that one there Yeah, and
Maki as much as anything. I definitely think
that it's she's the most fun player In if you're
at the Jane and she comes up like there's the
most energy at least last year I can't speak
on yeah much this year, but last year was like
whenever she came up. It was like oh Yeah, like
you have energies here. Here's a bomb right and
so she's been struggling quite frankly and so
it has Riley McCoy who did go for four in this
game after kind of a breakout yeah in that last
series, but no, I mean it was a good win obviously
for the Ducks and Mackey is a player that they
need to get going she has started to get going
Elon Butler has Just been going the entire year.
Yeah, so that was good to see from her at the
top of the lineup going three for four and then
I on a shot for four as well Yeah, and then as
we said yesterday was going to be on the Oregon
State side all about Jay Butler She did have
two hits in this game But ultimately not enough
on the the run side for the Oregon State Beavers
and coming as a rematch Saturday Oregon State
comes in here as part of the James Sanders tournament
So we'll get to see Oregon and Oregon State again
this year on Saturday Okay well we are going
to head into our first break and again if you've
just joined us we are out at Tracktown USA offices
here at Oakway Center it is part of the Tracktown
USA media day as we're previewing a lot of their
events they've got coming up here during the
summer and when we come back we're going to chat
with Oregon's Aaliyah McCormick and Luke Kiewalk
we'll chat with them about their upcoming summer
plans some of their past successes and what it's
like to compete at the new Hayward Field. This
is Steve Mims. I'm filling in for Danny. You're
listening to The Danny and Justin Show on Fox
Sports Eugene and Fox Sports Newport. Welcome
back into The Danny and Justin Show. This is
Steve Mims filling in for Danny who is off on
assignment for the USA covering the class 2A
Boys and Girls Basketball Tournament. We are
here at TrackTown USA's offices at Hayward Field.
Track 10 USA media day as we preview all the
events that will be coming up here during the
summer and we have two esteemed guests who are
joining us now. We have Aliyah McCormick just
won the Big Ten championship in the women's 60
meter hurdles in the indoor and of course last
year when the NCAA in the 100 meter hurdles and
we have Luke Tewalt and Luke is a recent transplant
here to Eugene and played at ran for Wake Forest
and ran for and ran at Hayward Field passed in
a U 20 and he qualified for Team USA. for finishing
second in a qualifying event headed at Hayward
Field. That was in 2022. So thank the both of
you for coming in. We appreciate it. Of course.
Thank you guys for having us. Thanks for having
us. Yeah, you bet. Starting with you, Aliyah,
tell me what it's like. You've won a few championships,
but now coming off of the Big Ten, one in the
indoor. What's the indoor season for you? Is
that as important as outdoor? Does it build up
the outdoor? What do you try to use the indoor
season for? Absolutely. It's so important. I'm
just so excited to just have been having a really
full season. And I think for the indoor season,
it just kind of, like you said, it pushes me
into outdoor. It just lets me know where I am
and where I will be when it comes time to outdoor.
Yeah. And Luke, you were saying you're not doing
indoor, so you're waiting to put the Oregon uniform
on for the first time coming out of Wake Forest.
What brought you out here from Wake Forest? I
mean, the opportunity to run for the Ducks, you
just can't deny it when you have that opportunity.
So Jerry built up an excellent program here,
and the legacy of being able to be one of the
Oregon Ducks and men of Oregon is just something
that I've always wanted and always dreamed of.
And when that opportunity came, Jerry gave me
that call, and I jumped at that opportunity for
sure. And you said you were here, so that would
have been with the 2022 U -20s. Yep. And then
you finished second to qualify for the event.
What was Hayward Field like for you as a visitor?
I mean, it's such an incredible spaceship type
place. You could run around the world and not
see anything like that. What was it like when
you came into Hayward Field, not even being a
member of the team, but just seeing what it was
like? I mean, that feeling, that first time feeling
of seeing the arena, seeing Hayward, seeing the
just... dedication and love that you know obviously
Phil Knight and everyone else who supported the
project of building this place like that feeling
I still have that feeling every day when now
that I'm on the team it's awe it's just straight
awe when I see this building and I can't believe
that I get to be a duck and get to call this
place home. And when I first walked into the
arena, I mean, I was overwhelmed. And now it's
a little bit more calming when I walk in now
that I call it home. But it's still just gratitude
is the first thing that comes to my mind when
I see it, because it means I've had a great season.
I've put in the hard work. I get to show off
everything that I've put into a season to be
able to race at Hayward. It's my favorite place
to run at, and I love our fans. Our fans are
what pushed me to the finish line. And like Luke
said, all I think is gratitude. There has been
so many championships on this track, so many
world records on Hayward Field broken. And it's
a privilege to wear the O across my chest and
even win at Hayward Field with the O across my
chest. So it's amazing, and I just love Hayward
Magic and the fans. Oh my goodness that was unreal
I had never seen Hayward that full like every
seat was full and you know how it's like treated
like the Hayward seats are green and like green
there I didn't see that at all I saw everyone's
faces the crowd was just Roar and then being
amongst those amazing ladies that are at the
top of their game that are elite I was just like
a little baby duck just sitting there like I'm
gonna do the best that I can but That atmosphere
was just insane and I can't wait to you know
be a part of that meet again How much is that
gonna help you do you think just experiencing
it that first time? Getting another experience
out of you kind of already felt at once like
how much do you think that's gonna help you going
forward? It's gonna it helped me a lot because
that experience was very humbling. It made me
Realize that I really wanted to do this for life
that this is something that I want to be my job.
And I know that these ladies that were on that
line, they accumulate that like that is their
life. They literally live, eat, breathe hurdling.
And that's something that I want to do. So I
know that in order to be at that level, I need
to just, you know, fix some sort of things and
acquire that in order to, you know, even be amongst
those group of ladies and, you know, become one
through one through third. outdoor. I mean obviously
in indoor you've got the 60 meter and then the
outdoor you're doing the 100. Is it different
training for those? Does the 60 you know does
it put you on a pace coming in or do you have
to kind of change some workout things going into
the spring in the outdoor? Absolutely. It's completely
different races. 60 is over in seven seconds
so you don't really have that much time. It wouldn't
be over in seven seconds for me by the way. Yes
it's really quick and then 100 meter is longer
and so you have a lot more time to just fix a
little bit of things but not that much time because
it's either you got it or you don't so especially
in spring break it's kind of like fall training
all over again we literally go back to lifting
heavy we go back to starting now doing more hurdles
like sometimes I do 13 hurdles and does it hurt
yes but will it help Absolutely, from seeing
my results from not even competing my freshman
or sophomore year and being able to win nationals
was just such a blessing. So I just know that
my training will be definitely different because
five more hurdles are being added to the race.
But it's only going to get easier because now
I've definitely just fixed and needed to figure
out what I needed to fix for the first five hurdles.
And now adding five more is just going to get
better. You are listening to the Danny and Justin
Show. We are out here for Track 10 USA's Media
Day, joined by Aliyah McCormick of U of O and
Luke Tewalt. Luke, how about you? When you're
not running in the indoor, what's kind of your
fall and winter like as you gear up for your
outdoor season? Yeah, so it's a lot of mileage,
you know in the outdoor season I'll be running
the 5k and the 10k So that means we're putting
in 90 100 mile weeks And so I just get that time
to explore a lot of Eugene, you know running
around Pree's Trail Going out to Dexter going
out to Darina Cottage Grove and really just getting
to really enjoy the beauty of Oregon While also
putting in those hard miles We do lots of intense
training in Hayward, you know, and then we get
on the bike path near Priest Trail, lots of lifting
as well, core work, and yeah, just lots of miles.
For each of you, what's something that you didn't
expect about Oregon or Eugene that now that you're
here you've gotten a little bit of a taste, obviously,
that you didn't see coming into it? I will say...
I what I wasn't expecting was the family aspects.
I it's just being a senior I think about all
the years that I've spent here and I just am
so sad that it's coming to an end because I don't
want to leave you know like I have literally
enjoyed learning every aspect of myself of Eugene
of the people around me like even the people
in the town everyone's just so nice and everyone
loves Oregon loves the sports in the sport yeah
yes so it just it that's one thing that I wasn't
expecting coming into school I mean I I knew
about the weather and stuff like that the weather
isn't always the best, but Eugene's summer is
insane, so. Yeah, and I would pretty much the
same. It's the instant. love and being a part
of the community just by putting the O on my
chest. When I'm running around, I hear, go ducks.
When I'm in the grocery store and I have my organ
gear, go ducks. People ask me, oh, when are you
racing? When's the next meet? Can we come out?
When I'm in classes, my fellow students are like,
oh, they're even like guys on the football team.
They're like, oh, you're on the track team. Like,
wow. That was the most surprising aspect is that
I would be embraced immediately and put on a
pedestal because I'm on the track team. So it's
amazing to be a part of that. How does that help
cultivate you like as an athlete when you have
that sort of like excitement like around you?
It's not just like, you know, you know, obviously
everybody is there's a lot of own live is very
important for themselves. But, you know, you
have other people that are obviously very excited
about what you're doing. Like how is that an
athlete? Do you channel that into what you're
doing? Mean I definitely it lights a fire under
me because once again, I'm not just doing it
for myself But I'm doing it for the crowd. I'm
doing it for my team. I'm doing it for the fans.
I'm doing it for Eugene So it's just once again.
It's a privilege and it definitely just ignites
me to want to win Yeah, I mean to have More than
just yourself or your family to have an entire
community behind you really pushes you to uh...
represent more than push yourself a little bit
extra get find that extra one percent uh... to
do well for eugene for oregon so what's next
for you guys right now what's you know the the
training like right now what's routine like right
now as you get ready for what's going forward
Well, for me, I'm still in indoor season. I'm
going over to nationals next Monday. So I'm just
still in my training cycle, just trying to get
the little cues, stay technical, stay fast so
that I can come home a national champion again.
Yeah. And we, on the long distance side, we're
putting in a big block right now in March. We're
going to open up our season early in April down
in Stanford. and Right now we're putting in huge
huge blocks of tempo work like yesterday on Tuesday
We put in a 12 mile workout, which was insane
18 mile day. So just lots of mileage Just getting
the aerobic system primed and then and then we'll
get the legs turning as the season goes on Aliyah,
for you, I mean, the hurdles is such a discipline.
I assume as a kid, were you a sprinter and did
kind of everything? How did you come into it?
And then it's one to where, again, if you're
sprinting, hey, we're just running, but you've
got so much more you've got to worry about now.
What attracted you to hurdles as opposed to all
the other events I'm sure you did as a kid running?
Well, I started track when I was nine and I was
just kind of running at that point You know being
a kid just wanting to make friends and stuff
But I remember originally when I was around 13
years old I was trying to get out of a hard workout
and the hurdlers were just over there just going
over hurdles And I thought that looked a little
bit easier. So I just decided To go over and
ever since then I've just fallen in love with
something that's been so difficult but helped
me become so disciplined and fast and technical
and I find it amazing that so many people are
just like how do you do hurdling like it's so
hard but it's like it's not it's so easy. It's
the same thing for you I mean again I'm sure
you did everything when did you realize hey these
distance ones maybe I'm a little bit better at
than everybody can kind of run the hundred and
two hundred but getting this going to the fifteen
hundred the five thousand what when'd you realize
the kind of distance was your was your specialty?
Yeah so growing up I was a lacrosse player and
so once I got up to the high school ranks you
know And I'm a distance runner, 5 '8", 130 pounds.
And once I started getting beat up by these 6
'2", like 180 guys, I was just like, you know
what? Maybe lacrosse isn't for me. So I went
out for a cross -country race, and I won it.
And I was like, well, it's always been my dream
to be a professional athlete, to compete in college.
And this seems to be that ticket. So once I went
out for that cross -country race, I knew that
the distance events would be the ones I would
excel in. OK. Now, Leah, you won the NCAAs outdoor
last year. How much confidence? is that you go
into an indoor nationals knowing, hey, I've been
at the top this before. And I assume you sit
there and break down the field. These are probably
people you've competed against indoors, outdoors
before. What's your confidence level heading
into nationals this time around? I'm very confident.
It's not even just about. my national title because
once you enter into a new year that no longer
matters because now it's you know a new field
of ladies and a new new races so it definitely
builds my self -esteem and lets me and reassures
me that I am capable of being a champion but
I know that it's not gonna be easy because now
I have a target on my back now that people now
that people know what I have done they are going
to even try harder to become a champion, and
that's why I need to make sure that I'm even
more technical. I mean, I'm even more faster.
I'm even more on my game. I'm even more mentally
prepared. So I'm genuinely very excited to go
out to NCAAs with the Ducks and just do what
I do best. You just swept the men's and women's
there. Maybe take a chance to see if you guys
can bring home a team title here, too. Yes, that
is what the plan is. Coach Jerry is just very
excited, and that's what he was telling the national
squad in our meeting yesterday, just how important
that is and how we all just need to be on our
toes and cues and just make sure that we're keeping
our bodies safe and going there with the right
mindset. So I'm definitely really excited, especially
coming from a sweep again. That is insane, but
I am so excited. Luke, she talks about the target
on her back. You realize that that O is a bigger
target than the WF from Wake Forest. Oh, I absolutely
do. You show up at a meet, that's going to be
a target on your back now every time you go in
there. Yep, yeah, and I got the opportunity to
go up to an indoor race at the University of
Washington. And I had an O on my cap and an O
on my chest as I was warming up. And I got a
little flack from the officials, man. And I was
like, hey, I guess this is what it's all about.
So I'm just super excited to put on and have
that target. It makes me want to work a little
harder. Awesome. Well, thank you guys both so
much for coming down here. Congratulations on
all the success. Aliyah, obviously, we wish you
the best here next week here at Nationals. And
we'll look forward to seeing both you guys here
through NC2A's, some of the events here. But
thanks so much for taking the time to come down
here and let people hear a little bit about your
guys' stories. Thank you guys. Go Ducks. That
is Aliyah McCormick and Luke Tewalt of your University
of Oregon track and field teams. You can catch
them at Hayward Field all spring and all summer
long. All right, when we come back, we are going
to have... Lauren Ramming, the Chief Marketing
Officer, Karen Ramming, excuse me, the Chief
Marketing Officer from TrackTown USA, and Jody
Smith, the COO of TrackTown USA. We will be back
and continue our track and field chat here on
The Danny and Justin Show on Fox Sports Eugene
and Fox Sports Newport. Welcome back into The
Danny and Justin Show. This is Steve Dems doing
it for Danny and we are live at the glorious
TrackTown USA offices here at Oakway Center.
It's a beautiful day. If I ran real far, it would
be a great day to run real far, but I'm going
to sit in here and host a radio show and talk
about the great athletes that we have here. We
really appreciate Aaliyah McCormick and Luke
Tewalt for coming on. That was great to hear
from them. And now we are going to talk to some
of the brains behind Track Town USA. We have
Jody Smith, who is the chief operating officer
for Track Town USA and the co -director of the
pre -fontaine classic. And we have Karen Ramming,
not Lauren, Karen Ramming. She's chief marketing
officer for Track Town USA. Thank you two for
coming on. We really appreciate it. Thanks for
having us, sir. Thanks for being here in our
offices. Make it easy. Yeah, you guys have made
it great. This is a quite a quite a show you
got when the generals running it and getting
us all set up here. So we're all all set to go
and good. Well, hey, tell us we've got a busy
season coming up here. Tickets have gone on sale.
Give us kind of an overview for either view and
update on kind of what tickets are on sale for
the headlines. We know we got the 20s. We know
we got the pre classic. What are kind of the
big events this summer and what's where can people
go to get more info and find tickets? Yeah, so
our two temple events this summer are the pre
-fontaine classic and the world under 20 Championships
pre -fontaine classic is 4th of July week and
the world under 20s is August 5th through 9th
at Hayward field and tickets are on sale Thank
you for that. We've got them at track town tickets
calm all session packages for both of those events
are on sale right now We've also got volunteer
registration openings So if folks would prefer
to work for me and get a very much a front -row
seat with the experience of Tracton USA is, we
very much encourage them to register to volunteer
at GoTractonUSA .com slash volunteer. And Pre
Classic in particular, get your tickets now,
right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, they're selling faster
than they ever have in all the years of the meat.
So if you're even on the fence, if you're thinking
maybe I want to go to Pre this year. Get a ticket.
Get one now. Jody, you're the co -director of
this. You're the one who helps put this on and
bring in the athletes. I know we've announced
some of the headliners, not all the fields yet.
But where are we at in terms of putting it together?
And can you give us kind of an overview? Or how
does that work? Do you work through the events?
Do you figure out which events you want, which
athletes start reaching around, or figure out
which athletes you can get? How do you put together
this world -class field every year? It's a little
bit chicken the egg, but it's mostly we pick
the events really far out. So about a year out
We have our diamond league meetings where we
get to negotiate for the events. We want to have
it Hey work field Part of that negotiation is
we look at what events we think are gonna be
the best ones for the upcoming year So back in
25, we were predicting what would be great in
26 and you're always gonna have the barman mile
We're always gonna have the Mattole hundred,
but then once we have those events It's really
about getting the best athletes here and it's
going out there whether it's past Olympic champions,
world record holders. We look a lot at who are
the current top five in the world. We look at
who's up and coming. So it's a really a mix of
trying to make sure what shows up at July 4th
is a really great competition with the best athletes.
You probably have a few agents calling you too
saying, hey, I'd like to get my guy into this.
I'd like to get my lady into this. For sure.
Yeah. And I know you guys keep some of those
spots open later to see if somebody comes out
of nowhere and has a big spring or kind of an
early spring. summer and then you can look and
say, hey, this person might be running as well
as anybody in the country. Let's leave a lane
open in case we want to add somebody who maybe
wasn't expected a year or so ago. 100%. And I
get to give that credit to my co -meeting director.
He does most of the work with the agent calls.
He is currently out of the country. But he, absolutely,
he is very judicious at getting the best ones
there but leaving some spots because somebody
is always going to be hot in May, June, or July.
Two world records last year, right? Correct.
That's just kind of, I mean, there'd be an event
where that would be the highlight for all time,
but this is just kind of every year you expect
to have something to come in and to kind of rock
the track and field world. 100%. We had two the
year before, too, so we've been very fortunate,
and that's exactly it. We also had a lot of world
bests. We had a lot of incredible performances.
And so not only are the world records amazing,
it's the rest of the competition. It's just two
hours of sheer excitement and great, great results.
Yeah. And Karen, with the, with the world U -20s,
we've obviously, we had it here a couple of years
ago. What does it take to put together an event
that obviously brings in the world? But these
are the top, you know, late high school, early
college type folks. What's it take to put that
on and... to give us the logistics of it, days,
what days are it, how many days is of it, and
what's it look like for that? Yeah, for sure.
I mean, the headline is it takes a whole bunch,
and not just from us here in this office, but
all of our community members, our community partners,
the City of Eugene, City of Springfield, working
with University of Oregon to make sure that we
have a great athlete village set up on campus,
transportation. There's so much that goes into
hosting an event like the World Under 20 Championships,
especially because it is international, and we
are truly welcoming the world to Eugene. And
something that I think is really interesting
about this event, especially, I mean, you mentioned
this is a lot of like late high school, early
university, they're young kids. And for a lot
of them, this is going to be their first time
representing their country on a global stage.
And this will be their first time going to Hayward
Field. And so for us at Tracton USA, we're putting
a lot of pressure on ourselves to make sure that
the meet and the experience that we're giving
them from the second they touch down at PDX or
EUG. through when they're done competing on August
9th, that that is the best athlete experience
and the best exposure to global competition in
Hayward Field that they could possibly get. Competition
days are August 5th through 9th, 2026 at Hayward
Field. We'll have some morning sessions, some
evening sessions, a whole lot of medal ceremonies
available at in our fan festival, and it's gonna
be a lot of fun. When you see some of these kids
come from other places, other countries where...
maybe they don't have a place in their whole
country that looks like Hayward Field, and they
walk in and look around. What's some of the initial
reactions you get from those people? Wow. A lot
of oohs and ahs. And the pre is two days again,
so it's Friday night again and Saturday. Is Friday
the distance still and then Saturday is kind
of the two and a half hour we go quick or is
there a different switch up to the schedule this
year? We will have some distance on Friday night
but we will also have some field events and some
sprints so it is going to be a good return to
bringing back the Friday night events. We love
being under the lights and we wanted to have
both the chance for our distance athletes as
well as some of the other folks to get that experience.
Okay. And Diamond League? Yes. So just take us
through kind of where it falls in the Diamond
League schedule this year. As far as the pre
on the counter, you know, we're kind of in the
middle this year And you know, we've moved to
this July 4th weekend date, which has been actually
really phenomenal It's allowed people to come
to town and be part of I think you've heard a
lot about how it's standing outstanding the fans
and the spectators are so we've had as we mentioned
earlier sold out crowds the last couple two years,
but Friday nights as far as the league goes We're
kind of in the sweet spot. If you ask me We're
gonna get a chance to see how people are performing
in the in the season, like you said, bringing
those ones that are hot as they come in. And
it's a good time of year for the athletes that
we want to bring in to fit that into their calendar.
When I was in media and covering that pre -event,
that was the best track meet. Because so many
of those, especially like the high school ones,
you can be where you're there. Eight in the morning,
the first discus is thrown. And 11 at night,
the 5 ,000 meters is finishing. That pre is.
is on time and it is you know two two and a half
hours fits that TV window it is probably what
most people think track and field around the
world should be instead of having to have you
know all these you know qualifiers and events
and things that just take so much time let's
just give the fans what they want and that's
sort of one of those don't get up and go get
a drink of anything because there's there's no
there's no downtime in the pre -classic I would
agree. I'm actually shocked that anybody stands
at the Concedency of Life at all, because you
never know what you're going to miss, to be honest.
Yeah, and so when will we get into sort of the
events being announced? What's sort of the rollout
to that look like in terms of when we find out
kind of what the headliners and what the fields
look like? Yeah, so we've actually already started
announcing some of our headliners for the event
And we have I think five groups of headliners
five events that have been announced so far pre
classic comm if anybody's missed them we have
Olympic medalists we have world record holders
and We're aiming to announce some headliners
throughout the entire spring leading up to the
final field getting finalized in a few weeks
before pre classic So if you or anybody else
isn't already signed up for email updates, that's
gonna be that's the first group of people that
know who the head designers are for the pre -classic.
And yeah, I think like Jody mentioned, Friday
night was going to be a mix of distance and other
events. So we can expect to see Katie Moon there
for pole vaults. We can expect to see Cooper
Luckenhouse, the U -20 rising star there for
the men's 800, Grant Fisher. world record holder
he'll be there for the men's two mile and then
got a whole bunch of events announced for saturday
too yeah and then just keep kind of rolling them
out here as the weeks kind of lead up to it here
i think it's great that it's the fourth of july
week i think that's kind of cool to get that
i mean obviously it doesn't always fall on a
saturday and that but to be able to do that and
to have kind of this celebration weekend anyway
to be able to throw that in i think it's really
cool that it's worked out well to be able to
be on that with it Yeah, and it's the entire
week of pre really, like 4th of July is on Saturday
and it is a holiday weekend and it's fun and
it's great for those two days of competition,
but we're really kicking things off with our
entire community the Wednesday. before July 1st
and we're working with Oregon Track Club to host
the second, third annual Oregon Track Club all
comers meet at the pre -fontaine classic. So
kids 12 and under can come out and run jump throw
on the same track where world records are going
to maybe get broken a couple of days later. And
then on Thursday, we have our annual night of
miles, which is the community mile event. So
anybody in the community can run or walk a mile
under the lights at Hayward Field on Thursday
evening, July 2nd. And then last year, I think
that the pre was on the fifth, I think, of July
and this year, third and fourth. So was the way
that it went last year part of the reasoning
of why it's going to be in that same weekend
this year? Absolutely. We've hosted championships
on this weekend before, but it was incredibly
successful in that first year. And it just ratified
that this is a good date for the pre -fontaine
classic to be. And we really are excited to make
it a community event. So kind of being the home
of our 4th of July weekend here in Eugene, Springfield,
and Lane County. So we want everybody to come
out because you can come out for great track
and field, but we'll also have what I would call
a block party. So bring your, you know, if you
love the sport, if your family just wants to
have a good time, it's a good weekend to come
out to the Hayward. field at the pre -fontaine
classic. And both with that and the U -20 are
huge economic Indicators for for Eugene to be
able to get people going across the world for
one Probably people coming across world for the
pre to but certainly from around the country
It's really something that can inject some life
in every summer into this town as well and businesses.
Yeah Yeah, exactly and we work really closely
with traveling County Eugene Cascades Coast to
measure that economic impact and it's in the
millions in terms of just welcoming folks from
around the world a fun fact for you since you
mentioned pre -classic and global we had our
two furthest ticket purchasers from the 2025
pre -funting classic. One was in, oh my gosh
Kennedy's gonna get mad if I get this wrong,
one was in the Netherlands and one was in Japan.
So we really do have fans flying in from across
the world to come to the pre -classic and that's
just, it's so cool. And then two months later,
you're going to have people coming from literally
everywhere and bringing their children. Because
I assume if you're, I've got an 18 -year -old,
if I'm sending him across the country, I'm jumping
on that plane, too, to go watch him out there.
So that's going to bring a ton of people in here
for the world U20s. Yeah, exactly. And I would
do the exact same. And we just are excited for
our community to welcome everybody and for us
to showcase what a great region it is that we
live. Jody, this is a pretty cool time for you,
as you're putting together these fields and starting
to imagine, holy cow, if I can get this person.
and this person starting to put these dream matchups
together, this has got to be a really exciting
time. It is, you know, it really kicks off. The
outdoor season is just about to start at Hayward
and you just start to feel the build. I was listening
to your earlier segment and Elias talking about,
you know, the crowd and the excitement. That's
what we live for. I mean, we're working hard.
We're in the middle of spreadsheets right now
and planning, and it's not the most, you know,
exciting time. But but we all know what's coming.
And it's also we can deliver what we want to
consider the best. You know, we want this to
be the best athletic experience the best spectator
experience the best community experience We're
all in yeah, and you've got a community that's
done it year after year So in in terms of kind
of putting in and promoting these things It's
great to know that people have been coming out
and these people have been going to the pre for
Forty -plus years people have seen the the world
you 20s a couple years ago obviously been to
trials and other things But just to have a community
that's always supporting this unlike really any
other place in the in the country is unbelievable
It really is and I mean our company's name is
tracked on USA But obviously for decades before
that and it's still the region is tracked on
USA and the community here and that happened
organically because of the spirit and the support
that all of the community members bring to Hayward
field for the sport of track and field and you
don't find a fan base that's more knowledgeable
and more passionate about the sport than you
do here in Eugene and Springfield. Well, thank
you guys so much for coming on. Thanks for letting
us come down and check out your office. This
is great down here. Jody Smith, she's the chief
operating officer for Track 10 USA and the co
-director of the Pre -Fontaine Classic. And Karen
Ramming, who's the chief marketing officer for
Track 10 USA. Thanks so much to both of you.
And I'm sure we'll be chatting even more as we
get closer to these events. And I know we were
talking to Jeff about maybe doing some on -site
stuff during there. So we'd love to continue
to be part of the big event. So thank you to
both for setting up Aliyah and Luke and for coming
on and joining us as well. Yeah, thanks to you
guys. All right, you bet. All right, Justin,
it's been a good day. here at Tractown USA. We
appreciate the hospitality. The general took
us out and we had a little bit of lunch and got
to catch up with him and it's just been a great
day down here. It certainly has. No, we've had
a good time and always good to get fed. As I
said, they rolled out the red carpet for us with
the food and drink and then just everybody's
been really really nice. So I promise I'm gonna
make it out to the pre -classic this year guys.
I know I talked to you guys about this earlier.
I wasn't able to make it last year. I wasn't
visiting my grandma but now it's a It's a bucket
list ring your thing for me to go out there and
make it this year So I'm excited about it. Thank
you so much for having us here and we really
appreciate it See you at the pre we'll see you
there Awesome. All right. Well, we appreciate
everybody for tuning in and again a reminder
tomorrow. We'll be back with the Danny and Justin
tomorrow We'll be back in studio tomorrow. We'll
have big bets We will recap how last week went,
and we will be making our predictions on the
games for this week. I think Danny's putting
together the games for this week. Danny, it's
me. Oh, it's you. Yeah. Have you picked them
out yet? So I'm going to do after this. OK. Excellent,
excellent. So tune in tomorrow, and we will invite
you all to call in and be part of the show tomorrow,
as we hope you come on and make some of your
picks for our Big Bet segment. And we're back
in the studio tomorrow. And I look forward to
being back with you tomorrow. Danny will be back
in Pendleton tomorrow. So I'll be back in studio
tomorrow. and I don't think we're having a guest.
I think we're just gonna do big bets and catch
up on the Oregon women's game from tonight and
we'll preview the Oregon men's game on Saturday.
All right, this is Steve Mems filling in for
Danny. You've been listening to the Danny and
Justin show live from Track 10 USA on Fox Sports
Eugene and Fox Sports Newport.