The newly refinished track at Mt. Hood Community College provided fast times this weekend at the Portland Track Festival.
In the marquee event, the men’s 1,500 meters, former Oregon Ducks star and Tokyo Olympian Cole Hocker used his trademark kick to come from behind and almost catch Puma-sponsored Amon Kemboi of Kenya.
The Nike-sponsored Hocker has kept a low profile this year after an injury-plagued 2022, and the Gresham crowd was thrilled to see him run a healthy race. Kemboi won in 3 minutes, 34.12 seconds just ahead of Hocker in 3:34.14. That qualifies Hocker for the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships, set to run July 6-9 at Hayward Field in Eugene.
The race included 11 national qualifying times, including former Oregon Ducks Johnny Gergorek (third in 3:34.35) and Sam Prakel (fifth in 3:34.63). German Olympian Amos Bartelsmeyer was fourth in 3:34.39.
Other top finishers included Andrew Hunter (seventh in 3:35.33) Henry Wynne (ninth in 3:35.45) and Craig Engels (11th in 3:36.79). Three Canadian national teammates also performed well, including Olympian Charles Philibert-Thiboutot (sixth), Washington Husky Kieran Lumb (eighth) and Cameron Proceviat (10th).
In another heat of the 1,500, several college runners pushed Wilsonville High School standout Carter Cutting to a fast finish in 3:46.18, within one second of Galen Rupp’s overall high school state record of 3:45.30. The time ranks the BYU-bound Cutting the fastest ever for Oregon Class 5A boys. Cutting won the heat and beat the Ducks’ Luke Affolder, who finished second in 3:46.48.
Crowd favorite, Olympic bronze medalist and former Oregon Ducks star Raevyn Rogers was out-leaned at the tape by Nia Akins in the women’s 800 meters. Akins, who runs for Brooks, won in 1:59.37 to qualify for USATF nationals. Rogers’ time of 2:00.20 missed the USATF qualifying mark, so she might use the upcoming Portland Twilight meet on June 24 to qualify.
The men’s 800 featured Nike-sponsored 19-year-old prodigy Noah Kibet of Kenya, who led the race but faltered down the final homestretch. Scottish Olympian Josh Kerr won in 1:46.62, followed by fellow Brooks teammates Devin Dixon in 1:46.72 and Isaiah Harris in 1:46.91. Oregon Ducks runner Elliott Cook (1:46.98), and Australian Olympian and former Duck Charlie Hunter (1:47.35) finished in fourth and fifth. Kibet finished in seventh in 1:47.96.
Crater High School standout Tyrone Gorze attempted to break former Oregon Duck Rudy Chapa’s national high school record in the 10,000 and was on pace before suffering a mid-race vomit. Gorze still finished in 29:00.17, which puts him third all-time among U.S. high school boys, according to Track & Field News. Gorze is now ranked behind Chapa and Eric Hulst, and ahead of Oregon legends Galen Rupp, Billy McChesney and Edward Cheserek, and Washington State legend Gerry Lindgren. Kenyan Athanas Kioko won the 10k race in 27:29.82, a new meet record.
The Gresham crowd was rooting for Olympian Colleen Quigley, who had a breakout performance in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. Quigley, who is sponsored by Lululemon, is coming off an injury-plagued 2022 and is showing success with a new triathlon-based training routine. Her winning time of 9:32.48 qualifies her for nationals. Amy Cashin, who is sponsored by Hoka, finished second in 9:38.27.
“We are proud to host such a prestigious event and show off our track venue,” Mt. Hood Community College track and field coach Fernando Fantroy said. “We have taken great care to maintain and preserve the good condition of our track surface and look forward to hosting more high-quality events.”
The fast times at the Portland Track Festival foreshadow strong competition next month at the USATF championships. Team USA qualifiers will then compete at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in August.
-- Will Lee for The Oregonian/OregonLive
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