Stories from Paul Merca
-
Remembering Geoff Hollister...
Paul Merca &bull Feb 7, 2012
Track and field lost one of its biggest friends Monday morning with the passing of Geoff Hollister after a years-long battle with colorectal cancer, just days after celebrating his 66th birthday Friday. Hollister was one of Nike's original employees, hired by Phil Knight to sell Tiger shoes for Blue Ribbon Sports out of his car on commission in the mid-1960s. When Blue Ribbon Sports lost the US distribution rights to Tiger in the early 1970s, Hollister became one of the faces of the company eventually known as Nike, getting the word out, along with University of Oregon graduate Steve Prefontaine… Full Story »
-
Maurice McNeal & Husky sprint crew shine in Idaho, plus weekend wrapup...
Paul Merca &bull Feb 5, 2012
With most of the Washington schools competing in some form over the weekend, here's the summary of what happened Friday and Saturday: In Nampa Idaho, the Washington sprint crew won every event it competed in on Saturday at the Bronco Classic, hosted by Boise State University, starting with a victory from sophomore… Full Story »
-
Thinking of Geoff Hollister on his birthday...
Paul Merca &bull Feb 4, 2012
RICHMOND, British Columbia--While preparing my notes to announce Saturday's Harry Jerome Indoor track meet at the Richmond Olympic Oval, I saw several tweets and Facebook posts noting that February 3rd is Geoff Hollister's (front/illustration courtesy Nike, Inc) birthday. For those of you not old enough to know who he is, Geoff, who was a steeplechaser at the University of Oregon, was one… Full Story »
-
Maddie Meyers and Chris Williams sign national LOIs with UW; Weekend Preview--Vandal, Bronco & Jerome...
Paul Merca &bull Feb 3, 2012
As expected and reported back in November, the University of Washington received a national letter of intent from Northwest School standout Maddie Meyers (in purple/photo courtesy The Northwest School), the national high school record holder in the 2000 meter steeplechase. Meyers, who as a junior, won the 2010 Jim Ryun Dream Mile at the adidas Grand Prix, the Nike Border Clash, and was a Foot Locker Cross Country Championships… Full Story »
-
Nike designs running outsole for amputee athletes...
Paul Merca &bull Feb 2, 2012
In 1997, I traveled to Toronto to cover the Donovan Bailey/Michael Johnson match race over 150 meters at the SkyDome, a race that was hyped up as a race for the ages, pitting the 1996 Olympic champs at 100 (Bailey) and 200 (Johnson). After all the… Full Story »
-
Brie Felnagle talks about the recruiting process...
Paul Merca &bull Feb 1, 2012
With Wednesday National Letter of Intent day for high school track and field athletes to sign with colleges, we thought that we would post another in a series of videos, courtesy of adidas, with Tacoma's Brie Felnagle (left, in green/photo… Full Story »
-
Some thoughts and numbers on Katie Flood...
Paul Merca &bull Jan 31, 2012
Having been around the sport since my days at Seattle's Sharples Junior High School in 1972 (holy crap, that's forty years!), I feel like I've seen it all from the way Henry Rono made the steeplechase look so effortless when he ran 8:05.4 on a rainy day in Seattle at Husky Stadium in 1978; Joan Benoit's historic marathon run in 1984 in Olympia; Rick Noji's first appearance at the world championships in Tokyo in 1991; the mano-a-mano duel at the Chicago Marathon in 2010 won by the late… Full Story »
-
Cougars sweep UCLA, Idaho, Montana and Utah State, plus pro recap...
Paul Merca &bull Jan 29, 2012
PULLMAN--The Washington State men's and women's track and field teams swept the dual meet scoring and four more meet records fell Saturday in the second day of the Cougar Indoor meet at WSU's Indoor Facility. The Cougar men's team had dual scores of 90-32 over UCLA, 95-27 over Idaho, 103-19 over Montana, and 94-27 over Utah State. The Cougar women's team also grabbed four dual wins with scores of 68-51 over UCLA, 78-40 over Idaho, 86-35 over Montana, and… Full Story »
-
Kenyan Sally Kipyego wins 3000m at UW Invitational as Katie Flood runs collegiate leading time in second...
Paul Merca &bull Jan 29, 2012
SEATTLE--The distance races at the UW Invitational at the Dempsey Indoor Facility lived up to the hype, as they provided the most excitement for those in attendance at the all day track and field extravaganza. In the women's 3000 meters, Daegu 10000 meter silver medalist Sally Kipyego of Kenya and the Oregon TC/Eugene, who is no stranger to the Dempsey from… Full Story »
-
WSU's Stephan Scott-Ellis sets meet record in long jump at Cougar Team Scoring Meet...
Paul Merca &bull Jan 28, 2012
PULLMAN--Washington State's Stephan Scott-Ellis (left/photo courtesy WSU Athletics), a junior from Tacoma, long jumped a lifetime-best distance of 24-feet, 8 inches (7.53m), one of three meet records broken Friday night after day one of the Cougar Indoor Team Scoring meet. Scott-Ellis, the reigning Pac-10 triple… Full Story »
