In honor of the 40th running of the Prefontaine Classic, a panel of track and field aficionados generated a ranking of the Top 40 Moments in Pre Classic history. The Top 40 Moments are more than a collection of the best athletes to compete at the Pre Classic; these moments are about competition, breaking historical records, and excitement! These are the moments that we remember as the best of the Pre Classic in its first 40 years.

The Top 40 Moments will be available in the 2014 Pre Classic program (and listed in full on PreClassic.com after the meet). Below are all the nominated moments from which the Top 40 were selected, in chronological order.

Top Pre Classic Moments - 1970s - 1980s - 1990s - 2000s - 2010s - Top 40 All-time

 

The Top 40 Pre Classic Moments

 

#40

1995 Men’s 2-Mile – Bob Kennedy outdueled Todd Williams by 0.05 seconds, winning in a memorable meet record of 8:14.53.  They became the No. 2 and 3 Americans ever at the distance.

 

#39

1975 Men’s 3-Mile – Frank Shorter won the first edition of Steve Prefontaine’s signature event in 13:00.8, his second fastest ever.  During his victory lap, the friend and rival of Pre stopped during his victory lap and ventured to Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Prefontaine and embraced both.  “I tried to run the last mile like him, but it wasn’t the same,” Shorter told an Oregon Track Club official.

 

#38

2004 Men’s 100 – Shawn Crawford ran the first wind-legal sub-10 100 in Pre Classic history, beating Maurice Greene (9.93) and John Capel (9.95).  Crawford’s 9.88, the fastest 100 run by an American on US soil, made him the 12^th fastest man in history.

 

#37

2005 Men’s 100 – Justin Gatlin and Kenya’s Asafa Powell waged the closest battle in meet history, and Gatlin outleaned Powell as both ran a wind-aided 9.84.  Leonard Scott (9.94w) and defending champ Shawn Crawford (9.98w) also broke the 10-second mark.

 

#36

1985 Men’s 5000 – In a fast race, Sydney Maree’s kick was a couple of feet better than Doug Padilla’s, 13:20.48 to 13:20.67.  It would be Padilla’s only loss of the year, and he would later win the inaugural IAAF/Mobil Grand Prix overall men’s title.

 

#35

1989 Women’s 400 – Ana Quirot was the most awe-inspiring of a handful of Cuban athletes competing in Eugene for the first time.  Battling strong winds, she ran boldly by herself to shatter the meet record in 50.14, winning by over 2 seconds over Rochelle Stevens, who would rank as the year’s top American and 4^th best in the world.  Quirot finished the year undefeated in the 400 and 800 and a near-unanimous pick by Track & Field News as the Women’s Athlete of the Year.

 

#34

1998 Women’s Long Jump – Marion Jones added almost 2 feet to the meet record, jumping 23-11¾ (7.31), her longest ever.

 

#33

2009 Men’s Long Jump – Two Olympic Champions jumping at their best provided long jumping fireworks.  2004 Champ Dwight Phillips outdueled 2008 Champ Irving Saladino out beyond 28 feet.  Each provided a pair of wind-legal 28-footers and scared 29 feet, even if by a long foul.  Phillips claimed victory at 28-8¼ (8.74), his best ever.  Saladino finished with a best of 28-3¾ (8.63), his 2^nd best of all-time.

 

#32

2007 Men's 2-Mile – Australian Craig Mottram wins in the 6^th fastest time in history, 8:03.50, the fastest time of the new millennium.  Matt Tegenkamp sets the AR in 3^rd (8:07.07).

 

#31

1978 Men’s Discus – Mac Wilkins launched the world’s 2^nd-best ever discus throw of 231-3 (70.48).

 

#30

2011 Men’s 10K – Mo Farah’s first Pre Classic win marked the first time more than one runner ran sub-27 on U.S. soil.  Farah’s European Record 26:46.57 led a total of nine under the barrier, the most in history.

 

#29

2012 Men’s 5000 – Mo Farah set a meet record in 12:56.98, but also up on the radar was training partner Galen Rupp’s PRing in 3^rd at 12:58.90.  Turns up the two would celebrate again in London.

 

#28

2009 Women’s 1500 – With a sold-out crowd roaring, Gelete Burka held off Jenny Simpson (then known as Barringer) by the closest of margins, 3:59.89 to 3:59.90.  They became the meet’s first sub-4 racers, and Simpson set a collegiate record as a student at Colorado.

 

#27

2010 Men’s 5000 – Tariku Bekele used a 55-second last lap to produce the first sub-13 ever run in America, his 12:58.93 holding off fellow Ethiopian countrymen Dejen Gebremeskel (12:59.30) and Imane Merga (13:00.18).  The first six finishers broke the previous meet record.

 

#26

2013 Men’s 3000m Steeple – Conseslus Kipruto literally held off Kenyan countryman and two-time Olympic champ Ezekiel Kemboi to break the meet record by over 4 seconds in 8:03.59.  On the homestretch, the two sprinted but near the finish Kemboi was judged to impede Kipruto.  Not only did Kipruto win, judges disqualified Kemboi.  Two others broke the meet record, and Evan Jager (8:08.60) ran the fastest ever by an American on U.S. soil.

 

#25

1982 Women’s 5000 – Mary Slaney ran one of her most memorable races, taking full control after 2M to shatter the world record by almost five seconds, clocking 15:08.26.  She won by over 10 seconds, as former world record holder Paula Fudge ran 15:19.63.

 

#24

2007 Men’s 800 – Nick Symmonds not only broke an 11-year-old meet record, he also held off Russia’s great finisher, Yuriy Borzakovskiy, 1:44:54 to 1:44.71.

 

#23

2002 Women’s 100m Hurdles – Gail Devers produced the fastest performance of her career to dominate a loaded field, running a wind-aided 12.29.  Six others would break 13 seconds, led by Miesha McKelvy (12.51w).

 

#22

2008 Men’s Pole Vault – Brad Walker soared over the meet’s first 6-meter jump at 19-9¾ (6.04), bettering a mark set by legendary Sergey Bubka 14 years earlier.  He excitedly noted the crowd was “mind-blowing” at how loud it got.

 

#21

2007 Men’s Mile – Daniel K. Komen sizzled a 55.8 last 440 to chop 1.64 seconds off the meet record and become the outright fastest-ever miler on U.S. soil (3:48.28).  Bernard Lagat was the closest finisher at 3:50.56.

 

#20

2003 Women’s 400 – Ana Guevara became the first woman to break the 50-second barrier in meet history, and did so in destructive fashion.  Guevara ran 49.34 to win by over a second.  Guevara would later win the World Championships gold in Edmonton, and among the vanquished were 2000 Olympic gold medalist Cathy Freeman and 2004 gold medalist-to-be Tonique Williams.

 

#19

1991 Women’s Mile – An historical collection of talent lined up, but after 3 laps (3:30.6) a wild kicker’s race began with Suzy Hamilton and PattiSue Plumer in the lead.  At the beginning of the backstretch, Maria Mutola, an 18-year-old Olympian from nearby Springfield HS, made a bid for the lead, but Hamilton and Plumer wouldn’t let her by.  That trio traded strides for the next half lap.  At the top of the homestretch, there was so much contact that Mutola threw her arms up in protest, but never recovered.  Plumer sprinted after Hamilton, and at the finish they bumped, exchanged elbows, and locked arms as Plumer crashed to the track, just inches behind Hamilton (4:32.99 to Plumer’s 4:33.04).  The epilogue: Plumer hurt her hip and never ran to that level again; Hamilton earned her first of 6 Pre titles; and Mutola would never lose again at Pre, ringing up 17 straight Pre titles, the most ever.

 

#18

1984 Men’s High Jump – Zhu Jianhua equaled Dwight Stones’s meet record at 7-3.5 then raises it three times, eventually to 7-7.75 (2.33).  American Jimmy Howard matched suit until the winning height, finishing at 7-6.5 (2.30).

 

#17

2011 Men’s 30K – Moses Mosop flashed his 2:03 marathon talents on the track, clocking 2 WRs, one at 25K (1:12:25.4) en route to the final 30K distance (1:26:47.4).  His average for each 10K (28:55.8) was better than 4 of Zatopek’s 5 WRs at the distance.

 

#16

1985 Women’s 5000 – Mary Slaney lowered her American record to 15:06.53, running by herself in the rain the last half of the race to win by about 15 seconds.  In second was Cindy Bremser, who hung with Slaney the first half, leading an onslaught on the record books as she PRed in 15:19.50 (2^nd-fastest American ever) and Lynn Williams followed in a Canadian record 15:20.03.  Places 3-9 ran the fastest-ever for those positions, and the race produced 6 of the top 8 Americans ever.

 

#15

2013 Women’s 800 – Francine Niyonsaba shaved more than half a second off the meet record to win in 1:56.72, but 17-year-old prep Mary Cain had the crowd’s attention.  After running near the back, Cain stormed around the Bowerman Curve and finished fifth in 1:59.51, breaking a 31-year-old national high school record set by Kim Gallagher.

 

#14

1997 Women’s 800 – Maria Mutola made it 7 for 7, winning the 800 in 1:57.57 to break the 12-year-old meet record of Jarmila Kratochvilova (1:58.01).  Also under the record was Jearl Miles-Clark in 1:57.98.

 

#13

2000 Men’s 400 – Michael Johnson blasted a world-class field by nearly a second to provide the meet’s first sub-44 at 43.92.  He became the first man or woman to own meet records in the 200 and 400 (he set the 200 MR in 1995 at 20.15).

 

#12

2011 Women’s 100 – Carmelita Jeter raced to a stunning meet record 10.70, winning by 0.16 and leaving in her wake American Marshevet Myers (10.86) and Jamaican Olympic medalists Kerron Stewart (10.87), Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.95), and Sherone Simpson (11.00).

 

#11

2012 Men’s 110m Hurdles – Liu Xiang ran his fastest ever anywhere, and equal to the best by anyone on the planet at 12.87.  A wind reading of 2.4 mps gave it an additional “w”, but Aries Merritt also fought him to the end in his best ever at 12.96w.  Merritt would soon later win Olympic gold and set a WR 12.80.

 

#10

2010 Men’s 110mHurdles – David Oliver set an American Record 12.90 to outclass the field by 0.26 seconds with the fastest time ever run in the U.S.

 

#9

2012 Men’s 10K – The Pre Classic hosted a race like none other ever seen – Kenya’s best fighting for a place on a glorious Olympic team, but on American soil.  After the playing of the Kenyan National Anthem, 15 of Kenya’s finest 10K runners waged battle for 25 laps, without a pacesetter.  Wilson Kiprop won the historic race in 27:01.98, and all combatants in the Kenyan-only race finished sub-28.

 

#8

2008 Men’s 10K – Kenenisa Bekele produced the first sub-27 on U.S. soil with an amazing 26:25.97 that was the world’s 4^th-best ever.  It still is.

 

#7

1982 Men’s 5000 – Matt Centrowitz set a stunning American record of 13:12.91, leading three others to demolish the previous meet record, led by fellow ex-Oregon athlete Alberto Salazar, who set a PR 13:15.71 in second.  It was Centrowitz’ fourth win in the Pre 5k – at the time the most ever by one athlete in a single event.

 

#6

1993 Men’s Pole Vault – Sergey Bubka’s first appearance in Eugene was indeed memorable.  After equaling the meet record of 19-2¼ (5.85), he asked for the bar to be set at a world-record 20-1¾ (6.14).  While he didn’t clear it, his last two attempts were oh-so-close.

 

#5

1975 Men’s 220 Yards – In the inaugural Pre Classic, Don Quarrie and Steve Williams waged an epic battle and both ran a WR 19.9, with Quarrie the winner.  It would be the last IAAF-ratified record at the yard distance.  Earlier in the meet, the two dueled in the 100y, with Williams edging Quarrie, 9.1 to 9.2.

 

#4

2002 Men’s Shot – Kevin Toth exploded for three PRs, and he needed every one of them to top a field that produced the first meet anywhere with two Americans over 72 feet.  Toth’s best of 72-9¾ (22.19) was the fifth meet record set in the event that day.  Each time he surpassed Adam Nelson, who set two meet records and finished with a best of 72-0¼ (21.95).  In third was former two-time winner John Godina at 71-10¾ (21.91), also well above the previous meet record.

 

#3

2013 Men’s High Jump – Mutaz Essa Barshim cleared 7-10½ (2.40) in a competition for the ages.  He scaled the winning height after missing twice at 7-10 (2.39), but after collegians Erik Kynard and Derek Drouin missed a third time he asked the bar to be raised to one never before cleared in America.  Barshim cleared, sending the crowd to deafening levels.

 

#2

2000 Women’s 1500 –Gabriela Szabo and Suzy Hamilton were clearly the class of the field.  At the bell, Hamilton and Szabo had broken away from the pack.  With 300 meters to go Hamilton put on a strong move that opened up a huge 15 meter gap on Szabo by the end of the backstretch.  But, as longtime Pre Classic PA announcer Scott Davis boomed out, “Gabriela Szabo hasn't lost a race in two years!”, Szabo started her kick, and began to close on Hamilton.  Into the homestraight, Szabo had gained a few meters back, but it was still Hamilton’s race.  Szabo kept driving and driving.  In the very last meter, Szabo edged ahead; both chopped more than five seconds off the meet record.  The result was an almost sub-4, Szabo edging Hamilton by 0.06 in 4:00.73.  For Szabo, it kept alive her 2-year winning streak; for Hamilton, who stumbled and fell at the finish, her time was the fourth-fastest ever by an American not named Slaney.

 

and …

#1

2001 Men’s Mile – Hicham El Guerrouj crushed a world-class field by almost 2 seconds in becoming the first-ever to run sub-3:50 outdoors in the U.S. (3:49.92), but it was 18-year-old Alan Webb who drew even more attention in 5^th place.  Webb finished in 3:53.43 to shatter the national High School Record set by legendary Jim Ryun 36 years earlier.