Oregon State women’s cross country and track coach Kelly Sullivan said “the day couldn’t have gone any better” for the Beavers and its first glimpse of men’s track in 22 years.
Jordan Bishop cleared a personal best of 7 feet, ½ inch to win the high jump competition at the Husky Classic indoor meet in Seattle on Saturday. Football teammate Obum Gwacham was second with a clearance of 6-10 ¾.
All the while, the crowd at Dempsey Indoor seemed to recognize the significance of five OSU football players making an appearance at a track meet. The crowd cheered the OSU jumpers when they were the final two athletes left in the competition. It’s not every day that a school flirts with bringing back a men’s athletic program. OSU track and field was cut in 1988.
Sullivan was hired six years ago to revive women’s distance running at the school. On Saturday, Laura Carlyle broke the school record in the indoor mile, running 4:50.90.
But the attention-grabbing news this week revolved around the men. All-American receiver/returner James Rodgers was the first to compete, running a 60-meter prelim in the morning in 7.03 seconds – his first race on a track in three years. Rashaad Reynolds (7.31 seconds) and Keynan Parker (7.03) – young football players who have yet to make a significant impact on the football team – also competed in the 60 meters.
“For James to be the first to compete, with all that he has done for Oregon State, I thought it was fitting,” Sullivan said.
Bishop, who jumped 6-10 ¼ as a junior at West Salem High School, had not even attempted a seven-foot bar in practice. But Sullivan said he has a first-attempt 7-2 ¼ that barely missed.
The public address announcer acknowledged the OSU men for showing up at the meet and a local Seattle TV station arrived to interview them.
As the contingent heads back to Corvallis, it remains to be seen if this planted seed takes root in the form of increased fund-raising. It will take the establishment of an endowment fund for an OSU men’s track team to be fully realized.
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