Pre Classic Repeats As World No. 1

            Eugene, Oregon – With the 2017 track & field athletics season in the books, the Prefontaine Classic has defended its title as the top-ranked invitational meet in the world. For the second consecutive year, and third time in 5 years, America's most famous invitational is at the top of the rankings calculated by All-Athletics.com, the official data services partner of the IAAF’s top-tier international circuit, the IAAF Diamond League.  Held on May 26-27 at historic Hayward Field, this year's Prefontaine Classic outpointed all other IDL meets, as well as the more than 600 invitational meets held around the world in 2017.

             The 2017 Pre, sponsored by NIKE, rates as one of the best-ever editions in terms of great marks and superb competitions. As proof, at this year's World Championships in London, athletes who had competed in the Pre Classic went on to win 23 gold medals (17 individual, 6 relay), 17 silver (14 individual, 3 relay), and 13 bronze medals (11 individual, 2 relay).

             Five meet records were set at this year's Pre, none more thrilling than the titanic battle between Christian Taylor (59.5/18.11) and Will Claye (59-23/4/18.05) who both surpassed the old record held by Taylor. Celephine Chespol broke 9-minutes and set the women's steeplechase meet record (and Under-20 world mark) of 8:58.78, despite stopping to fix a wayward shoe. Ryan Crouser took down the 7-year-old shot put record with a throw of 73-71/4/ 22.43, Maria Lasitskene previewed her World Championships domination by clearing 6-8/2.03 in the high jump, and Tori Bowie surprised the greatest 200m field ever assembled in the United States with a 21.77 victory that stood up through the season's end as the year's fastest time.

            The meet will also be remembered as the American track-racing farewell to the sport's biggest distance star. Great Britain's Mo Farah capped his string of successes at Hayward Field with a hard-fought 13:00.70 win in the 5000.  Brittney Reese leaped over the elusive 7.00 meter mark in the long jump (23-0/7.01), Olympic Champion Omar McLeod set a world-leading mark of 13.01 in the high hurdles, Kenya's Ronald Kwemoi led 3 under 3:50 in Bowerman Mile (3:49.04) and Ashley Spencer of the U.S. ran a world-leader of 53.38 in the women's 400 hurdles.

            This year's finish for the Prefontaine Classic was the 4^th highest score in history for an invitational, and the Eugene IDL meet has now recorded 5 of the top 10 scores of all-time.
 
The final 2017 All-Athletics.com rankings:

            Fans can follow Pre Classic developments on social media on PreClassic.com, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
 
            Tickets for the 44th annual edition of the Prefontaine Classic, to be held May 25-26, 2018, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., will be available on February 2nd at 9:00 a.m. PT at www.GoDucks.com as well as from 1-800-WEBFOOT.

            The Prefontaine Classic is the longest-running outdoor invitational track & field meet in America and is part of the elite IAAF Diamond League of meets held worldwide annually.  The Pre Classic’s results score has rated No. 1 or No. 2 in the world in each of the last 7 years by All-Athletics.com. The meet has been sponsored by NIKE continuously since 1984. The Prefontaine Classic is an Oregon Track Club event.

            The Oregon Track Club has been a major player for over 5 decades in helping to build the sport. The organization is volunteer-based and governed by an elected Board of Directors. The Club’s impact is wide-ranging: from fitness to community service to youth activities to road racing to hosting the No. 1 ranked invitational meet in the world.  www.oregontrackclub.org

            Steve Prefontaine is a legend in the sport of track & field and is the most inspirational distance runner in American history.  He set a national high school 2-mile record (8:41.5) while at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay, Oregon, that is the fastest ever in a National Federation-sanctioned race.  While competing for the University of Oregon, he won national cross country championships (3) and outdoor track 3-Mile/5000-meter championships (4), and never lost a collegiate track race at any distance.  As a collegiate junior, he made the 1972 U.S. Olympic Team and nearly won an Olympic medal, finishing 4^th in the 5K at the 1972 Munich Olympics, at age 21.  After finishing college in 1973 and preparing for a return to the Olympics in 1976, he continued to improve, setting many American records.  His life ended tragically on May 30, 1975, the result of an auto accident, at age 24.  The Pre Classic began that year and has been held every year since.