The Nike Oregon Track Club wrapped up a successful indoor track season, culminating in a World Champs qualifying mark for 800 meter phenom Nick Symmonds. Symmonds narrowly missed an indoor national championship when he was defeated by one hundredth of a second Sunday in Boston. However, the top two in each event qualified to compete against the rest of the world in Spain on March 7th. The men’ 800, arguably the club’s deepest and most talented group, sent 5 runners to the national contest, as Symmonds was accompanied by Matt Scherer, Christian Smith, Kevin Hicks and Adam Steele.

Other highlights from the season included the arrival of Will Leer and Catherine “Cack” Ferrell onto the national stage. Leer eclipsed the sub-four minute mile and split a 3:57 mile in the Distance Medley Relay at the University of Washington. He qualified for Indoor Champs, ultimately placing 4th in 3:41.94. Ferrell ran the 3000 meters in a blistering time of 9:00.37 minutes in Seattle on February 2nd, beating a stacked field in the process.

Sean O’Brien also had a successful indoor campaign, finishing just behind Leer in 7th at Nationals. Along with 800 meter runners Brandon Shaw and Matt Scherer, the two also formed a Distance Medley Relay that ran 9:33.08, posting one of the fastest times in the country in that event.

While a focus on the indoor track circuit was to race fast, the group primarily aims at this upcoming track season as their target. But this indoor season gave us a preview of some of the great things to expect this spring from the OTC.