TrackTown, USA: The final day of The One True Sport did not disappoint. The weather was most disappointing, but we trudged through the puddles and showers.
As the events did not start until mid-afternoon, we had a nice long lunch at Morelos, in downtown Coburg. This little restaurant has become a favorite of ours, but the owner told us he is relocating to West 11th in Eugene as he is losing his lease at the end of the month.
Today was the final day of the meet, and the final day for the women's competition, including the last day of the heptathlon. The terrible weather conditions did not seem to hamper the ladies. It hampered me just a bit. During the worst downpour, I went to the warm and dry President's box (we had been invited), where I found this spectacular vista:
The huge video screen has been installed for the upcoming World Championships. It is said to be temporary, but I'm not so sure. It seems pretty permanent to me. The bleachers flanking both sides of the video screen are most definitely temporary and will be removed after the championships.
I returned to Dave after the deluge, where he had given-up trying to don a poncho in complete frustration. We dodged raindrops the rest of the afternoon, but were too caught-up in the action to care much.
Following their male teammates, the Lady Florida Gators also took home the championship trophy! So exciting. They earned 74 points - 38 of the points were from only two athletes. Jasmine Moore won the long jump AND the triple jump for 20 points. Anna Hall not only won the heptathlon for 10 points, in her spare time, she popped onto the track to take second in the 400m hurdles for 8 more.
Though the 2022 NCAA's did not have the pizzazz of the 2021 event, it was still an amazing four days of competition. I just love the comradery of the student-athletes, the encouragement, pride, and love from their parents, and the friendly rivalry from the spectators. Everyone is wearing their school colors, but everyone is cheering for every team and athlete.
We left Historic Hayward Field as the trophies were being presented and hundreds of individual pizza boxes were being distributed to the hungry athletes on the field. We could smell the pizza, so picked up a pizza for ourselves on the way home. A quiet evening in our bus, re-watching the meet via our DVR. We are such nerds.
Sunday, we put this beast in reverse and make tracks back to sunny SoCal... repeating some stops, but also visiting family on our way home.
Until my next update, I remain, your GO GATORS correspondent.
RV PARK: Premier RV Resort - We have a fancy site with a fire pit, picnic table and grill. Will probably not use anything but the table. Who knows. We have a frequent-flyer punch card for this resort and had one free night, so can't really figure-out how much we are paying per night... about $65? A lot of live-ins in the front of the resort. Pool/hot tub, bath houses, laundry, dog walks and dog wash, car wash area. On I-5, exit 199, just north of Eugene. Close to many RV repair and services.
Glad you enjoyed the trip, but sorry the weather wasn’t better and that the Ducks didn’t have their best weekend..