Throwback Thursday is a new DyeStat feature that allows us to remember and celebrate some of the great meets and performances that have been a part of our DyeStat coverage since John Dye founded the site.  Thanks to many stories, photos and videos that have been preserved in our archives, we’re able to relive and share with you some of the very best of DyeStat.com.

Conditions "only a duck could love"

By Steve Underwood

DYESTAT 2006 TEAM XO COVERAGE | MEET PHOTOS | MEET VIDEOS | RS MEET VIDEOS

If there’s one common recollection about the 3rd Annual Team XO Invitational at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field, it’s the epically bad weather conditions that prevailed that April day in 2006.

“It poured rain ... and the wind blew it sideways,” recalled Dave Devine, who covered the meet as a freelancer for DyeStat with then-senior editor Marc Davis.  In fact, in the opening paragraph of his story, Devine wrote it was the “sort of day only a duck could love.”

“I vividly remember that meet, it was beyond horrible,” said Nate Anderson, then a Benson (Portland, Ore.) senior who won the 400 and anchored the winning 4x400 for the Techmen. “I mean, we were used to the spring weather in Oregon, but this was really bad.”

“I’ve never been so cold in all my life,” reminisced Ross Krempley, who founded the meet in 2004 and will direct this year’s event April 20.

It was a doozy, even by early spring Oregon standards.  Yet, memories of the meet are otherwise positive, not negative, thanks to the spirit of the athletes and the unique format for the meet Krempley had created.

“One of the really cool things is that it’s one of the only meets that features co-ed scoring,” said Devine.  The importance of the competition was compounded, while the emphasis on PRs and great marks kind of went out the window with the weather.  “You really got that sense ... It was very prestigious to win as a team.  There was even a pizza party for the winning team after the meet.”

Not that the meet didn’t have a ton of individual talent from Oregon capable of great marks.  Anderson still holds the Oregon state 400 record.  Double hurdle champ Bianca Mathabane of Lincoln (Portland) is the state’s fastest ever at 100H.  Kenny Klotz, the Nike Cross Nationals champ the previous fall (and fourth at Foot Locker, as well), battled in the 3k steeplechase with his star Central Catholic teammate Taylor Morgan. 

And then there was a certain junior from McKay (Salem) who fought the fierce headwinds and sleet to a victory in the 100 (11.42) and second in the 200 (22.83).  The performance was unremarkable enough that Devine didn’t even mention this athlete in his story.  “It was kind of his coming out party,” he said. “I should have picked up on his talent.”

The athlete in question?  Ryan Bailey – who knew that he would be a 9.88 performer and an Olympian by 2012, finishing fifth in the London 100 and taking 4x100 silver?

So the meet was loaded, no doubt, but the top athletes were motivated by victories, scoring valuable points and the team standings. 

“The meet meant a lot to me and it was important to our team,” said Anderson. “We didn’t know what to expect, but we were there to make a name for ourselves and we accomplished that goal.”

Anderson’s team, Benson, was competitive all day, finishing fourth with 95 points behind third-place Summit’s 105.79.  But the battle for the first-place trophy came down to Mathabane’s Lincoln squad and the powerhouse from Jesuit (also in Portland). 

Lincoln headed into the girls’ 4x400 trailing Jesuit by several points and “needing something close to a miracle,” wrote Devine.  The Cardinal girls were relegated to the second heat of four, based on their seed time, and knew they’d have to hammer a hard solo effort and then hope they placed high enough in the end.  They gapped the field and hit 4:16.74, three seconds better than their seed time.

Then the Cardinals waited.  Jesuit’s girls were in the final heat, seeded eighth, and would have to better Lincoln’s time to guarantee the team title.  The Crusader girls got it done, finishing fifth in their heat in 4:12.13 and closing the door on their first XO trophy.

The meet was memorable for Devine for more reasons than the competition and the weather.  “It was my very first assignment for DyeStat,” he said.  “I had contacted John Dye ... and they gave me a chance to see if I could do this and actually put something together.”

Devine also admitted that the idea of working with Davis, the Olympic steeplechaser who was a DyeStat editor and videographer at the time, was a little intimidating at first.  “I had watched him from the stands in Atlanta in 1996,” he said.  “But he really helped me a lot.”

Devine would go on to help develop DyeStat Northwest in the next year-plus and eventually become Managing Editor under Dye, helping guide the site until March, 2011.  He is now an Academic Program Specialist at the University of Portland.

Anderson will never forget the 2006 Team XO Invite, either.  Going into the meet that year, he was already a prominent enough athlete – a Pan-Am Juniors medalist in 2005 – that he was featured on a poster promoting the meet.  Performing well in Eugene that day could hardly have been more important.

How important was performing well there for Anderson?  After finishing the 400, he remembers another finisher losing his lunch nearby.  “I would have, too, had I not had the media there – so I had to keep my composure.”

Anderson went on to become a three-time All-American at USC in the 4x400, where he says he carried over the same team spirit he had at Benson and at meets like Team XO.  Now he is back in Portland and involved with Beast Fit Nation. 

Also not to be forgotten from the affair were a meet record 800/1500 double by Sandy’s Sheryl Page, a 100/200 double by Reynolds’ Latasha Essien, and strong boys’ distance performances by Central Catholic, as Morgan nipped Klotz in the steeple and Klotz anchored a dominant DMR win.

But no one created as much havoc as Mother Nature.  Krempley, also the CEO of Runnerspace who has revived DyeStat.com this winter and spring, remembers the event as only a meet director can.

“Man, seeing that brings me back,” he said as he reviewed the coverage from Devine and Davis from that year.  “The sideways sleet, it never quit the whole day.  I was just happy no big injuries happened during the meet... kids weren't warming up as much as they should have, so it could have been really bad.  They just weren't prepared, thinking it may just rain a little.

“We sold out of sweatshirts that year ... In fact, we gave a bunch of kids discounts on them if they didn't have enough cash.  Hard to turn away a cold, wet high-schooler giving you puppy dog eyes.  People gathered in the bathrooms because it was warmer. 

“I promised all the coaches that the next year it would be sunny, and fortunately, it was.”

Great weather is certainly not a promise Krempley can make about Team XO on an annual basis, but his delivering the goods on an exciting, unique team competition every year keeps them coming back. Four years ago the Team XO Invite partnered up with the Oregon Invite to form the Oregon Relays and it’s been an amazing combo ever since. 

“Oregon has been a great partner in this event and we both work very hard each year to make sure the Oregon Relays is a memorable experience for all the athletes,” said Krempley. “Each year has a new twist.  This year, the Arkansas vs. Oregon Men’s Dual will be held right in the middle of the meet and it will including key High School invite sections inside the dual.  People are essentially getting three awesome meets for the price of one!”