TRACKTOWN TUESDAY TO SHINE SPOTLIGHT ON OLYMPIC FINALISTS BLANKENSHIP, MEAD

Ben Blankenship and Hassan Mead, 2016 Olympic finalists and Oregon Track Club Elite teammates, will headline the next TrackTown Tuesday on May 7 at the Downtown Athletic Club.

The show will also highlight University of Oregon sprinters CravonGillespie and Venessa D’Arpino. The two student-athletes will be joined on stage by UO Associate Head Coach Curtis Taylor. Also featured will be Nike Running Insights Director John Truax.

Both Blankenship and Mead have been with OTC Elite since 2012. Blankenship, a 1,500m specialist, placed eighth in that event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. More recently, he was fifth in the 1,500m at the 2018 World Indoor Championships. Blankenship owns a personal best (PB) of 3:34.26 in the 1,500m.

Mead finished 11th in the 5,000m at Rio. He earned his first U.S. title in 2017, winning the 10,000m in Sacramento before going on to finish 15that the 2017 IAAF World Championships. Mead has PBs of 13:02.80 and 27:32.49 in the 5,000m and 10,000m, respectively.

Gillespie, a redshirt senior from Pasadena, Calif., has had a phenomenal 2019. He finished fourth in the 60m at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships, breaking the UO record with his time of 6.57. Outdoors, he has already run wind-legal PBs in both the 100m (10.11) and 200m (20.23), the latter being a school record.

D’Arpino, also a redshirt senior, has become one of Oregon’s most reliable relay pool members. Most notably, she was a part of the distance medley relay squad that took home the title at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships. D’Arpino boasts a personal best of 52.78 in the 400m. She is a graduate of North Valley HS in Grants Pass, Ore.

Taylor joined the Oregon coaching staff in 2014, and helps develop student-athletes in the sprints, relays, and hurdles. In 2017, he was named USTFCCCA National Women’s Assistant Coach of the year.

Truax has been working for Nike for nearly 30 years. Originally focused on product development and product marketing, his passion for enriching the running community helped lead to the creation of Nike’s high school cross country competitions BorderClash (Washington vs. Oregon) and NXN (Nike Cross Nationals). Now based in Eugene, his contributions also include serving as a mentor to TrackTown Tuesday alum Justin Gallegos.

UO Associate Athletic Director Vin Lananna will welcome the crowd and Sasha Spencer Atwood, Director of External Affairs at TrackTown USA, will serve as emcee.

The popular town hall meetings are free and open to the public. Doors open at 6 p.m. for a social hour, followed by the one-hour show at 7 p.m.

As always, $5 appetizers from the DAC and $3 pints of beer from Hop Valley Brewing Company will be available for purchase. Free parking is available in the adjacent Overpark.