EUGENE -- Matthew Centrowitz has one of the deepest associations with the stadium that will hold the star-studded Prefontaine Classic for the last time.
His father, Matt Centrowitz, competed at Hayward Field as a collegian for Oregon at the beginning a career that saw him run in two Olympics. Decades later in 2007, the younger Centrowitz followed his father to UO, where he trained on the track when it was empty and won NCAA titles when it was packed. Underneath the stadium's West Grandstands, he and Ducks teammates spent countless hours working out. This is the track where he punched his ticket to the 2016 Olympics, where he became the first American man since 1908 to win 1,500-meter gold.