Day three started with everybody loading onto six charter buses at 8am and heading over to the Nike Running Store in Eugene where Nike had a few surprises in store for the athletes and coaches. The first surprise wasthat Nike had computer set up inside and outside the store where the athletes could submit their creations of the Lunar Glide 2 on Nike ID and the best one out of the group would get their shoe made for free. The second surprise was that breakfast was a pair of Nike waffle shoes (waffles in the shape of shoes, not actual waffle shoes, pictured at right).
Athletes were also able to purchase the newest running shoes, shirts and equipment from the Nike Running Store as well as take a look at the history that is plastered all over the entrance way of the store (to see the pictures of the history at the store click here). It was neat to see the history of Nike and learn that the founders were kicked out two banks in Oregon, and so far overdraft in their accounts that one of the banks notified the FBI.
After breakfast the athletes and coaches were bussed over to Hayward Field were we the audience for a live webcast of the the Prefontaine Classic Pre-Show with Tony Revis and Dan O'Brien. Tony and Dan previewed the meet and talked to many different people that helped put on the meet, including the meet director, who made a very inappropriate joke in front of many of the high school athletes, and people involved with the Diamond League.
Many of the athletes quickly became board with the Pre-Show and went off to explore Hayward Field, find their seats or go back to the dorms until the meet started. I actually ran back up to the Duck Store so that one of our athletes could return a shirt and get a different one for his girlfriend. When we got back to the track we found our seats which were directly on the first curve, looking straight down the homestretch. From here we had a good view (pictured at left) of most of the action, it was only difficult to see the pole vault and the discus from our seats.
The meet was great to watch and there was some great action, like Walter Dix battling Tyson Gay all the way to the finish line in the 200m Dash, where Dix won by .04 seconds, and David Oliver running a world leading and American Record tying 12.90 in the 110m Hurdles. In the Shot Put Christian Cantwell set a meet record with a world leading throw of 22.41 meters (73'6.25"). In the two different Mile races, there were a total of 20 athletes that ran sub 4 minutes.
After the meet there was an autograph tent set up next to were Tony Revis and Dan O'Brien were doing the Prefontaine Classic Post-Show. Allyson Felix and Christian Cantwell were among the athletes that came over to sign autographs for the athletes. I had one of my athletes get Christian Cantwell's autograph for me and another one get Allyson Felix's autograph for our head coach. Some of our athlete's got bored waiting for the autograph's so they went over to the cool down area and waited for autograph's over there.
One of the athletes that was in the cool down area that signed many autographs was Andrew Wheating, he stayed around for probably 10 minutes plus to sign autographs and talk to fans, which was really cool. He even took pictures with some of our athletes (pictured at right with Jon Sheehan)
Some of our athletes even talked one of the barbers into taking their new spikes that they just got from Nike into the athlete only area (she had an all access pass) and had her get autographs from David Oliver and Tyson Gay.
As we were leaving we walked by an open gate to the athlete cool down area and saw Bernard Lagat running some cool down laps, one of our kids asked him to sign autographs and he obliged and talked to the kids, asking what events they ran and what their times were, and encouraging them to stay involved in Track and Field. I was lucky enough to get an Lagat to sign the same poster for our head coach that 
Allyson Felix signed.
As we passed the Bowerman building Jordan Hasay was standing outside talking with somebody. As the other person walked away our future politician, Trey Hammons-Scott, who will talk to anyone asked Jordan Hasay for a picture (at right) and an autograph, all the athletes got a picture with her and an autograph, and I added Jordan Hasay's signature to the poster for our head coach.
As we got back to the dorms we had some time to waste before the final events of the night, the cookout, the closing ceremonies and the dance. Our athlete's played more games, especially ping-pong and snacked on the food provided by Nike in the hospitality area.
At five we headed over to the Humpty Lawn that is caddy corner from Hayward Field and had a giant cookout where friends and families could come and visit the athletes. It was a large spread of hot dogs and hamburgers, grilled chicken and veggie burgers as well as chips and desserts. Two of our athletes had a parents that made the trip out to Eugene, so it was nice for them to get to hang out with family for a while.
After the cookout it was time for the closing ceremonies where individual awards and the team trophies were handed. Nike also had a video recap of the meet and another video of the whole Nike Track Nationals experience.
Nike did a great job with the videos for the entire weekend. Below is the video they showed at the start of the Closing Ceremonies that sums up the experiences of the athletes at Nike Track Nationals. (You may have to play it more than once to see the whole video, as I have been having trouble getting them to play, but if you want the direct link to the video click here.)
Nike Track Nationals 2010 from nike xc on Vimeo.
After the videos, Tony Revis introduced the top three athletes in each event as they headed up to the stage to receive their medals (pictured at right is Jared Harrison after receiving his award). The medals were pretty cool as they were star shaped and colored yellow for third place, blue for second place and red for first place. The medals were etched with the event on the back and the Nike Track Nationals logo on the front. The only drawback to the medals were that they were made out of plastic and were really light, if they were made out of something heavier, like glass, or even metal, they would have been some of the best medals I have ever seen.
The closing ceremonies were nice, but ran on for a while. At the end of the closing ceremonies Nike had a dance for the athletes were they could socialize with the other teams. The dance went off without any hitches, except for Jared Harrison's medal fell off of the ribbon/lanyard it was attached to. Nike was very good though about getting it replaced by the next day before we left.
At midnight it was time for bed as the we had to be on the bus to the Portland Airport by 6:45am. We also had to put all of the gear back in the backpacks for each athlete so that the gear could then be shipped back to Wayne High School. The gear will then be donated to the track program on behalf of Nike.
Nike Team Nationals was an experience for the athletes that was just beyond belief. As a coach it was fantastic to be out in Eugene and get to see the kids so excited about track. I would love to make a return trip with the team next year, but it will get harder each year to make it out there as more teams learn about it and put there times and marks into the competition. Luckily we only lose two people from our team that traveled to Eugene, but they are also important people and big shoes to fill for next year.
I would like to offer a hearty Thank You to Nike and the Nike Track Nationals staff from the Wayne Track Club.
Good luck to all clubs that participate in the online portion of the Nike Track Nationals, if you are one of the lucky teams to make it to the actual competition it will be an experience of a lifetime. If you get to experience the first class treatment that Nike puts on for all of the participants, you will truly be like a kid in a candy store, with your mouth dropped wide open in disbelief of how cool the whole experience really is.