OLYMPIANS HOULIHAN, QUIGLEY HEADLINE TRACKTOWN TUESDAY

Shelby Houlihan and Colleen Quigley, 2016 Olympians and 2019 U.S. Indoor champions, will headline the next TrackTown Tuesday on April 2 at the Downtown Athletic Club.

The show will also feature Oregon track and field horizontal jumpers Chaquinn Cook and Rhesa Foster, fresh off their stellar performances at the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Ala. In addition, the show will highlight Lauren Fleshman and Jesse Thomas, co-founders of Picky Bars, a local energy bar company.

Houlihan and Quigley are two of the most prominent middle-distance stars in the country. Both athletes train with the Bowerman Track Club in Portland.

Houlihan, a graduate of Arizona State, is the American record-holder in the 5,000m (14:34.45). She is a nine-time U.S. national champion. She was 11thin the 5,000m at the 2016 Olympics, and holds a personal best of 3:57.34 in the 1,500m.

Quigley was eighth in 3,000m steeplechase at the 2016 Olympics. She recently won her first U.S. title, running 4:29.47 in the mile at the U.S. Indoor Championships in February. A graduate of Florida State, she boasts personal bests of 9:10.27 in the steeple and 4:03.02 in the 1,500m.

The Oregon women placed third at the NCAA meet, thanks in large part to the efforts of Cook and Foster. Cook, a UO senior, broke her own indoor school record in the triple jump, leaping 13.83m (45-4 ½) on her way to an impressive runner-up finish. Foster, a junior, contributed critical team points with her fifth-place showing in the long jump, notching a performance of 6.31m (20-8 ½). Both student-athletes were 2017 Pac-12 champions in their respective events.

Fleshman, a former OTC Elite standout, was a five-time NCAA champion at Stanford and a two-time U.S. national champion in the 5,000m. She coaches the elite running team Little Wing. Thomas is a graduate of Mountain View High School in Bend, where he was a two-time Oregon state champion. A steeplechaser at Stanford, he transitioned post-collegiately to a professional triathlon career. Fleshman and Thomas live in Bend with their two children.

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.