EDITOR’S NOTES: The Pre Classic has been a go-to meet for years. Currently Hayward Field in Eugene is being renovated to make way for the 2021 IAAF World Track and Field Championships. This year the organizers have moved the meet to Stanford in California. If you can make this meet, you’ll see most of the top track and field athletes in the world.
PREFONTAINE CLASSIC
For the first time in its history, the Prefontaine Classic will be held outside the confines of Hayward Field. While the reconstruction of the storied venue continues through 2019, the Pre Classic will relocate to the excellent facility on the campus of Stanford University.
Stanford is no stranger to hosting major meets, including the annual Payton Jordan Invitational, as well as two USA Championships and last year’s Pac 12 Championships.
Tickets for the 45th Prefontaine Classic, to be held on June 30 at Stanford University’s Cobb Track & Angell Field, will go on sale Monday, May 18 at 9am PT.
Tickets may be purchased online here or by going to gostanford.com/tickets. Customers may select their exact seats using the pick-your-own map. Tickets can also be ordered over the phone by calling 1-800-STANFORD.
For questions regarding tickets, please email athleticstickets@stanford.edu or call 800-STANFORD.
For more information about the meet, visit http://www.preclassic.com. And for questions regarding the Prefontaine Classic, email meetingdirector@preclassic.com.
The NIKE Prefontaine Classic is the longest-running outdoor invitational track & field meet in America. The meet’s results score has rated No. 1 or No. 2 in the world in each of the last 8 years. NIKE has been the title sponsor of the meet continuously since 1984.
The IAAF Diamond League features the 14 best invitational track & field meetings across Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and North America with the USA. It is the sport´s global competition outside the World Championships and Olympic Games.
#RoadToTheFinals
The series has a championship style format with athletes winning points at 12 meetings from May through August in order to qualify for the two end of season finals in Zurich and Brussels. 2019 marks the tenth season of the IAAF Diamond League and each year the world’s best athletes from around 85 countries have competed in the 32 disciplines to crown the Diamond League Champions.
Stanford University has a proud track and field tradition that dates back to 1895. In addition to its 922 All-America honors, 64 Olympians, and four NCAA team titles, Stanford has played host to important meets throughout its history. This includes the 1941 NCAA Championships, the 1932 &1960 Olympic Trials, and the epic 1962 USA-USSR dual that has been described as “the greatest track meet of all time.”
After the facility was renovated in 1996, Cobb Track & Angell Field has been the site of the 2002 and 2003 USATF Championships and is annually home to the Payton Jordan Invitational, the nation’s premier distance running carnival.
Steve Prefontaine is a legend in the sport of track & field and is the most inspirational distance runner in American history.
He set a national high school 2-mile record (8:41.5) while at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay, Oregon, that is the fastest ever in a National Federation-sanctioned race.
While competing for the University of Oregon, he won national cross country championships (3) and outdoor track 3-Mile/5000-meter championships (4), and never lost a collegiate track race at any distance.
As a collegiate junior, he made the 1972 U.S. Olympic Team and nearly won an Olympic medal, finishing 4th in the 5K at the 1972 Munich Olympics, at age 21. After finishing college in 1973 and preparing for a return to the Olympics in 1976, he continued to improve, setting many American records.
His life ended tragically on May 30, 1975, the result of an auto accident, at age 24. The Pre Classic began that year and has been held every year since.
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