Renton HS & 2x US Olympian Patty vanWolvelaere newest member of USATF Hall of Fame...

Patty vanWolvelaere (second from the left) finished fourth
in the 80m hurdles final at the 1968 Olympics
(photos courtesy Crawford Family US Olympic Archives, USOC)

INDIANAPOLIS—Patty vanWolvelaere (Weirich), one of Washington state’s most decorated track and field athletes, and a two-time US Olympian, was selected as one of five men and women to the USA Track & Field National Hall of Fame, which will be inducted at the organization’s Black Tie & Sneakers Gala in New York on November 2nd.

vanWolvelaere joins modern athletes Leroy Burrell and Bryan Clay, fellow veteran athlete Lindy Remigino, and coach Bill Squires as members of the USATF Hall of Fame class of 2017.

She made her first Olympic team in 1968 shortly after graduating from Renton High School when she finished second in the US Olympic trials and advanced to the Olympics in Mexico City.  In the Mexico City Olympics, she finished fourth in the 80 meter hurdles.

Four years later in Munich, vanWolvelaere broke the 100m hurdles American record in 13.26 during the semifinals. She would set the AR in the 100m hurdles seven times in total, capped by her 13.14 in 1978.

In between those Olympic appearances, she sped to gold at the 1971 Pan American Games.

She won four U.S. outdoor titles in 1971, 73-74 and '77, and was also a six-time national indoor gold medalist in the 60y hurdles, including four in a row from 1971-74.

In college at USC, vanWolvelaere took back-to-back AIAW golds in the 100m hurdles in 1977-78 and represented the U.S. at the World University Games and '77 IAAF World Cup.

After retiring from competition, Patty served as a fire engineer at the San Diego Fire Department for 24 years and has coached at Ramona High School in California since 2013.

Here is a link to a story done on her from 2006 from seattlepi.com.

The USA Track & Field release is available here.

PAC-12 NETWORK TO TELEVISE THE PAC-12 CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS LIVE

Pac-12 Networks announced it will provide live coverage of the 2017 Pac-12 Cross Country Championships hosted by the University of Oregon on Friday, Oct. 27.  

The live broadcast will be the first ever for the championship event with the women’s 6k race commencing at 11 am, and the men’s 8k starting at noon from the Springfield Golf Club, with both races airing on Pac-12 Network as well as across all six Pac-12 regional channels.  The events will also be available to stream live for authenticated subscribers via the Pac-12 Now app and pac-12.com

Jim Watson, Dwight Stones, and Lewis Johnson will call the action at the conference championship meet.

The Pac-12’s release is available here.

NOTE:  USA Track & Field and the Pac-12 Conference contributed to this report.  Publisher Paul Merca is one of the media voters of the USATF National Hall of Fame.