Koby Kessler didn’t run the first time he stepped onto the track as an athlete at Hayward Field.
Back then, the now-collegiate freshman track and field decathlete was in high school; he’d come from Canby, 95 miles north of Eugene, for the 2021 OSAA Track and Field State Championships. He stepped on the surface and just walked — an entire lap, before the meet. He tried to soak in the moment.
“It’s definitely a surprising feeling,” Kessler said. “It’s a monumental feeling, I would say.”
Then, he had the dream of an Oregon-born athlete: to run in green. Both his parents earned degrees in Eugene. He isn’t dreaming any longer.
At May’s Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Kessler stepped on the same track — this time in a new kit. After one day, he led the decathlon field. After another day, he finished with a personal-best 7,303 points and a fourth-place trophy. Next to his name, this time, there was an O.
He’s in-state talent, which is exactly what Oregon head coach Jerry Schumacher values. More than a quarter of the Ducks’ rostered track and field athletes this year are in-state students. The commitment is real. Oregon’s complete track and field program boasts the joint fourth-most in-state talent (28% Oregon-born athletes) of any varsity sport; men’s track and field and cross country (33%) lauds the most. At this weekend’s OSAA Championships, the next generation will arrive, and the Ducks will be there to meet it.
“I love it,” Schumacher said. “They get to come here and actually compete at Hayward because obviously we always want to keep our talent in-state; as much as we can, we want to keep our talent in-state.”
In 2024-25, Kessler is part of an Oregon men’s program that swept both the indoor and outdoor Big Ten Championships. The women won both the indoor conference and national titles, as well as the Big Ten cross-country crown. Kessler’s decathlon at the outdoor edition on May 15 and 16 included two first-place event finishes — in the 100-meter and long jump — in front of a home crowd.
“I’m from Oregon, so it definitely means a lot more to have this on my chest and represent this school,” he said after the first day of the Big Ten Championships. “That plays into the pressure as well.”
If there was pressure, he didn’t seem to feel it. Just before running a 10.69-second 100m race (another personal best), he shed a beanie to reveal dyed hair, with a twist: a green duck silhouette on a blonde canvas, applied by his teammates. Kessler grinned into the camera.
“I love the pressure,” he said. “I perform more under pressure.”
He’s an athlete that Schumacher said Oregon tracked for a while: “Seth (Henson), our multis coach, was talking about (Koby) for a couple of years,” he said. “Having in-state talent — that’s what we want to keep. We want to put a fence around our state.”
Kessler isn’t the only one who has paid off. Paris Olympian Jaida Ross is from Medford. Reigning Big Ten men’s 3000-meter steeplechase winner Benjamin Balazs is from Portland. Thirty of the 108 athletes rostered by Oregon track and field this year list their hometown as in-state — Schumacher sees that as a victory. The outdoor season is his chance to show it off (and the trophies are proof of concept). He plans on grabbing more.
This weekend, though, is about the future.
The 2025 OSAA Championships bring athletes from all six classifications, 1A through 6A, to Eugene for a three-day track and field showcase. They’ll run on the same track and jump in the same pit as legends. It’s an opportunity — for them and Schumacher’s Oregon program.
“Getting a chance to compete at Hayward Field is what this place is all about,” Schumacher, who plans on attending the event, said. “It’s special for the kids, and that’s good for us. It’s good for our program.”
It’s the very best of Oregon — all of it, all in one place. The athletes get their moment on the track like Kessler and many of his teammates did.
Show out, and they might just be coming back.
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