Mt. SAC to Bid on 2020 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials

Published by San Gabriel Valley Tribune on December 2, 2013

Cities may have made preliminary starting points to host the 2020 Olympic Games, but Mt. SAC is already weighing in on that year’s track and field landscape.

Hilmer Lodge Stadium, home of 20 world records in 65 years of competition, will be pitched as a site for the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2020, Mt. SAC officials announced on Monday. The idea is to highlight renovations to the stadium and athletic fields, at a cost of $62 million.

“We’ve had all these world-class athletes and records and have always attracted the very best the sport can offer,” Mt. SAC Relays director Doug Todd said. “We want to continue offering the best in track and field for years to come.”

In the future, school officials hope that national events and IAAF Grand Prix events can be a part of the facility’s schedule.

“We probably have to prove that we can successfully handle the Trials and if we do, I do not see why not hold a Grand Prix,” said Todd, who is the school’s special events director. “All of those athletes that are in the Grand Prix (events) come here in April (for the Relays) anyway. That’s a future goal, no doubt about that. We want to keep the stadium rolling.”

Todd said he has already been in contact with USA Track and Field officials. A formal bid will not be submitted until 2016 or 2017, not likely until after the Rio De Janeiro Games. Todd also said that the facility will bid on all national track and field events, from the national championships to junior and master national events.

“We want to make sure we really nail down everything we need to do to successfully get big national championships,” Todd said. “The last thing this group does not want to do is not dot the Is and cross the Ts. This will be a premier project. The best in the world comes to Mt. SAC, not just the best in the United States. Mt. SAC does hold a special place.”