Marshfield graduate, former track and field All-American and Pan-American Games bronze medalist Julie Goodrich Bright kicked off the 100th Coos County Meet by standing in the middle of the infield of Steve Prefontaine Track and talking about her failures.

She said she’d wanted to break all the Marshfield records in high school and didn’t; she failed to compete at the NCAA championships until her junior year at the University of Oregon; she didn’t make the U.S. Olympic team, either. But then she said she’d realized that was all just part of the the journey.

“My failures really weren’t my failures at all. I really learned the most from my failures. Every time I came back stronger.” said Bright, speaking to the audience and a mass of county meet athletes, past and present. “So I would encourage all of you to fail harder.”

It was a powerful message that directly followed a ceremony in which dozens of athletes who had participated in the county meet over the decades were honored — not because they all were first-place finishers, but rather just for taking part. To start the opening ceremony, athletes ranging from current participants all the way back to some from the 1930s and ’40s, walked across the storied grass of Steve Prefontaine Track to the sound of applause.

While Bright spoke for the history of female athletes at the county meet, Rich “Mac” McIntosh had his own history to share as a male athlete who’d started his career in the blustery weather of Marshfield and gone on to be an All-American high hurdler at the Air Force Academy and retired as an Air Force Colonel.

“Today, we add to a legacy, sense of community and tradition like no other,” he said. “That sense of belonging comes from shared values and experiences. If you’re a track and field athlete from Coos Bay, you’re different from athletes from Portland or Eugene.”

Then came a long-overdue surprise, as Marshfield alum and current track and field head coach Fran Worthen rounded the track with a lit torch, jogged up the south stairwell, dodged some balloons and lit the opening torch just as rain started to fall (see picture Page A1). Worthen, a 1972 Marshfield graduate and storied athlete in her own right, was excluded from the county meet because girls weren’t allowed to participate until 1976.

“Finally, this lady gets to run in this county track meet,” declared Marshfield athletic director and event master of ceremonies Greg Mulkey over the microphone.

After all the hooplah, however, it was time to get down to business.

“Let the games begin,” said Mulkey. “Four-by-400 relay starts in six minutes.”