Leann Warren chosen for USTFCCCA Hall of Fame class in Eugene

Eugene’s TrackTown identity will take center stage again when Leann Warren is inducted into the 2026 USTFCCCA Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame, a class of 12 that will be honored at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts.

The ceremony is set for Sunday, June 7, at 6 p.m. PT, is free and open to the public, and will begin with a red-carpet Hall of Fame inductee walk at 5:30 p.m. outside the Hult Center’s 7th Street entrance. Neil Everett will host the event for the fourth straight year, and fans outside Eugene will be able to watch via a free stream on RunnerSpace. The induction comes three days before the start of the 2026 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field, putting the city once again at the center of the sport’s biggest stage.

The Hall of Fame class carries unusual weight. USTFCCCA says the 12 inductees combine for 44 national collegiate titles, 37 collegiate records, five Olympic or World Championships medals and seven world records while in college. The association created the Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame in 2022, and this year’s ceremony will mark the fifth annual induction for track and field and cross country athletes.

Warren’s place in that history is firmly tied to Oregon. She won three AIAW or NCAA Division I individual titles, including a sweep of the 800 and 1500 meters at the 1981 AIAW Outdoor Championships. She also set all-dates collegiate records of 1:59.63 in the 800 at the 1981 World University Games and 4:05.88 in the 1500 at the 1982 US-USSR Dual Meet. Warren was part of Oregon’s 4x400 relay team that won the 1980 AIAW Outdoor title and finished runner-up in the 1981 NCAA Division I cross country championships.

University of Oregon athletics says Warren became the first UO woman to win an NCAA title when she captured the 1500 meters in 1982. Her legacy now extends into a Hall of Fame class that deepens Oregon’s presence in the sport’s honor roll, alongside Steve Prefontaine, Dyrol Burleson, Bill Dellinger and Joaquim Cruz. In a city that built its reputation on distance running, Warren’s induction adds another lasting name to Eugene’s track history.