USA Track & Field opted out of Eugene on Wednesday, awarding the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials to Mt. San Antonio College in suburban Los Angeles.

Eugene staged the trials in 2008, 2012 and 2016, and had bid for the 2020 meet along with Mt. SAC and Sacramento.

The USATF board of directors voted 11-2 to accept the Mt. SAC bid.

TrackTown USA/USATF president Vin Lananna did not take part in the deliberations and recused himself from voting. TrackTown USA is the Eugene local organizing committee for major track meets.

USATF board member Lauren Fleshman, a Bend resident and former professional distance runner, said the decision should not be interpreted as a vote against Eugene or TrackTown USA.

"They were extremely professional, and they want to host as many things as possible," Fleshman said. "But long term, you can't build track on one city. I'm very comfortable with Eugene being the epicenter of the sport. Their work continues to be critically important.

"But it's hard to argue against the idea there needs be more than one capable city."

Mt. SAC has some advantages. It is part a large metropolitan area and served by an international airport. It is more accessible to more of the country than Eugene, and provides more housing and transportation options for fans from outside the area.

Mt. SAC is in the midst of a $62 million upgrade of Hilmer Lodge Stadium that is scheduled for completion in 2019. The upgrade will enable the stadium to expand to 21,000 seats.

"We're confident Mt. SAC will provide an extraordinary experience for athletes, fans, officials and volunteers," USATF board chairman Steve Miller said in a USATF release announcing the decision.

The school stages the annual Mt. SAC Relays, one of the major meets on the U.S. spring schedule. The U.S Women's Olympic Trials were held there in 1968.

Tom Jordan is meet director of the Prefontaine Classic, held annually at Hayward Field in Eugene and a member of the prestigious Diamond League series. Jordan wonders if it would have been better for Mt. SAC to hold a USATF championships meet before taking on the trials.

"Mt. SAC is the new kid on the block in the sense of having a new facility and having people energized about putting this on," said Jordan, who is not formally connected to TrackTown USA. "Their challenge is turn that energy into putting on a well-organized event."

That challenge has been met in Eugene, where the community rallied around the last three Olympic Trials.

Eugene has been awarded the 2021 World Outdoor Championships. To stage that meet, Hayward Field must undergo a renovation to bring it up to minimum requirements of the International Association of Athletics Federations, track and field's world governing body.

The renovation, expected to begin last summer, has been delayed indefinitely.

Originally, plans called for the renovation to take two years, with breaks to allow Hayward to stage the Prefontaine Classic, the state high school track meets, and the NCAA Outdoor Championships, scheduled for Eugene through 2021.

If the renovation is delayed much longer, those meets could be forced to relocate for at least a year.

Fleshman said the availability of Hayward Field for 2020 was not discussed by the USATF board.

"That never came up, honestly," said Fleshman, who was coached by Lananna at Stanford and professionally. "I've been in Vin's orbit since 1999. I don't know if I've ever seen him come up short at something he has set his mind to."

TrackTown CEO Michael Reilly said the Hayward renovations will be completed before the 2020 trials.

"The athletes, the media, the spectators would have walked into a stadium like none other in the world," Reilly said.

Reilly said members of his organization are disappointed.

"We put forward a world-class bid with a strong vision for how we could partner with everyone in the sport to make the 2020 Olympic Trials a great one," Reilly said. "But we're very confident, given that we were going up against two very strong organizing committees, that Mt. SAC will do a good job."

-- Ken Goe