Rogers High School welcomes back running legend Gerry Lindgren

On Wednesday, May 29, 2024 at an assembly, Rogers High School welcomed back record-setting distance runner Gerry Lindgren, 60 years after his record-setting performances in 1964.
He was joined by former Rogers teammates Len Long and Steve Jones and former coach Tracy Walters.
Rogers AD Aaron Brecek led a discussion where the former Pirates talked about their early days at Shaw Middle School and Rogers.
Lindgren spoke fondly about the summer of 1964. That year, on a clay track in Compton, California, Lindgren ran 5000 meters in 13:44, setting a U.S. high school record that would stand for an incredible 40 years. He also set an indoor 2-mile record for U.S. high schoolers that would stand until 2013. The nation discovered him in July of that year, when he outran two prominent Soviet runners at a US-USSR meet in Los Angeles. Later that year, he won the 10000 meters at the Olympic Trials and then finished 9th in the same event at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He went on to legendary success as a runner at WSU, winning 11 NCAA championships.