Nike Swoosh TC is off to a rough start, no athletes qualified for Worlds

Smith Taylor and Schumacher blow it · 2026-02-28T16:54:34-05:00

Uh-oh Zero WC qualifiers + no outdoor championships + coaches tied up with college teams = brutal start for a pro group that was supposed to be elite.

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3 months ago 03/03/2026 12:41am EST

re: THOUGHTSLEADER

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:
yeah idk, on the womens side Mitchell looks good and im assuming theyre set with Kamierska, Ayyildiz, Nielsen soon enough. Snagging foreign athletes who make teams by hitting the standards i mean…not going to make waves but it should work for them. On the US side i guess you're hoping for Birnbaum

Yes.

Once current OR athletes finish their eligibility then matriculate to Swoosh TC/Eugene -- presuming they do -- then the move down from Portland while breaking away from Portland-based BTC will start making sense.

Kazimierska was the first.

3 months ago 03/03/2026 2:17am EST

re: Fan Out West ->

Fan Out West -> wrote:
. . . For the women, Karissa Schweizer and Klaudia Kazimierska are the only two left -- at least they were coached by Jerry/Shalane through last year. . .

Add ex-OK St star Gabija Galvydyte/Lithuania to the Swoosh TC/Eugene roster. She joined following the '24 Paris Olympics. Per her Instagram, still with the team.

3 months ago 03/03/2026 3:38am EST

re: Fan Out West ->

Fan Out West -> wrote:
Fan Out West -> wrote:
. . . For the women, Karissa Schweizer and Klaudia Kazimierska are the only two left -- at least they were coached by Jerry/Shalane through last year. . .
Add ex-OK St star Gabija Galvydyte/Lithuania to the Swoosh TC/Eugene roster. She joined following the '24 Paris Olympics. Per her Instagram, still with the team.

Eugene and Provo is where Nicole wants to go.

3 months ago 03/03/2026 11:25am EST

re: Fan Out West ->

Fan Out West -> wrote:
THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:
I wouldn’t call it brutal. I’d be concerned about the trajectory on the men’s side for the Eugene group . . .
Used to be a lot of fun following the BTC pro team before Nike split the pros away from BTC to form Swoosh TC/Eugene.
As best as I can tell, the current Eugene men's team is comprised of Justin Knight, Duncan Hamilton, Thomas Ratcliffe, Kieran Tuntivate, Charles Hicks, and Cole Sprout -- the latter two being exclusively roadies. At least these guys were under contract w/Nike while being coached by Jerry through 2025.
For the women, Karissa Schweizer and Klaudia Kazimierska are the only two left -- at least they were coached by Jerry/Shalane through last year.
However, did anyone notice Christina Aragon and Kaylee Mitchell, both members of Swoosh TC/Eugene last year, were entered in this past weekend's USATF champs as members of Nike OTC? OTC disbanded its pro team back in 2022. Quick check of the current OTC website shows no indication of a new pro team.
So, more questions about the women's team than the men's. Have no idea what's going on here.

To be accurate; Jerry caused the split, not Nike.

It was Jerry who mishandled (putting it politely) Shelby’s situation which strained team dynamic and put a stain on the BTC athletes and several of those athletes systematically left. One can only imagine what kinds of athlete/coach discussions took place. Those athletes that left BTC seldom (if at all) mention Jerry (which speaks volumes).

Jerry went behind the athletes back and Nike Sports Marketing back and shored up his departure by signing with the University of Oregon.

Jerry made the BTC athletes move to Eugene with no proper plan in place for facility access, coaching logistics, and quickly changed his focus to the U of O and left the pro athletes to organize on their own. He screwed over the top athletes by trying to align their training and racing to that of the NCAA schedule, cancelling normal altitude training blocks and early Diamond League races. One can only imagine how else he screwed them over.

Jerry laughed all the way to the bank double-dipping with Nike and U of O.

Did anyone else notice that Cristina Aaraon and Kaylee Mitchell were under Nike OTC...?
What is that about?

3 months ago 03/03/2026 5:47pm EST

re: Uhhh OTC?

Uhhh OTC? wrote:
Did anyone else notice that Cristina Aaraon and Kaylee Mitchell were under Nike OTC...?
What is that about?

The Eugene group is donzo!!!

3 months ago 03/03/2026 6:24pm EST

re: Prove me wrong

Prove me wrong wrote:
Provo attracts a very specific crowd( former BYU only), Eugene is basically Charles Hicks training alone with a former teammate, and Flagstaff is chaos, Nico Young, in Adidas, somehow setting the tone. No unity, no structure, no identity. For Nike, this rollout looks less like a super team and more like a collection of leftovers.

is he training alone, or with a former teammate? It can't literally be both.

Look, those involved with Swoosh TC will try to turn this chicken poo into chicken salad and say things like "we're just getting started," but there is no excuse. Zero qualifiers to the 2026 WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS is shockingly embarrassing. The next major on the calendar is not until the summer of 2027. Good grief, even the Atlanta Track Club got two on the team.

2 months ago 03/05/2026 11:10am EST

re: its actually pretty terrible

Yes, this is truly terrible for Nike. I'm sure there will be zero representation from the brand at World Indoors.

Y'all need to chill

2 months ago 03/05/2026 11:15am EST

re: its actually pretty terrible

its actually pretty terrible wrote:
Look, those involved with Swoosh TC will try to turn this chicken poo into chicken salad and say things like "we're just getting started," but there is no excuse. Zero qualifiers to the 2026 WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS is shockingly embarrassing. The next major on the calendar is not until the summer of 2027. Good grief, even the Atlanta Track Club got two on the team.

How is it shocking?

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