Millikin University in southern Illinois hosted the 2004 USATF masters outdoor nationals. Now it appears Benedictine University in northern Illinois will host our meet in 2012. A masters mole at the Indy annual meeting of USA Track & Field tells me that “Lisle, Illinois” seems to be the de facto pick. That suggests Benedictine, a Catholic school in Lisle, southwest of Chicago. “No one else bidding for that year,” says my mole, “but there are rumors that Orono (Maine) had some interest and decided to wait and bid for 2013 the following year.” My mole says we’ll hear more today or Friday, when masters delegates vote on the meet. In addition, says my mole, Bloomington, Indiana, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, are in the running to host the 2011 masters indoor nationals. “Both want it that year, but they may work out a deal for one to go for 2011
and the other for 2012 — at least that’s what some of us are hoping for.”

Benedictine’s nine-lane track is set in a nice woodsy area, so shade is no problem.

As far as the indoor facilities at Bloomington (a University of Indiana campus) and Albuquerque (University of New Mexico) — wow!
Check out the banked Mondo track at Indiana. And also view the similar New Mexico venue.

From the IU site:

Indiana’s indoor track & field complex ranks as one of the nation’s elite and received equal generosity from its donor, the family of Harry Gladstein. Prior to the 2006 indoor season, IU made a conversion to a Mondo-surfaced banked track. The 200-meter track was transported to IU via the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The track, built by Mondo in Italy, saw its first use for the inaugural IAAF World Indoor Championships in March 1987 and then hosted the NCAA Div. I and Div. II Indoor Track and Field Championships annually through 1999.

Gladstein Fieldhouse also features a 200-meter track which includes eight lanes for sprinting, and six more for longer distances. Kiefer Specialty Flooring installed a new Mondo Super-X running surface identical to the track and field surface used at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. In the surface’s debut in 1996, 26 track records fell.

The Fieldhouse also played host to the prestigious NIKE Indoor High School Track & Field Championship in 2000 and has hosted four (1975, 1982, 1990, 2000) Big Ten Men’s Indoor Track & Field Championships and four (1982, 1986, 1993, 2003) Big Ten Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championships. The Big Ten Men’s Indoor Championships return to Bloomington for in the 2007 season.

Here’s what New Mexico says about its indoor track:

During the spring of 2004, Albuquerque city leaders learned of a $1 million unused and undamaged indoor track sitting in storage in Canada that could be purchased for a mere $500,000. The state-of-the-art Mondo track had originally been ordered, then later declined, for use in the Los Angeles Staples Center arena.

The track finally found a home inside the Convention Center in downtown Albuquerque and made its debut on Jan. 15, 2005, for the inaugural Albuquerque All-Comers meet.

Nearly identical to the track used by the University of Arkansas at the Randal Tyson Track Center, Albuquerque’s new indoor facility received rave reviews from athletes, coaches and fans. Like the Arkansas facility, which has been the site of every NCAA Indoor Championship meet since 2000, Albuquerque and University of New Mexico officials believe the city now has an indoor track that will be a destination for some of the nation’s premier events.

The new Albuquerque indoor track is a 200-meter, 60-degree banked track that has 60m straightaways running the entire length of the facility. It also includes men’s and women’s jumping runways and pits, as well as an areas for shot put, pole vault and high jump events. The surface of the track is red and white Mondo.

Of course, a high-quality track doesn’t guarantee a high-quality meet. But these venues have held some terrific events. Hope they get a chance to host the masters.