By Jack Pfeifer // Photo by John Nepolitan

Two New York City quartermilers, Phyllis Francis and Natasha Hastings – one hungrily looking for her first Olympic team, the other hoping she’s not too old for one more – begin that quest on Day One of the U.S. Olympic Trials, which begin their 10-day run in Eugene, Ore., on Friday.

All of the precious spots on the U.S. track team – in most events, three people in each event, plus relay pools for the 4x1 and 4x4 – are up for grabs and will be decided by the athletes themselves. As they say, the team picks itself.

Most of the action will be telecast live on NBC or the NBC Sports Network.

The track and field selection actually began in Los Angeles in February when the marathons were held, and here in Oregon, these Trials technically begin on Thursday morning in Salem with the race walks. At Hayward Field, the action will be Friday through Monday, an off day Tuesday, the hammer throws on Wednesday, then four more days winding up on Sunday, July 10.

For Francis and Hastings, because they run the 400, that means more than three spots may be available, thanks to the 4x4, though Hastings finished 6^th in the 400 final four years ago but did not get to run even in the 4x4 prelims in London. As a 21-year-old just finishing her junior year at the University of South Carolina, she finished 5^th in 2008, made the relay pool, ran a leg in the heats of the 4x4 and as a result got a gold medal when the American team won the final.

A month away from turning 30, a dozen years after graduating from A. Philip Randolph High School in Manhattan, Hastings is nearing the end of a distinguished career as a long sprinter. She has medaled indoors and outdoors in World Championships and the Olympics, won an NCAA championship, has broken 50 seconds (49.84 in 2007) and anchored APR to the first-ever sub-3:40 4x4 by a New York State high school girls’ school, in front of the big crowd at Penn Relays.

The first round of the women’s 400 goes off at 5:45 PM Pacific time. The semis are on Saturday at 1:30, the final Sunday at 4:38. The weather forecast for Eugene is highs in the low 80s and no rain throughout the week.

For Francis, who turned 24 last month, this is her first realistic shot at the Olympics. In 2012, barely 20, she was still a novice at the 400, having moved down from the 800 only after arriving at Oregon. It turned out to be the right move – she became such a good sprinter that she led off the Ducks’ top-notch 4x1 – and she went on to numerous NCAA titles in both the 4 and the 4x4. In 2014 she broke the American indoor record, running 50.46. Her outdoor best is 50.50. It figures to take more than that to make the U.S. team in the 400, an event loaded with international talent led by the great Allyson Felix (49.26 PR), Courtney Okolo of Texas (collegiate record this year of 49.70) and Francena McCorory (49.48), the world indoor champion in ’14. Felix plans to run both the 200 and 400 and also hopes to qualify for both U.S. relay teams. No Olympic runner, male or female, has ever medaled in all four of those in a single Games.

Unlike Hastings, Francis is not a PSAL veteran, as she attended a small Catholic high school, Catherine McAuley, in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, before going to the west coast for college.

The defending Olympic champion in the women’s 400 is Sanya Richards-Ross. Now 31, the regal Richards-Ross has already announced that this will be her last season. Because of a recent hamstring injury, it is not known if she will be able to run these Trials, but she has declared for the event.

In a late development Wednesday evening, two of the sport’s luminaries, the sprinter Carmelita Jeter and the hurdler Lolo Jones, withdrew from the competition, perhaps signaling the end of their careers.

To help get the Trials off to a rousing start, two finals will be held on the first day, in the men’s shot put and the men’s 10,000 meters.

The favorite in the 10k is Galen Rupp, the silver medalist in London, the American recordholder and already a member of the 2016 U.S. team, thanks to his victory in the marathon trials in February – his marathon debut.

One of his challengers is none other than the 42-year-old Bernard Lagat, who ran his 10k debut this spring and ran an excellent 27:49.35. Lagat has made four Olympic teams – two for Kenya, two for the United States. He won the bronze medal in the 1,500 in 2000 and silver in ’04, and was 4^th in the 5,000 in London.

The favorite in the men’s shot is the 27-year-old Joe Kovacs, a Penn State grad who is one of four Americans ever to put the shot 74 feet. Among the contenders for the U.S. team is the venerable Reese Hoffa, who at 38 will be going for his fourth Olympics. After two disappointments, Hoffa, who represents the New York Athletic Club, won the bronze medal in London.

In addition to the women’s 400, the first round of competition will also be held on Friday in the men’s 400 and the men’s and women’s 800s along with qualifying in three women’s field events – the discus, high jump and long jump.

The women’s 8 in particular has an East Coast flavor, as there are eight competitors with an Eastern pedigree in the field, led by the 22-year-old Ajee’ Wilson, the New Jersey native who has been the No. 1-ranked American in the event the past two years. She has run 1:57.67 and is a solid contender for the team along with Alysia Montano, who was 5^th in London. The 30-year-old Montano runs for the NYAC.

The youngest runner in the 800 is Samantha Watson, a 16-year-old high school junior from upstate New York. Watson, who attends Rush-Henrietta High School, qualified for the Trials on the last possible day by winning the U.S. Juniors final last Sunday in 2:02.91, .09 under the qualifying standard.

Others from the East in the event are Olivia Baker, Stanford sophomore; Anima Banks, senior at Duke; Cecilia Barowski, senior at Princeton; the 33-year-old veteran Erin Donohue; Charlene Lipsey, from Long Island and LSU, and Olicia Williams, from St. Anthony’s and Baylor.