2001 June Issue

Webb Wins Prep Mile Shootout
by Richard Gonzalez

Arcadia, California, April 14-Californian Ryan Hall was seeking a super-fast mile time at the 34th Arcadia High School Invitational. But when rival talents Alan Webb (South Lakes, Reston, Virginia) and John Jefferson (Atlantic, Delray Beach, Florida)-each wishing to send a message to the West Coast wonder-quietly added themselves to the fold for a race near Hall's home turf, the battle lines became clearly drawn.

All the while, meet organizers were busy seeking commitments from the nation's remaining premier 4-lappers; their efforts were rewarded when 10 of the top 13 returnees (the other 3 prevented from competing by their state's sanctioning guidelines) decided to join the "Dream Mile" field.

The final outcome was that Webb conquered, Jefferson shined and Hall was humbled.

Said Webb, whose jaw-dropping kick over the final 190y sent an overflow crowd into a frenzy while leaving his competition stunned, "My main objective here was…" more in the June issue

Tim Danielson: Sub-4:00 Prep After Ryun, Before Liquori
by Jon Hendershott

On June 11, 1966, Tim Danielson became the second high schooler-and only the 18th American, period-to clock a sub-4:00 mile, running 3:59.4.

Danielson never again ran under 4:00, but he still holds the No. 2 spot on the all-time high school list. Jim Ryun, prepdom's first under 4:00, became the World Record holder; Marty Liquori, who followed Danielson as the third sub-4:00, eventually got down to 3:52.2. But Danielson never ran faster in his career.

"It's pretty amazing to me," Danielson admits about still being No. 2. "If someone had asked me back in '66 how many high school guys would break 4:00 in a 35-year span, I'd have guessed at least 25. It amazes me there haven't been any outdoors, yet, since Marty."

Danielson, now 53, was a recent graduate of Chula Vista High, south of San Diego, when he ran his sub-4:00.

"I was totally focused on running in high school," says the quiet-voiced engineer, who has worked at the same aerospace firm for more than three decades. "My goals…" more in the June issue

Prefontaine Junior Record Broken
by Toby Cook
It wasn't until less than a mile to go in the Stanford 5000 that a lone voice in a normally astute Angell Field backstretch cadre suggested that Franklyn Sanchez, despite being two years out of high school, was probably still a Junior. Wouldn't turn 20 until next year.

Sure, he'd been singled out of the crowd in a fast race, running intelligently in both position and pace, but not even the announcers pointed to anything of historical significance unfolding. Then, all it took was a little less than 13 minutes and 40 seconds, a few flips of some pages and a double-check on a birthday, and voilà: American Junior Record.

After nearly 31 years, the Georgetown frosh phenom usurped the long reign of now-unadjectiveable Steve Prefontaine at the acme of the all-time U.S. Junior 5000 list. Sanchez's time of 13:38.39 in the quiet California night took down the old record of 13:39.6 set by Pre in '70.

This is a year in which a venerable 5K record was predicted to be in trouble, but that record was Gerry Lindgren's prep standard. That Pre's Junior mark might fall first was a thought remote to conventional wisdom.

Although there was a plan, it wasn't necessarily to achieve that particular end result. Says Sanchez, "I didn't think I would run the way I did-not that fast, not this early in the season. At the same time, afterwards, I wasn't…" more in the June issue

Discus Only For The New Sua
by Jon Hendershott

It took Seilala Sua exactly two throws to get her post-collegiate year off to a rousing start. Her 214-4 opener and 215-4 second toss in La Jolla mean she now owns half of the top half-dozen throws in U.S. history.

"My approach this year has been very different," says the Florida native, who is finishing her sociology degree this spring at UCLA. "In the past, I had team obligations, but now everything is on me."

Sua compiled a stellar college résumé as a Bruin, winning the NCAA disc 1997-00, joining Suzy Favor Hamilton as the only 4-time women's champion in the same event. She also won the NCAA shot in 1999-00 and regularly threw the hammer and javelin.

But no more: her full concentration is now centered on her favorite event, where she has won the last three U.S. titles and won a World Ranking spot, No. 6, in '99. She says, "I did what I needed to do in college, but now I'm making the transition to being only an international-class discus thrower.

"Now it's all…" more in the June issue

Mo Greene Comes Out Smokin' At Texas Relays
by Jim Dunaway

Austin, Texas, April 4-7-Maurice Greene spent most of Saturday afternoon signing hundreds of autographs, posing for dozens of snapshots with fans and generally smiling at and being nice to everybody in sight at the Texas Relays. The Olympic 100 champ also took a little time off to do some serious running-and produced a couple of memorable anchor legs to the cheers of an overflow crowd of more than 22,000.

In the invitational 4x1 Greene anchored the HSI team to a sparkling 37.88 victory, fourth-fastest ever run in the United States. Jon Drummond's strong leadoff gave the club a quick edge, Bernard Williams and Curtis Johnson added to it, and Greene widened it to a full 10y as he swept down the homestraight.

Behind HSI, a training-in-Austin, all-star unit of Daymon Carroll, Canadian Glenroy Gilbert, Japanese Nobu Asahara and Canadian Bruny Surin turned in a creditable 38.91 in 2nd, while an even more formidable quartet from Octagon Sports- Obadele Thompson, Terrence Trammell, Shawn Crawford and Kareem Streete-Thompson-didn't finish.

Said Greene, who had his first world-class victory here in '95 when he beat Ray Stewart, Carl Lewis and Tim Montgomery in a windy 9.88, "My coach didn't think we could run 37 today. So I thank God for letting us. This one's for John Smith."

He added, "I predicted 37.5, but I was clowning around at the end of the race, looking at the crowd. But it was a good performance."

It was nothing compared to what he did a couple of hours later in a… more in the June issue

Kansas Relays Rebirth Continues
by Don Steffens

Lawrence, Kansas, April 19-21-The reenergized Kansas Relays boasted 21 Olympians and teams from half of the Big 12 Conference schools, but the meet ended up as a showcase for Barton County CC soph Aleen Bailey.

This edition also proved that the 74-year-old carnival, once the middle jewel of the Midwest Circuit's Triple Crown, surrounded by Texas and Drake, is back to stay after it appeared the meet was dead.

"Nine meet records speak well of the quality of the meet," said relays director Tim Weaver. "The athletes all loved our big video board. The enthusiasm of those elite athletes got the crowd into the meet."

Jamaican Bailey, a double sprint champ last year outdoors at the JUCO nationals as well as indoors this winter, anchored the Cougars to 44.30/1:34.47 victories in the sprint relays.

But Bailey was most impressive against one of those Olympians, 4x4 gold medalist… more in the June issue

Something New For Marion At Mt. SAC
by Jon Hendershott

Walnut, California, April 20-22-In her first competition in more than six months, Marion Jones showed she hasn't lost an iota of the talent or drive which has made her track's most stellar women's attraction for the last five years.

At the 43rd Mt. San Antonio College Relays the 25-year-old triple Olympic gold medalist contested a 300m race for the first time in her life. Her 35.68 clocking buried the field and fully proved she still is the one and only Marvelous Marion.

Jones hadn't laced up her racing shoes since last October's Grand Prix Final and she eschewed the 400 she had run as her outdoor opener the past three years… more in the June issue

NCAA Regionals Are A Go

The era of "provisional qualifying" to the NCAA Championships is over. Starting next year, four regional meets will select the bulk of the athletes for the Div. I track nationals. The change came in a vote of final approval by the NCAA Management Council that also increased the number of nationals participants by 40%.

In a system where the votes of four at-large members of the 49-member council count as a vote-and-a-half, the controversial regionals concept prevailed 31 1/2-17 1/2 with 2 abstentions.

Starting in '02, teams will send athletes to four geographically-defined regional meets on the last weekend in May. The national meet itself will take place the second week in June, a week later than currently.

The regional boundaries, running… more in the June issue

Massive Marathon Month

There was a time when spring marathoning meant Boston and Boston meant spring marathoning. The venerable Patriot's Day race is still one of the world's greatest, but has to fight for world headlines as the roster of high-level April 26-milers continues to burgeon.

Six major April races this year produced great depth, topped by men's winners at 2:06, 2:07, 2:07, 2:07, 2:09 and 2:09, and women's victors at 2:23, 2:23, 2:25, 2:26, 2:26 and 2:27.

See race reports from the big 3 of Boston, London and Rotterdam… more in the June issue

Hooker Fast, Short To Long

Coverboy Ja'Warren Hooker enjoys the best of all the sprint worlds. He is world-class fast whether dashing short (10.18), medium (20.23) or long (44.78).

The versatility of the 22-year-old Washington senior makes him a prime force among favorites at both the NCAA-where he will run the two short sprints-and the USATF, where he will move up to the full-lapper.

"I really don't have a favorite among them," Hooker says. "The quarter is the event…" more in the June issue

Arrhenius Buries High School Discus Record

Once Niklas Arrhenius got out of the snow, he buried the high school discus record.

The Utah senior (Mountain View, Orem) brought a 218-2 PR to Arcadia, after reaching that distance in his late-March season opener in snowy conditions with treacherous footing. The effort lengthened his best from the 213-5 he hit last year to lead the nation.

The toss also moved the Swedish citizen to No. 2 all-time among high schoolers, trailing only Kamy Keshmiri's 225-2 HSR from '87. In his next meet, the 18-year-old Arrhenius threw 217-7. Then came Arcadia.

After his fourth toss hit 217-0 and his fifth reached 217-8, last year's World Junior silver medalist put all the power in his 6-3/237 frame… more in the June issue

NCAA Women's Title Heading To LA
by Kirby Lee

There's nothing like a good crosstown rivalry to spur the passions of sports fans. For decades, USC and UCLA men fought over Los Angeles bragging rights, waging many a storied battle in many sports, track not the least of them.

The Bruin and Trojan women, though-projected to be the top two schools in the premeet form charts by a landslide-are now on course for an epic battle of their own at the NCAA Championships.

Their head-to-head in Eugene will be the third major clash between the schools in a month, following the annual dual meet and the Pac-10 Championships.

"There is as intense a rivalry with the women as the men," seventh-year USC coach Ron Allice says. "Don't let anybody think that there is not a forest fire raging…" more in the June issue

Sprinting Key To NCAA Men's Team Title
by Sieg Lindstrom

The sprints and the 4 x 100 relHay are the ultimate events for margins-razor-thin margins of victory and slimmer-yet margins for error. "It's such a roll of the dice in the speed events," says coach Monte Stratton, whose TCU squad, deep with sprinters, is the early-line NCAA men's team favorite. "You can be as prepared as possible-and we feel we are prepared-but it's always a chancy thing."

With the top four teams separated by just 5 points in our Preview-talk about minuscule margins-expected head-to-head meetings of Stratton's sprinters with a strong group from No. 4-rated Tennessee in the 100, 200 and 4x1 should make the dashes a volatile flash point when the big title meet fires up in Eugene. Runners from the two schools are currently projected to fill the first… more in the June issue

From The Editor
by E. Garry Hill

Three major rule changes are wending their way through the IAAF process. It would have been a bit of journalistic good fortune to be able to say that they're the good, the bad and the ugly, but in reality they're the good, the so-so and the ugly. The IAAF is well-intentioned, trying to improve presentation, but I don't think the proposals were particularly well thought-out.

• First, the good. That would be the no-false-start proposal…
  
  
• The so-so proposal is the one that would reduce the number of attempts in the throws and horizontal jumps from 6 to 4…
  
  
• The ugly rule is the proposal to restrict high jumpers and pole vaulters to only two misses at any height… more in the June issue
  

Quote Of The Month

Correspondent Richard Gonzalez relates that as Alan Webb signed autographs after winning Arcadia's Dream Mile one excited teen approached and asked him to sign the right shoe of his racing spikes. Webb gladly concurred.

The excited teen then gushed, "This is great... Ryan Hall signed the left one and Alan Webb signed the right one! The two best high school milers in the country signed my spikes!"

Webb quickly smiled and quipped, "Just remember, that right shoe will always be a little faster than the left one."