2002 Prep Preview

Check this out! The top dozen returners in each event for the upcoming outdoor season, with the incumbent All-Americas highlighted. Plus behind-the-scenes features on superstars DaBryan Blanton, Brendan Christian, Bobby Lockhart, Keith Moffatt, I-Perfection Harris, Kevin Bookout, Angel Perkins, Stacey Ann Livingtson and Shannon Rowbury. And a special in-depth look at the event of the year, the women's 4 x 400. Plus the High School Records list.

(for all the prep highlights, see the March Issue of Track & Field News)

USATF Raising The Bar

By anyone's yardstick, indoor track in the United States isn't exactly healthy at the elite level. USATF, to its credit, isn't just going to sit there and let this important part of the sport slip away without a fight. And CEO Craig Masback is running an aggressive point in this battle.

"It comes down to this," he says. "Track can stay exactly as it was and slip further and further behind sports that are constantly innovating and reinventing themselves for television, the media in general, and the public, or it can make selected changes. I believe that indoor track is a promotional vehicle for the real thing.

"Now, what do we do to make indoor track more entertaining and use it as a laboratory for what might be needed/work outdoors?"

This winter's proving ground has been the Golden Spike Tour...

(for more, see the March Issue of Track & Field News)

3 American Records Tumble

by Steve Vaitones

Roxbury Crossing, Massachusetts, January 27-At the adidas Boston Indoor Games premeet press conference, facility manager Keith McDermott noted that the new Reggie Lewis Track record-boards wouldn't go up until after the meet.

The wait saved some work, as a trio of decade-old American Records were relegated to the outbox at the first stop on the Golden Spike Tour. Tim Broe, Regina Jacobs and David Krummenacker each added their names to the roll of honor and took home healthy bonuses to boot as the quick 200m oval was again generous with fast times.

Broe warmed up the crowd in an aggressively run 3000 where he brought down Steve Scott's venerable '89 listing of 7:39.94...."Not many people get to say they're an American Record holder, so I'm pleased," said Broe...

(for more, see the March Issue of Track & Field News)

Tim Broe Testing New Waters

by Sieg Lindstrom

If you're a high school distance runner reading this magazine and you don't find your name in our Prep Preview, don't despair. Instead, meet Tim Broe, the new holder of the American Record in the indoor 3000.

At East Peoria High back in his junior season of '94, Broe had run 9:08.7 for 3200, 18th on the yearly list. Promising. But he was still more than 2 seconds a lap behind list leader Meb Keflezighi. Broe, by then also a 2-time Illinois cross country champ, didn't rate a mention in the '95 Preview and his senior-season 9:14.2 was no better than 43rd on that year's list.

When he headed south to Alabama for college, the only distance-running crimson tide in the SEC was flowing from the red in the uniforms of deep and dominant Arkansas. At least that's how it was when Broe arrived.

Broe, after Boston a 7:39.23 guy in the indoor 3K, had nothing close to an AR then. But he had one crucial asset. "Just stubborn pride," he says. "I hate getting my butt kicked and it took me a long time. When I got to college, I realized that I wanted to start winning. And I was so far behind everybody. So it took me a few years to start to catch up."...

(for more, see the March Issue of Track & Field News)

Hartwig Gets Going Early

by Rich Sands

New York City, February 1 -For a meet so steeped in tradition, the Millrose Games threw caution to the winds for its 95th edition. The schedule of events was compressed, rejiggered, and the rah-rah atmosphere that had been added in '01 was ramped up another notch, replete with pep-rallyesque athlete introductions and indoor mile legend Eamonn Coghlan's motivating the crowd for the live Fox Sports New York telecast.

Most notable among the timetable switches was the flip-flopping of the starts for the men's and women's pole vaults for the second year in a row. The über-popular women (a.k.a. The Stacy Dragila Show) got the later "prime time" slot, when the Madison Square Garden crowd is traditionally most boisterous.

But Jeff Hartwig didn't seem to mind the switch, even though few fans saw him raise his own meet record to 19-3...

After clearing 18-81/4 on his first attempt, Hartwig needed all three to get over 19-0, winning the competition when Lawrence Johnson missed. He was then over 19-3 cleanly on his second try, adding a quarter inch to his Millrose best.

"I got a good attempt at that last jump at 19-feet and then I got into a good rhythm and got the record," said Hartwig, who had the bar raised to an American Record 19-7. He aborted his first two tries, and nicked the bar with his shin on the way up on try No. 3.

"At 19-7 I got a little excited and tried to rush the jump a little bit and messed up the timing," he said. "So I didn't have any good attempts until that third, which wasn't great, but it gives me confidence."...

(for more, see the March Issue of Track & Field News)

Lagat Miles 3:55.07

by Richard Gonzalez

Lincoln, Nebraska, February 9 - For a second consecutive outing, a pair of rabbit's feet proved to be anything but a good luck charm for Kenya's Bernard Lagat. Only this time, the seasoned miler wasn't about to leave a race's outcome to chance.

Lagat, seeking vindication after another's pacesetting snafu derailed his meet-record attempt at the Millrose Games, latched onto countryman David Kiptoo's pressing 54.6/1:51.2 tempo and then best survived the lactate complications to provide an exclamation point for the inaugural adidas Midwest Indoor Track Classic, the third stop on the Golden Spike Tour.

The Kenyan rode an excited standing-room-only crowd's enthusiasm to the first-ever sub-4:00 indoor mile within state lines. Fans hardly needed to wait decades to experience it again-in fact, only a few seconds.

Upon seeing Lagat trip the finish beam in a world-leading 3:55.07, the crowd of some 3500 then gawked in disbelief as three others (Millrose winner Laban Rotich 3:57.85, Kevin Sullivan 3:58.27, and Jason Lunn 3:58.58) motored across before the minute could close...

(for details on these problems, see the March Issue of Track & Field News)

Hot New Collegiate Meet At Armory

by Roy Conrad

New York City, February 8-9-The development of Manhattan's 168th St. Armory as a first-class indoor venue stands out as one of the sport's great success stories. The 93-year-old former National Guard training center hosts high school meets almost daily during the winter, and will host the USATF nationals.

Two years ago, Norbert Sander-founder of the Armory Foundation-and Jack Pfeifer-a mega-fan and T&FN correspondent-looked at the track that Norb built and, according to Pfeifer, thought, "You know, we could have a college meet here."

With New York Road Runners Club sponsorship, Pfeifer and Mondo's Ed Gorman co-directing and retired Brown coach Bob Rothenberg assisting, the Armory Invitational was born this year.

Titles in the team-scored meet's inaugural edition as a national event went to the Tennessee men and LSU women...

(for more, see the March Issue of Track & Field News)

Feofanova Goes On World Record Tear

No question that the brightest star soaring across the indoor skies interenationally this winter has been Russia's Svetlana Feofanova. Three vault World Records in a week, taking Stacy Dragila out of the leadership in that department definitely will cause the world to gaze up and take notice...

(for more, see the March Issue of Track & Field News)

Defenders Hot At U.S. Cross Nationals

Vancouver, Washington, February 9-10-When Meb Keflezighi lunged ahead of Abdi Abdirahman in the final yards of the men's 12K race, he joined Tim Broe, Deena Drossin and Regina Jacobs in successfully defending their USATF Cross Country titles over historic Fort Vancouver's Euro-style 2km loop.

The stirring stretch run between Keflezighi and Abdirahman closed out an exciting weekend of selection competitions prefacing the World Championships, set for Dublin on March 23-24...

(for more, see the March Issue of Track & Field News)

2002 Outdoor Schedule

All the major outdoor competitions for the 2002 season--both domestic and foreign--in one easy-to-read pull-out spread.

Major Stars Profiled

Check out revealing stores on Amy Linnen (the new holder of the Collegiate Record in the women's pole vault), Miguel Pate (Alabama's 27-foot long jumper performing well in three events) and Dawn Burrell (last year's world indoor long jump champ fights to come back from injury).

(for the full stories, see the March Issue of Track & Field News)

From The Editor

Everyone missed the real significance of the Millrose high jump...

(for the full opinion, see the March Issue of Track & Field News)

And in the April issue...

As the 2002 outdoor season begins to take shape, we'll wrap up the just-completed undercover season for you in our inimitable fashion, with deep reports from all the indoor championships meets, be they open, collegiate or high school.