March 2003 Issue

Walkabout

by Sieg Lindstrom

It’s Gabe Jennings’ 24th birthday: the noted miler and some 30 friends and family members are gathering to celebrate with delicious chili verde, lots of other good food and music-making at his parents’ Northern California home.

What’s more, the recently elusive—though ever-quotable—Olympic Trials 1500 winner has a comeback on his mind and wants to talk.

On the drive up from San Francisco, where the redwood-lined mouth of the Anderson Valley opens to coastal Highway 1, not far from the home of school teachers Jim and Suzanne Jennings near the picturesque seaside town of Mendocino, a thick fog quickly envelopes the car and whites out what is on a clear day a spectacular panorama of gorgeous head-lands, crashing surf and the blue Pacific.

For what it does to vision, the curtain of vapor might as well be a wall. At the Sydney Olympics, Jennings hit a wall that was just as ephemeral, just as real. For two years, metaphorically speaking, he lost his vision. But that is changing.

On this Super Bowl-eve birthday Jennings is celebrating his imminent embarkation on an unorthodox “vision quest” he hopes will lead him back to the Games—and at the least to true world-class…

(for the full story, read the March Issue of Track & Field News)

Women’s 4:00 Barrier Falls

by Rich Sands

Regina Jacobs loves racing in Boston. The 39-year-old Stanford grad had won three different events in the last three editions of the adidas Boston Invitational—twice setting American Records in the process.

Jacobs’ hot streak continued on an epic level this year, in front of a capacity crowd of 4000-plus and a live TV audience at the first stop on USATF’s Golden Spike Tour…

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

Cragg A Perfect Fit At Arkansas

by Andrew Jensen

Alistair Cragg doesn’t feel too bad about spoiling Noah Ngeny’s trip to Boston.

The Arkansas junior got the better of the Olympic 1500 champ and along the way broke the Collegiate Record in the 3000.

“It feels good, but it’s a pity I caught him on a bad run,” Cragg says. “I’m sure he came out thinking he was going to have a good holiday.”

The pace was a bit slow early, which gave Cragg…

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

ARs For Devers & Dragila At Millrose

by Jonathan Berenbom

For the better part of two decades, Gail Devers has been one of the sport’s leading figures. Her résumé speaks for itself: eight World and Olympic golds, six 100H American Records, eight T&FN No. 1 rankings.

Now 36, an age when many begin to consider retirement, Devers is running as well as ever and remains extremely motivated.

“I think what keeps me in it is the pursuit of the elusive,” said Devers after opening her ’03 campaign with a surprise American Record in the 60H at the Millrose Games. “There are things I haven’t accomplished in the hurdles, mistakes I need to correct. I’m still trying to run a perfect race. Because no one will let me retire, I have to keep stepping up my game.”

A major change for Devers came after the ’01 season, when…

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

Dragila Back In The Groove

by Jon Hendershott

The tone of relief is palpable in Stacy Dragila’s voice as vaulting’s megastar admits, “I am so glad this winter hasn’t gone like last year. I wouldn’t want to go through that kind of season again.”

During this indoor campaign, the 31-year-old Olympic/world champion has been fully healthy and flying again, upping her own American Record on consecutive weekends and winning all three Golden Spike Tour meets. In Boston, a 15-5 1/2 boosted her ’01 mark by a half-inch; six days later at Millrose she tacked on another quarter-inch.

This is the Dragila we’re used to seeing, unlike last year’s version, which didn’t follow up her World Athlete Of The Year campaign of ’01 with yet another stellar season.

It was a hard fall. Not only did Dragila see Svetlana Feofanova steal her indoor WR, but the Russian also spanked Dragila 9–0 in head-to-head clashes. Overall, Dragila lost 10 meets in ’02—just one fewer than her total over the previous three seasons…

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

World-Leading Trammell Double At Tyson

by Andy Jensen

Terrence Trammell said the Tyson Foods Invitational would be a chance for Fayetteville track fans to see “the next great one” in American track & field.

He wasn’t singling himself out of the world-class Golden Spike Tour field, but the soft-spoken Olympic silver medalist might as well have, as he wowed a meet-record crowd of 5031 with a pair of lifetime-best wins on the straightaway.…

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

Webb Back In Competition

Alan Webb is “training like a pro” (T&FN, February), but even though he isn’t quite running like one yet, there’s no cause for concern in his camp.

His February meets produced a 1:52.48 in the 800, a 2:23.61 kilo and a 3:59.49 for 3rd in a special mile at the Armory Collegiate Invitational.

After the mile, Webb commented, “I’m not disappointed. I was rusty after.…

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

Big World Records In Europe

Leave it to legends Haile Gebrselassie and Hicham El Guerrouj to return to racing in a big way, even if it wasn’t—sigh—against each other.

In Geb’s first track race since an injury-aborted WR attempt last June in the hour run, the 29-year-old Ethiopian slashed the unofficial 2M World Record down to 8:04.69 in Birmingham.

Two days later in Liévin El Guerrouj made his own attempt but came up short, even if his 8:06.61 put him behind only Geb in indoor history.

Gebrselassie cut the all-time best from Hailu Mekonnen’s 8:09.66 run on the same track in ’00—as Mekonnen followed in 3rd, 0.02 behind Luke Kipkosgei (8:16.57)…

Picking up where she left off at the end of the ’02 indoor campaign, Svetlana Feofanova twice elevated her own pole vault WR in February, first to 15-7 1/4 and then to 15-7 3/4.

The 22-year-old Russian set five global bests indoors last year to kick start the season which eventually would find her supplanting Stacy Dragila as No. 1 in the world.

Feofanova’s first ’03 record came in Glasgow, where she cleared 15-31/2 last year before missing at a record 15-71/4 (4.76). This year she topped four heights, including a year-pacing 15-3, en route to another first-time make at 15-71/4. She then missed all three at another record of 15-93/4 (4.82).

Feofanova collected a tidy $54,000, the $50K a bonus for the record win.

She said she wouldn’t have trouble spending it as, “Moscow is one of the most expensive cities in the world.”…

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

Georgia Now A Thrower’s Mecca

by Toby Cook

“59.”

“What’s 59? It is? OK, me too. Oh, wait, I’ve already had 59, I’ll have No. 47, thanks.”

“I’ll have 22, please.”

“64, thanks.”

There’s an old witticism that recounts the time-passing ways of long-interned felons who call out numbers to each other, with each number signifying a punchline to an oft-heard joke. The numbers are received with hoots and hollers up and down the cellblock.

While some might advocate a different form of confinement for the enumerating denizens of this particular pizza parlor, all these athletes are trying to do is procure a beer. It’s a given that one orders a deli sandwich by the number, but not a beer.

However, this is not your father’s pizza place. This is the Mellow Mushroom in Athens, Georgia, where one is encouraged to venture, 100 beers worth, through a staggering selection of domestic and imported potent potables toward the acquisition of one’s own metal plaque on the restaurant wall.

How you go about filling up your beer card can be as important as the process itself. One member of the group is doing his geographically, starting in Europe. Another is working his way north to south, while someone else is filling his card out geometrically by creating a design with the shaded numbered boxes.

In a college town like Athens, the home of Georgia football, large bodies are not completely anomalous. Still, what the staff and other patrons don’t realize is that several of the world’s premier throwers sit among them, pondering aloud the subtleties of a German bock or the nuttiness of an Oregon ale.

Relaxed, self-assured but inviting, Adam Nelson—“Mr. Intensity,” as he has been known to his mates since he was so-titled on last August’s T&FN cover—sits in the middle of the table, indirectly directing conversational traffic.

As in any tight-knit group, there is…

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

Texas Sprint Stars Destined To Meet

by Andy Friedlander

Willie Hordge waited for the baton with absolute confidence. Sure, he was matched against some of the fastest Junior sprinters in the world. But he was certain he would get the stick first in the 4 x 100 final at the World Junior Champs because he knew the young man delivering the goods was his friend and fellow Texan, Ivory Williams.

“It sure was nice to have him on my team,’’ says Hordge, the nation’s fastest returning high school sprinter. “He gave me the lead. I increased it.’’

Indeed, Hordge pulled away from the Jamaicans to finish a World Junior Record 38.92 and end up on the cover of T&FN. But he had help from his friends: Ashton Collins, Wes Felix and especially Williams.

The partnership between Hordge (Forest Brook, Houston) and Williams (Central, Beaumont) was staggeringly successful at the World Juniors last summer, and the friendship has continued—the sprinters still talk regularly on the telephone. But now there is another ingredient to their relationship. A high school rivalry to go with that they forged in the ’02 post-season campaign…

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

MEN’S 100 METERS 
10.21(A)/10.16w .... Willie Hordge (FB, Houston, Tx) (1)
10.27/10.12w ..... *Ivory Williams (C, Beaumont, Tx) (4)
10.35 .................... Jamar Ervin (Camden, NJ) (5*)
10.36 .. *Jerald Watson (Cent Catholic, Morgan City, La)
10.42 ................. Reggie Bush (Helix, La Mesa, Ca)
 ............... **J-Mee Samuels (Mt Tabor, W-Salem, NC)
10.45/10.25w .......... Mark Jelks (West Side, Gary, In)
 ............. Demi Omole (Dominican, Whitefish Bay, Wi)
10.51/10.45w ............ Earvin Parker (Lewisville, Tx)
10.52/10.40w ........ Braylon Davis (Carter, Dallas, Tx)
 .................... Keantwon Gray (Carter, Dallas, Tx)
10.53 ............ Noah Smith (Taft, Woodland Hills, Ca)

From The Editor

HERE AT T&FN WE LIKE TO THINK of every one of our monthly offerings as a “landmark issue,” but this one really is special. It represents the 700th edition we’ve published since the first one rolled off the presses, dated February 1948. At the risk of dragging your minds away from the important current goings-on which have made this one of the more thrilling indoor seasons in recent memory, let’s take a nostalgic look at the preceding “century issues.”

ISSUE 100, MAY 1956. Back in the days when the layout was more newspaper-like, the front page featured stories on four World Records: Dave Sime with a pair of 220 straightaway marks (22.2 over the hurdles, 20.1 on the flat), Parry O’Brien with a 61-1 put and Leamon King’s 9.3 for 100y. King got a picture, as did Jim Bailey for upsetting WR holder John Landy in a 3:58.6 mile before 38,543 fans in Los Angeles…

(for the full retrospective, read the March Issue of Track & Field News)

Indoor Championships

THE BEST THING about an Indoor Championships issue is that it means that the outdoor season is upon us. So look for the April issue of T&FN not only to give you unmatched coverage from the World, USATF and NCAA Indoor Champs, but also to be ahead of the game in preparing you for fresh-air action.

Did you realize that in last year’s NCAA outdoor 800, four of the men’s finalists were frosh? We’ll take a deeper look at the incredible Class of ’05, and all the other youngsters (8 of 9 finalists are back) who promise to make this one of the year’s most exciting events.

And what about the Gabester’s journey south of the equator? You didn’t think we’d stop with just the teaser in this issue did you? Find out what happened next in the next exciting issue of T&FN.

The you-can-have-it-indoors-or-out April edition will be mailed by April 3. If you aren’t currently a subscriber, just call us at our toll-free 800 number and we’ll take care of your order promptly. A regular 1-year U.S. subscription (including our free on-line results service) is $43.95; other rates are available on request.