April 2003 Issue

Hot 800s For Years To Come

by Dan Lilot

Just a year ago, T&FN published an article entitled “U.S. In 800 Drought,” bemoaning the state of the nation’s 2-lap prospects.

Almost as if on cue, David Krummenacker single-handedly raised American half-miling to respectability, running 1:43.92 and earning No. 3 in the T&FN World Rankings.

Equally exciting are the 800 prospects at the NCAA level. Not only was last year’s meet in Baton Rouge fast, it was young. Fast—5 were at 1:46-flat or better for the first time ever, and 6th-place (1:46.21) had never been faster either. Young—there was only 1 senior, in 7th, marking the first time since ’23 that the meet had gone without a fourth-year runner in the first 6.

Four of them were frosh—never before in the history of the meet had more than a pair of yearlings made the final. Joined by 3 sophs and a junior, they gave promise of an exciting event for years to come.…

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

Remembering Rono’s 4-WR Season

by Sieg Lindstrom

Twenty-five years ago a Washington State sophomore, Henry Rono, began one of the greatest World Record streaks in history, blowing the collective mind of the distance running world.

In a span of 81 days (see box), the gap-toothed Kenyan star reeled off WRs in the 5000 (13:08.4), steeple (8:05.4), 10,000 (27:22.4) and 3000 (7:32.1).

He ran the 3K before a full house at the Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway, but mere handfuls of fans witnessed the shocking 5K in Berkeley and the steeple shot his coach John Chaplin had predicted for a rainy day in Seattle.

Even the 10K record, in Vienna, Austria, fell before a relatively tiny group of about 500 who lingered after a soccer match.

But with Kenyan boycotts robbing Rono of Olympic opportunities in ’76 and ’80, the world basically missed seeing him run. “I thought the Olympics were all politics,” Rono wrote recently in the East African Standard, and only he knows if the disappointment helped spiral him into the alcoholism he subsequently developed.

Rono’s greatness only reemerged in brief flashes thereafter. …

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

A Magical Rono Race

by George Malley

George Malley, who set an American Record (8:21.72) in the steeplechase in the summer of ’78, says of Henry Rono’s 13:21.79 in the NCAA 5000 heats, “Those of us who saw it will always remember we were lucky; we saw running become art.”

Malley’s account of a magical run:

“I sat at the south end of the East Grandstands behind two cackling Princeton athletes. They were completely bewildered by Rono’s running, gleefully pointing out to anyone who’d listen how stupid he was to run so ‘recklessly.’ I sat thinking to myself, ‘These two knuckleheads don’t understand what they are privileged to see.’

“Over the years we’ve all heard many athletes declare themselves to be ‘artists.’ Rono never claimed anything; he just ran. But if ever there was a ‘performance artist’ in our sport, it was Rono. His performances were ephemeral. The only record left is the spoken [and written] word. So far as I know, there is no video record of his World Records, nor of those joyous romps in Eugene. If there were, I could sell thousands of The Rono Tapes from the trunk of my car. …

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

Forgetting Football

by Jon Hendershott

Among many realizations that world-ranked sprinter J.J. Johnson made during his try at pro football last year was, “Most trackmen would love to play pro football and many pro ball players would love to be world-class track athletes.”

Of course, success in one doesn’t translate directly to success in the other, as both Johnson and ’00 Olympian John Capel found out when they tried the pro grid game.

Capel, who played at college powerhouse Florida, went to the NFL right after Sydney and played wide receiver. Johnson, who played college ball at Oklahoma’s NCAA Div. II Panhandle State, tried out as a receiver with Oakland, surviving until the team’s final cut…

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

Ready For Sprint Dominance

by Rich Sands

Track & field wasn’t the first thing on Muna Lee’s mind when she arrived in Fayetteville for the NCAA Indoor Championships (see p. 48). The LSU junior was in the middle of midterms back in Baton Rouge and as she jokingly says, “If I don’t pass, then I won’t be running.”

That focus on academics turned out to be a good thing: the 21-year-old Kansas City native cruised to a spectacular 22.49 in the 200 prelims. That time not only cut her indoor best from 22.82 (which won the ’02 title), but also smashed the 22.79 Collegiate Record of Merlene Ottey. Ottey, running for Nebraska, set her record on February 7, 1982—when Lee was just 14 weeks old.

Lee followed that up with an under-the-old-record 22.61 in the final, beating …

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

Ready For Outdoors

Greer Still Has Long Road

by Jon Hendershott

Jabari Greer won’t rest on the laurel of being the NCAA Indoor 60H gold medalist…

19 Made Walker Happy

by Jon Hendershott

To get his first 19-foot vault and win the NCAA at the same time, Brad Walker admits, was “pretty exciting.…

New Life For Simms Out West

by Sieg Lindstrom

In a sense, Allen Simms’s winning an NCAA triple jump crown was almost expected. After all, two years ago he jumped 55-1 1/2 in the first meet of his frosh season… Unexpected was Simms winning the title for USC…

Regionals Might Aid Bookman

by Sieg Lindstrom

Though Kansas coach Stanley Redwine is no big fan of this year’s new format for outdoor NCAA qualifying, he admits the Regional meet may be just what junior Leo Bookman needs in his quest to become the first Jayhawk sprint titlist since Charlie Tidwell won a 100/200 double way back in 1960…

Johnson Gives Up Hoops

by Sieg Lindstrom

His long jump victory at the NCAA Indoor tells Brian Johnson his transformation from 3-point shooter to 10-point track man is running right on schedule…

Holmes Finds His Coach

by Jon Hendershott

After twice clearing a PR 7-1 3/4 prior to the NCAA Indoor, Cal State Northridge junior Jerrick Holmes admits, “Those jumps gave me great motivation going into the NCAA…”

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

Goucher Gets A Cure

Adam Goucher’s health problems, mainly with his injured back, have been reported in our pages for months now. But the March edition’s “Status Quo” column added a new wrinkle to the 5K star’s medical file.…

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

Late Start For Meb This Year

Meb Keflezighi won his third straight USATF 15K title handily over rival Abdi Abdirahman, 43:31-43:59, but feels comparisons with the 42:48 he ran in ’02 are moot. “Each season is unique,” says the 27-year-old UCLA alum, whose preparations this year started later than usual because…

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

High School AOYs Reggie Witherspoon & Allyson Felix

Reggie Witherspoon

by Kirk Reynolds

Go ahead and tell Reggie Witherspoon (Wheeler, Marietta, Georgia) he can’t do something. Please. The High School Indoor Men’s Athlete Of The Year only needs to hear it before he goes out to prove you wrong.

“People told me I wouldn’t go under 47 seconds indoors,” says Witherspoon. “So I used that as motivation and did it.”

Witherspoon’s 46.11 at the National Scholastic Champs (see p. 54) lost national-record status on a technicality, but it remains the fastest indoor prep 400 ever run, and is only 0.03 off his outdoor best.

Needless to say, it portends grand things for the outdoor season, and he recognizes the value of the time, record or not. “Right now it’s a big controversy,” he says. “I’m not letting it get to me. No matter what, it’s still 400m, and 46.11 is still 46.11. No matter what they decide to do, I’m still proud of what I’ve done.”

And, yes, he’s hearing that the goals he and Coach Chad Walker are setting are out of reach …

Allyson Felix

by Kirby Lee

Comparisons between Allyson Felix and Marion Jones are becoming more and more commonplace, particularly since the 17-year-old Felix finished 2nd in the 200 at the USATF Indoor Championships. Her 23.14 lowered the national record from 23.22, a mark she had matched in the heats.

The Southern California star thus became the youngest member of the U.S. team for the World Indoor Champs, where she advanced to the semifinals. All her late-season heroics added up to High School Women’s Indoor Athlete Of The Year honors, succeeding her big rival of last year, Sanya Richards.

Outdoors last year, Felix led all high schoolers—including outdoor AOY Richards—with a 22.83 which moved her to No. 3 on the all-time list, despite being hampered by an injury to her right hamstring.

Now a senior at Los Angeles Baptist High, she lives in the LA suburb of Santa Clarita, about 35M from where Jones was raised and finished high school in Thousand Oaks. This spring, Felix hopes to shoot at Jones’s…

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

Dragila Reclaims World Record

by Jonathan Berenbom

Seemingly vaulting as well as ever, Stacy Dragila capped an undefeated domestic indoor season by clearing 15-8 1/4 at the USATF Championships to reclaim the World Record from Svetlana Feofanova. Her Russian arch-rival had…

(for more read the April issue of Track & Field News)

Arkansas Rolls To Title No. 17

by Dan Lilot

Three years. That’s how long it had been since Arkansas last won a national team championship. For most programs such a gap between trophies would be just fine—for John McDonnell it was an eternity.

“Our drought without a title was too long. We’re back where we like to be,” said the 64- year-old Razorback mentor after his squad amassed an impressive 52-point total, good for the school’s 17th win at the NCAA Indoor Championships. “After not winning, you think you are losing your magic.”

But McDonnell had a talented and sharp squad this year and knew he had the firepower…

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

From The Editor

In the restaurant business they say there are three keys to success: location, location and location. The mantra for making big-time track a success with the general sporting public is similar: presentation-presentation-presentation. To grab the hearts and minds of today’s spoiled sports fans, you’ve got to have some bells and whistles.

The first major international championships to pay any real attention to this crucial side of the sport was the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta, where music and video were skillfully blended with some discreet behind-the-scenes management of what was happening on the field of play.

Unfortunately, both the ’97 and ’99 Worlds took steps backwards. Sydney ’00 was pretty much a disaster, with incompetent announcing marring the proceedings. Fortunately, the Edmonton Worlds in ’01 were a revelation, with Britain’s Fast Track organization building on the lessons learned—both positive and negative—from the happenings of Atlanta onwards. Fast Track then got more encomiums for its handling of last year’s Commonwealth Games.

For integration of modern technology into a track setting, Fast Track’s handling of the recent World Indoor Championships in Birmingham was the best I’ve ever witnessed. We’ve certainly seen stadia with two large video boards using feeds from multiple cameras before, but this time the usage was the way not only a track fan would want it, but also a field fanatic.…

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

And in the May Issue...

Relay Big Show

As always, T&FN will be there in force to bring you all the hot stories from the Relay Circuit.

Off-the-track action will surely sizzle also as we bring you coverage of not only the World Cross Country Championships, but also the monster round of April marathons, highlighted by the big affairs in London and Boston.

Our prognostication department will also be working overtime, handicapping the NCAA Championships for you. And what would an issue be without an update on the wanderings of peripatetic Gabe Jennings? All this, and more in the May issue of Track & Field News!

The hook-’em-horns May edition will be mailed by May 1. If you aren’t currently a subscriber, just call us at our toll-free 800 number (1-800-GET-TRAK) 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.