Oregon daily emerald., July 01, 1972, Page 7, Image 7

Ron Rondeau
Photos by Carl Calvadetscher
Hurdle field narrowed
in fast qualifying heats
Ralph Mann could afford lo take it easy.
“It felt like the Ralph Mann of last year,” grinned
the world record holder (48.8) in the 440-yard
hurdles.
He’s just run an easy 50.9 to win his heat in the
first round of the 400 meter hurdles Friday. And
although Mann's time put him ninth on the list of
qualifiers on this blustery day at Hayward Field in
the U S. Olympic Trials, there appeared little cause
for concern.
Of vital importance to men like NCAA champion
Bruce Collins and AAU hurdle champ Bob
Bruggeman, however, is now the event favorite
fared physically after his first test.
Mann, formerly of BYU and now with the SC
St riders, pulled some tendons in his right foot back
in April. That injury shelved America’s fastest
intermediate hurdler for three weeks.
The question here was how he would fare after
showing erratic progress since he hurt the wheel in
Los Angeles.
"It was my best race so far. It felt good,” Mann
assured after his heat. "My foot is sore but I’ll take
a couple of aspirin and go.”
It meant that Bruggeman, despite the blazing 49.8
he showed to breeze home first in the third heat
Friday, was smoking perhaps when he shouldn’t
have.
“I don't think I went out that fast,” said the Ohio
Track Club star after he kicked home ahead of Jim
Seymour of the SC Striders and Bob Steele.
“I felt relaxed. . .1 just tried to maintain
momentum I guess I ran faster than I had to.”
That heat, which saw Seymour come in with a 50.2
and Steele a 50.3, was easily the fastest of the
qualifying runs.
In the first race of Friday’s Trials Collins, the 21
year-old from Penn, ran down Melvin Bassett at the
ninth hurdle and got to the tape in 50.6. Bassett,
from North Carolina Central, was home in 50.7.
Mann's race followed and after some hard kicks
through the first four flights of hurdles (there are
nine in the 400-metersi he was coasting.
Ron Whitney, a teammate of Mann’s on the
Striders. saw his qualifying position secure and
linished fourth in 51.2.
R is Whitney, along with Mann, Bruggeman,
Collins, and Jim Bolding who has the best chance of
advancing in the second round which begins today
at 4:15.
Bolding, who co-holds the nation’s second-best
time this year (49.5) with Bruggeman, ran second in
the fourth and final preliminary heat, in 50.4.
“1 was satisfied.” said the Oklahoma State
youngster. “But I felt a little more tired than I
usually do. The first day is usually my hardest: on
the second and third, I do better.
Collins, the one given the best shot at dethroning
Mann, ran a race identical to his NCAA victory—
where he strode past Bolding after the last hurdle. A
silky-smooth strider, he went into overdrive after
the eighth hurdle and Bassett didn’t force the issue.
Said Bassett: “1 missed a step on the backstretch
and when I came into the wind (gusts reached
nearly 9 miles-per-hour at Hayward on this day) I
was struggling a bit. I saw Collins and since four
qualified. 1 wasn't going to fight it.”
For Collins it was his first race (in the hurdles)
since that NCAA victory. “I felt a little sluggish,”
he admitted afterwards. “I was very strong the last
couple hurdles, despite the wind.
“I’ve been working on technique since the NCAA,
but I am still hitting hurdles (he clipped the seventh
hurdle and nearly knocked it down).’’
Fortunes in this mercurial event come and go.
For heat winners Collins, Mann, and Richmond’s
Carl Wood, slow times mean saving something for
the second round.
Bruggeman. most impressive running his 49.8, is
lar from a sure thing to even survive his heat today,
lie's matched with Mann, Whitney, Steele (the
second-fastest qualifier) and Wes Williams, who
ran a plodding 50.7 but has a season tops of 49.7.
That heat—the second of the semi-finals—should be
interesting. Eight come out of the blocks in each
race, with four making the Sunday (6:30) final.
“I'm not sure Mann is the one to beat,” declared
lhe veteran Bruggeman after his race.
But Collins I don't know. I beat him once early in
the season. But he ran that fabulous time in the
NCAA, so I just don't know. I think it'll take49flat to
tret -in the team.”
(See related story page 8.)
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