The Pre’s stacked;
can you dig?
■ From Marion Jones’ flair to
Jeff Hartwig’s pole vault, the
Classic offers a range of
spectacular athletes
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
To steal a phrase from Nike’s
latest commercial star, Marion
Jones, “The more the better, can
you dig?”
The city of Eugene certainly is
digging the fact that it’s the site of
the prestigious Prefontaine Classic
Grand Prix, which seemingly gets
better and better each and every
year.
This year’s theme — the 26th in
stallment of the Pre — could easily
be, “The more Olympians, the bet
ter,” because the field is stacked.
You want speed?
Well then, you better watch the
men’s 200 meters at 12:06 p.m. on
Saturday because former
Olympic 200 gold medalist
Michael Marsh is healthy and
ready to burn some Hayward
Field rubber. His main target will
be the scintillating Maurice
Green, who is currently the
world’s record-holder in the 100
meter.
At last year’s Pre Classic, Green
electrified the crowd by doubling
in the 100 and 200 meter faces —
the second straight year he’d done
so. He then pranced around the
track joyfully tossing T-shirts of
himself to the crowd.
Perhaps you want some quality
field events?
Then be sure to catch the men’s
pole vault at 11:45 a.m., where
you’ll see American record holder
Jeff Hartwig attempt to set a new
Pre Classic meet record of 19 feet,
6 1/4 inches. He already set a
record vault of 19-9 at Hayward
Field during last June’s USA
Track and Field Championships,
which means legendary Sergey
Bubka’s Pre mark is in serious
jeopardy.
“I’m jumping reaHy well,”
Hartwig said. “I’m looking for
ward to coming back to Eugene.”
Maybe you want to be im
pressed with an athlete excelling
in both a field and track event?
If that’s your question, then
Jones is your answer. The former
North Carolina hoopster will be
competing in the women’s 100
meter dash at 12:14 a.m. and then
the long jump at 12:37 p.m.
The Pre Classic will be just a
stop on the way to gold for “Mrs.
Jones” as she is setting a goal to
win medals in five different events
at the Olympics in September.
Why are so many world class
athletes so eager to be a part of the
Pre? Because of the atmosphere,
the facilities and the competition.
It is an extreme privilege for these
athletes to be invited to the Pre —
especially since in order to even
be considered to receive an invite,
an athlete must have ranked in
the top 50 in the world in his or
her event during the past year._
“There’s no place like Hayward
Field and no meet quite like the
Pre,” Olympic silver medalist and
Eugene resident Lance Deal said.
“You’ve got people here that care
about the field events just as
much as they do the track events.
The Prefontaine always ranks
amongst the top in terms of ath
lete satisfaction.”
WE CARRY A
GREAT SELECTION
OF RUNNING AND
TRACKS FIELD
FOOTWEAR.
EUGENE, OREGON
Runners
selling running shoes to
Runners.
iib%
OFF
Everything!
I ^
L -RUN-JRRO exP'res 7/3/00
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