World record holders looking to better marks
■ No record is safe when
world class athletes swarm
Hayward Field for the
annual Prefontaine Classic
By Robbie McCallum
for the Emerald
Fans might have a difficult
time deciding which event is
the most exciting at the 26th an
nual Prefontaine Classic Grand
Prix.
Olympic champion and world
record holder Michael Johnson
makes a case for the 400 meters,
but so does an army of long dis
tance runners in the 5,000. De
pending on how many runners
break the hallowed four-minute
barrier in the mile, that could be
the marquee event.
One thing is for certain: There
won’t be a dull moment.
Johnson is no stranger to Hay
ward Field. He owns the field
record in the 400, the Classic
record in the 200 and has won
countless races in between. At
this year’s meet, Johnson will at
tempt to break the meet record
in the 400 of 44.13 seconds
owned by Derek Mills. John
son’s world record of 43.18
could surpass that by nearly a
second.
The only question is whether
anyone can come close to John
son. Brazil’s Sanderlei Parrela is
ranked third in the world with a
personal best 44.12. Jerome
Davis is ranked seventh in the
world with a personal record
time of 45.95.
A title is not so certain for an
other world record holder. Mau
rice Green, dubbed “The
World’s Fastest Man,” should re
ceive a challenge in the 200 me
ters from former Olympic gold
medalist Michael Marsh. After
years of rehabilitation from bone
spur surgery, Marsh has re
turned to top form. The 32-year
old Marsh has season bests of
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Michael Johnson, who holds the Pre Classic record in the 200, is one of many elite athletes to participate in this year’s Classic.
9.90 in the 100 and 20.10 in the
200, .05 seconds faster than the
meet record. Green is the two
time defending champion in the
200 and is looking to break
Johnson’s records in that event.
For American record holder
Jeff Hartwig, the Pre meet is an
'opportunity for another record
in the pole vault. Hartwig re
cently upped his own record of
19 feet, 9 inches by a quarter of
an inch, making it the fourth
time he has surpassed an exist
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Oregon grad Piotr Buciarski returns to Hayward field to compete in the pole vault
ing record. Oregon graduate Pi
otr Buciarski will also partici
pate in the pole vault.
The 5,000 meters will also
feature a distinctive local flavor
with two Oregon alumni partici
pating. Great Britain’s Karl
Keska and Nick Rogers are both
eager to perform in the friendly
confines of Hayward Field. The
Classic “is a great tune-up for
the Olympic Trials,” Rogers
said. “It’s a great atmosphere
and the best place in the country
to run. I’m fortunate to be able
to workout here.”
The favorite in the race is
Kenyan Luke Kipkosgei, who is
a two-time Prefontaine Classic
winner who set both the meet
and Hayward Field record at the
1998 Pre Classic with a time of
13 minutes, 07.83 seconds. Kip
kosgeFs time nabbed the field
record from Kennedy who held
the honor for the previous five
years. Kipkosgei’s personal best
in the 5,000 is 12:57.32.
Several former Pacific-10
Conference runners will also be
on hand for the race. Former
Stanford twins Brad and Brent
Hauser, Arizona’s Abdi Abdira
ham and Washington State’s
Meb Keflezighi are all looking
for personal bests.
A number of runners will be
looking for sub-four-minute
times in the Bill Bowerman
Mile. Leading the way are
Kenyan William Chirchir and
Stanford’s Gabe Jennings.
Chirchir has the fastest 1,500
time in the world this year at
3:32.55, which equates to a 3:49
mile. Jennings, the NCAA 1,500
champion, owns a personal best
3:37.15, which equates to a 3:54
mile.
Joining the field is high
schooler Donald Sage, of
Elmhurst, 111. Sage is second on
the prep mile list this year be
hind Alan Webb, who withdrew
from the Classic last week.
One of the greatest American
800 runners ever will return to
Hayward Field for this year’s
meet. American record holder
Johnny Gray, who turned 40 on
Monday, will have the second
fastest time coming into the half
mile, behind Kenyan David
Leilei.
Gray has a personal best of
1:42.6, but has not broken 1:45
for the last five years. Leilei’s
trademark event is the 1,500 but
decided on the 800 after run
ning a 1:43.9 earlier this year.
Gray’s successor in the United
States, Bryan Woodward, as
well as defending Classic cham
pion Khadevis Robinson should
push the two-lap pace.
Although no big name stars
have entered into the 100 me
ters, the race will still be com
petitive to say the least. The 100
will essentially be a college all
star race, with two NCAA cham
pions, a runner-up and a Pacific
10 conference champ.
Florida’s Bernard Williams —
this year’s national champion —
Auburn’s Coby Miller and
Washington’s Ja’Warren Hooker
are all entered in the race. The
lone “veterans” are John Drum
mond and' Terrance Trammell.
Williams’ personal best (9.99)
would surpass Carl Lewis’ meet
record of 10.08 if ran at the Clas
sic.
For the first time in many
years, Eugene resident and fan
favorite Lance Deal will not be
the favorite in the hammer
throw. Hungarian Zsolt Nemeth
and Russian Vasily Sidorenko
both have better marks this year
coming into the throwing event.
Deal has already earned a
qualifying mark for the U.S.
Olympic Trials in the hammer
throw, but he will need a season
best to win his third straight
Classic title. Fellow New York
Athletic Club thrower Kevin
McMahon should give Deal a
challenge with a 257-8 personal
best.
“The Pre Classic is a real com
munity happening,” Deal said.
“No where else do athletes feel
as comfortable as they do here.
It’s just a great place to get some
throws in.”
- aii C & t Time Schedule
■■■■■ " ;
' ''
11:15 Hammer Thrm|v
11:30 National Anth
11:32 Introduction
Members;
unveiling of Bowerm
11:45 Pole Vault (M)
11:50 Discus Throw
11:54 Masters 8Q0M
12:02 Shot Put (M)
12:06 200M (M)
12:14 100M (w)
(M)
m
if Bowerman Team
an statue
Muarice Greene is the two-time defending champioA jn the 200 meters
Emerald archive
Athletes gear up for Olympics
with Pre meet
■ With the Olympic Trials
around the corner, the
Prefontaine Classic draws
top-level competition
By Robbie McCallum
for the Emerald
Races of this caliber haven’t
been seen since 1996 and may
not be seen again until Septem
ber in Sidney, Australia.
The 26th annual Prefontaine
Classic Grand Prix will feature
Olympic-level competition from
track and field stars who reside
in Eugene, the rest of America
and the rest of the world. Some
former Olympians will be on
hand, as will some future
Olympians.
Mrs. Jones herself, the leg
endary Olympian Marion Jones,
highlights the entry list in two
events. Jones holds the meet and
Hayward Field record in two
events - the 200 meters (21.18
seconds) and long jump (21 feet,
113/4 inches). This year, Jones
will try for a third record in the
100 meters. Gwen Torrence cur
rently holds the meet record at
10.96. Jones will also try to better
her meet record in the long jump.
The favorite to win both the
100 and 200 meters at the up
coming Olympic Trials in Sacra
mento, Calif., on July 14-23 is
also Jones, who has a personal
best of 10.71 in the 100.
Chasing Jones at the Classic
will be Philomena Mensah and
Toni Edwards in the 100. Eugene
resident Shana Williams and
Adrien Sawyer will compete
against Jones in the long jump.
Seven-time gold-medalist Gail
Devers begins her quest for a
fourth Olympic bid next month
in Sacramento, but for now she
will run the 100 meter hurdles at
Jlie Pre Classic. Devers owns the
meet record at 12.84 but ran a
personal best and American
record of 12.37 last summer. The
race will be Devers’ first in the
100 hurdles this year. Devers is
the eleventh gold medalist to en
ter into the meet, the most ever.
Challenging Devers will be
Anjanette Kirkland, who has the
fastest time in the world this year
(12.63), and NCAA Champion
Joyce Bates.
One of the biggest head-to
head matchups in the Classic
ever will take place in the 800
meters. Local athlete and half
mile specialist Maria Mutola has
been victorious in the Pre Classic
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Marion Jones will compete in the 100 meters and long jump, where she is the meet record holder
for the past eight years and owns
the meet and field record at 1
minute, 57.5 seconds. She has
been the only woman to be
ranked No. 1 in the 800 five
times. Needless to say, she has
not had much of a challenge in
the half mile in recent years.
That will change this year
when three-time Olympian and
two-time World Champion Regi
na Jacobs takes to the track. Pri
marily a 1,500 meter runner, Ja
cobs is stepping down to the 800
for some speedwork before the
Olympic Trials. Suriname’s Leti
tia Vriesde has gone under the
two-minute barrier (1:56) in the
800, as well as sisters Joetta and
Hazel Clark.
“I’ll be running the 800 at the
Prefontaine next weekend, and I
expect to run a very fast time,”
Jacobs said. “I’m exactly where I
want to be this year.”
Another exciting showdown
could take place in the 1,500 be
tween Romanian Gabriela Szabo
and former Eugenean Suzy Favor
Hamilton. Marla Runyan was en
tered in the event, but had to
withdraw due to injuries.
Something will have to give
between Favor Hamilton and Sz
abo, both of whom are undefeat
ed this year. Favor Hamilton
holds the top times in the world
in the 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 me
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Regina Jacobs will compete against local favorite Maria Mutola in the 800 meters.
ters. She won the ‘98 Classic
1,500, but had to sit out all of last
year with an achilles injury.
Favor Hamilton, Runyan and
Jacobs are considered by many as
the greatest American trio of
1,500 runners ever.
Szabo has a personal best
3:56.97, which would break both
the meet and field record if ran at
the classic. Szabo won this year’s
indoor 1,500 and was a silver
medalist at the ‘96 Olympics,
which was her first race on
American soil. The Classic will
be her second.
Also in the mix is Canadian
Leah Pells, who finished fourth
at last year’s meet and has a per
sonal best 4:03.56.
“In the 17 years I’ve been asso
ciated with the Prefontaine Clas
sic this is one of the best poten
tial match-ups we’ve ever had.”
meet director Tom Jordan said.
“It’s the best field ever assembled
on American soil outside of the
Atlanta Olympic Games.”
One of the first high school
women in the classic will com
pete in the 400 meters on Satur
day. Morse High’s (San Diego)
Monique Henderson ran the 3rd
fastest 400 by a prep athlete ever
at the California State meet on
June 3 and the eighth fastest this
year with a time of 50.74.
One of the favorites in the race
is former world champion Jearl
Miles-Clark, who owns a person
al best of 49.40. The last time the
400 was contested, in 1998,
Miles-Clark finished fourth be
hind Jamaican Lorraine Graham,
who is also entered.
The other favorite is Nigerian
Fali Ogunkoya who is ranked
second in the world this year
with a personal best 49.10.
American Kim Graham, a
member of the gold medalist
4x400 meter relay team at the ‘96
Olympics, will also run in the
■race. She finished seventh at the
‘98 Classic and has a personal
best of 51.18.
Inside the oval, the discus
throw is a wide open event that
could go to a number of competi
tors. Belarus’ Ellina Svereva has
that top mark coming into the
event with a throw of 221-9.
Svereva was a bronze medalist at
the ‘96 Olympics and was ranked
fifth in the world last year. She
will attempt to break Australian
Lisa Marie Vizaniari’s four-year
old meet record of 212-11. Viza
niari and fellow Australian Ali
son Lever could also be a
contender.
The field also includes five of
the top six American throwers
this year: Kris Kuehl, Suzy Pow
ell, Aretha Hill and recent UCLA
graduate Seilala Sua.
BBR HBBB '
Catherine Kendall Emerald
Seilala Sua returns to Hayward Field after winning the Pac-10 title this spring.