Tuesday
Best Bet
NHL Stanley Cup Finals: New Jersey at Colorado
5 p.m., ESPN
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
As always, Pre
Classic provides
plenty of stories
i
HAKUNA
MATATA
JEFF SMITH
The great Steve Prefontaine once said, “I don’t just go
out there and run. I like to give people watching,
something exciting. ”
Well, if the Oregon legend were still with us today,
there’s no doubt that he would have been impressed with
Sunday’s 27th annual track and field meet honored with his
name.
The Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field, always a spec
tacular display of the world’s top-notch track and field ath
letes, continued to dazzle Sunday with big names, fast times
and that one high school kid with the contagious smile.
Oh yes, him. Alan Webb, He’s 18 years old. He’s a senior at
South Lakes High in Reston, Va. He’s excited about going to
college at Michigan in the fall.
And—get this—he ran a mile in 3 minutes, 53.43 sec
onds.
Webb’s four speedy laps around the Hayward track set a
new national high school record, breaking one that had been
setback in 1965 (Jim Ryun, 3:55.3)."
“That boy ain’t joking!” screamed Olympic speedster Mau
rice Greene, who congratulated Webb on his historic run.
Not to be overshadowed in the prestigious mile race was
world record-holder Hicham El Guerrouj from Morocco,
who won the event with a blistering time of 3:49.92, the
fastest mile ever run on U.S. soil.
“El G” was racing for only the second time in America, the
first in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, but promised to return
to the Pre Classic next year. Speaking through an interpreter,
he made sure to point out how impressed he was with Webb.
“Alan Webb could become my number-one rival if he re
ally works at it,” El Guerrouj said.
Webb and “El G” were clearly the headline story from this
year’s Pre, but they aren’t the only ones deserving of atten
tion.
How about former Eugene resident Suzy Favor Hamilton
dominating the women’s 1,500-meter run in a time of
4:06.93 in her first race since a panic attack ended her
Olympic run in Sydney?
I truly want to enjoy every bit of this,” Favor Hamilton
said. “Mentally, I feel like I’m a new person. ”
Or how about high jumper Amy AcufPs remarkable
courage to compete at the Pre despite losing her grandmoth
er earlier in the week?
The two-time Olympian said she felt her grandmother’s
spirit as she won the event with a leap of 6 feet, 6 inches.
And then there were the stars of track and field who re
peatedly put on a show, whether they win or lose.
Marion Jones, who usually garners most of the attention,
captured the women’s 200-meter dash in 22.26 seconds, but
she was left in the shadows a bit since her race came right af
ter Webb and El Guerrouj’s performances. She didn’t mind,
though.
“It’s exciting to come out here and see a phenom like Alan
Webb and the great miler in El G, ’ Jones said.
Even in defeat, Greene came away from his 9.92 third
place finish in the 100-meter dash with his recognizable grin
and engaging personality intact.
“I’m used to winning, but that just shows that anything
can happen in the 100 meters,” Greene said. “I didn’t win to
day, though, but I’m having fun here, and that’s the most im
portant thing.
“I believe the fans are getting what they came to see.”
Indeed they did, as somehow the Pre Classic found a way
to keep getting better as it continued to grow in international
prestige, thanks in large part to its historic mile.
As the great Steve Prefontaine also once said, “I like to
make people stop and say, ‘I’ve never seen anyone run like
that before.’”
Well, those in the sold-out crowd of 11,211 who wit
nessed the double domination from Webb and “El G” proba
bly stopped in their tracks Sunday and said those exact
words.
Jeff Smith is the sports editor of the Emerald. He can be reached at Smitt
v'$icfe@aol.c6rfi.* ... ' /
I : ' ■'
R. Ashley Smith Emerald
After being edged out in last year’s competition, Suzy Favor Hamilton
(103) won an ’emotional’ 1,500 race Sunday at the Pre Classic.
k. Asniey Mimn tmeraia
Prep sensation Alan Webb shares a hug with world record-holder
Hicham El Guerrouj after Sunday’s historic Pre mile.
Another record day at Pre
■ Local athletes such as Marla Runyan and Maria
Mutola grab the spotlight at the international
competition
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
It was a track and field meet run by the International Ama
teur Athletic Federation, but the women’s side of Sunday’s
Prefontaine Classic Grand Prix had a decidedly local flavor.
Americans won every women’s event except the 100-me
ter hurdles and the 800 meters, and athletes with Eugene ties
won all three distance running events.
It was an important meet for many of those winners. Suzy
Favor Hamilton, the former Eugene resident who raced in
the 1,500 for the first time since a disastrous fall in the
Olympics last summer, called her victory “emotional.”
Tu rn to Women, page 12
■Stunning performances by Hicham El Guerrouj
and Alan Webb in the mile high light yet another
record-breaking Prefontaine Classic
By Robbie McCallum
Oregon Daily Emerald
Watch out, record-holders.
If the 2001 Prefontaine Classic Grand Prix was any indica
tion of things to come, this year of track and field will be one of
many upsets and broken records.
Sunday was an upsetting day at Hayward Field for some
current and former record-holders.
World record-holder Hicham El Guerrouj assaulted the
American mile record, running the fastest mile ever on Ameri
can soil in a winning time of 3 minutes, 49.92 seconds in only
his second race in the United States.
Turn to Men, page 12
Prep star takes stage in record run
■Alan Webb breaks a 36-year-old high school record in the mile and
overshadows the star-studded field at the Pre Classic
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Marion Jones had her run in the
spotlight.
Now it’s Alan Webb’s turn.
Jones won the 200-meter dash at the
27th annual Prefontaine Classic, but
the 11,211 fans, the media and the
viewers across the globe watching on
live television just couldn’t get enough
of Webb, an 18-year-old phenom who
broke a 36-year-old high school record
in the mile Sunday at Hayward Field.
Webb, a Reston, Va., native, finished
the mile in a time of 3:53.43, beating
the 3:55.3 mark set in 1965 by Jim
Ryun (now a congressman from
Kansas),
Despite being last after the first lap,
* • ’ »WeWpVssed4houWdozie<i%ruririess.in.
* j i * r * 4 $ # t*■* **#**#••♦* i
the final 300 meters to finish fifth. In
all, 12 of the 18 competitors ran the
mile in less than four minutes.
“With a lap to go, I knew I had it,”
Webb said of the
record. “This
means everything
to me. To be on the
track where Steve
Prefontaine, one of
my childhood he
roes, ran ... This is
onev of the best ex
periences of my ca
reer.”
WEBB
.. 11 Morocco’s
Hicham El Guerrouj,
who set the world record in 1999, finished
the mile in 3:49.92, the fastest time ever
run on American soil. After the race, El
Guerrouj and Webb ran part of the victory
lap around Hayward together.
“He could become my number-one
rival if he works at it,” El Guerrouj said
through an interpreter. “He’s obviously
got a great future. He just wants to stay
on course and have confidence in him
self and his entourage.”
In the same event, Webb also broke
Ryun’s 1,500-meter record with a time
of 3:38.26. With the records, Webb
qualified for the USA Track and Field
Championships, which will also be
held at Hayward, June 21-24.
Webb will attend Michigan next fall.
“[Webb] was spectacular. He really
surprised me,” said Bob Kennedy, an
American record-holder who finished
fourth in the 5,000-meter run. “That’s
great for our sport. I saw the Michigan
coach watching and drooling — he
can’t wait to get a hold of him.”
Turn to Webb, page 12 • VY