Prefontaine Classic features regional,
international champion mile runners
■ Hicham El Guerrouj is one
of 17 athletes competing in the
highly publicized race Sunday
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
From all the hype, you might
think that Hicham El Guerrouj is
the only athlete running the mile at
the Prefontaine Classic on Sunday.
How wrong you’d be.
The 17-meinber mile field in
cludes NCAA champions and U.S.
champions, Olympians and inter
national stars.
El Guerrouj won’t be running
by himself.
The athlete with the best chance
to challenge El Guerrouj will be
Kenyan Bernard Lagat. Normally a
1,500-meter specialist — he is the
second-fastest man in the world at
that distance — Lagat has battled El
Guerrouj in the past and has the ex
perience to upset the star.
“One thing not to overlook is
Bernard Lagat,” meet director Tom
Jordan said. “El Guerrouj can’t
just go out on the track and run a
time trial.”
Lagat finished third to El Guer
rouj and Kevin Sullivan in the Pre
Classic mile in 2001, running to a
time of 3 minutes, 53.14 seconds.
But if Lagat could run close to his
1,500 best time of 3:26.34 and
finish strong, he could challenge
El Guerrouj.
Sullivan won’t be back, and nei
ther will Alan Webb, the former
high-school star who broke the
high school mile record at the
2001 Pre Classic. Webb is current
ly preparing for next week’s NCAA
Championships as a freshman
at Michigan.
But several other Hayward Field
favorites are in the field for Sun
day’s mile. One is Central Point na
tive Bryan Berryhill, who won the
NCAA title in the 1,500 at Hayward
Field in 2001, a week after he fin
ished a disappointing eighth at the
Pre Classic.
“Berryhill is one tough runner,”
Jordan said. “I would expect him to
mix it up. I would expect him to be
the best American runner.”
Challenging Berryhill for top
American status at Sunday’s mile
will be Seneca Lassiter and Adam
Thomas Patterson Emerald
At last season’s Prefontaine Classic, Bernard Lagat, left, battled Hicham El Guerrouj for the mile title, with El Guerrouj prevailing.
Goucher, the second- and third
ranked Americans in 2001. Lassiter
finished a close second to Andy
Downin at the USA Champi
onships 1,500 in Eugene, losing die
race by a mere 0.03 seconds.
Mike Miller will also make an
appearance at Hayward Field on
Sunday. Miller has won the Bill
McChesney Jr. Memorial Mile —
usually held at the Oregon Twilight
but held at the Oregon Invitational
this season — two years in a row.
Miller “always says he loves com
ing back to Hayward,” Jordan said.
From outside the American bor
ders, two top international stars
will challenge the international su
perstar of El Guerrouj. Kenya’s
William Chirchir is ranked third in
the world in the 1,500, and fellow
Kenyan Benjamin Kipkurui is
ranked eighth. Kipkurui is training
with Lagat in Pullman, Wash.,
where Lagat is a volunteer coach for
the Washington State track and
field team.
All told, four of the world’s top
10 and five of the United States’ top
10 from the 2001 season will be in
the field of 17 runners.
El Guerrouj will hardly be run
ning alone. .
E-mail sports reporter Peter Hockaday
at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
Men’s
continued from page 2C
Championships, each runner won his heat,
then Montgomery edged Crawford by 0.14
seconds in the final.
In the 2001 World Championships, Mont
gomery was the only one of the two to make the
final, where he finished second to Maurice
Greene. The bronze medalist at that meet was
Bernard Williams, who will also compete
on Sunday.
Greene is a noticeable scratch from Sunday’s
competition. Normally a fan favorite at Hay
ward Field, Greene hasn’t returned to Eugene
since the U.S. Championships last year, when
he sat out the final rounds of the 100 in protest
of a USA Track and Field resolution.
But the absence of one athlete shouldn’t ruin
a meet that is shaping up into one of the best in
the country this year. To prove the validity of
the meet, ESPN2 will carry coverage, albeit on
tape delay, on Sunday night. European sports
station Eurosport will also cover the meet.
Being on Eurosport “adds international ap
peal,” Jordan said. “Literally millions of people
will see the athletes in Eugene.”
Those millions shouldn’t be disappointed,
either by El Guerrouj or the athletes sur
rounding him.
E-mail sports reporter Peter Hockaday
atpeterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
Emerald
Bernard Williams celebrates his title in the 200 at last year’s Pre Classic.
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