Oregon daily emerald., May 28, 2002, Image 9

Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald. com
Tuesday, May 28,2002
Oregon Daily Emerald
Best Bet
NHL playoffs:
Toronto vs. Carolina
4 p.m., ESPN
Throwers
steal show
from ‘El G’
■ Hicham El Guerrouj, the world
record-holder in the mile, can’t
improve his mark as Hayward
Field turns into ‘shot put town’
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
For one day, at least, Track Town de
served another title.
“This is Shot Put Town right now,”
thrower Kevin Toth said. “It’s not Track
Town any more.”
Even headliners like Hicham El
Guerrouj, Tim Montgomery and Allen
Johnson couldn’t match the excitement
generated by the
shot putters at the
28th Prefontaine
Classic on Sunday
at Hayward Field.
El Guerrouj, hop
ing to break his
own world mile
record, couldn’t
match his time
from the 2001 Pre
Classic. Sprinters
Montgomery and
Johnson didn’t come close to the Pre
Classic records in the 100 and 110 hur
dles, respectively.
But the shot putters provided enough
thrills for the overflow crowd of 11,227.
For the first time ever, three Americans
went over 71 feet in the same meet, and
the longest throw — Toth’s — came
Turn to Men’s, page 12
The 28th Prefontaine Classic
Toth hits shot heard ’round the world
iillli
: % «■ f
Kevin Toth took home the win at the Prefontaine Classic on Sunday along with the event and Hayward Field records.
■ Kevin Toth wins the shot put
on Sunday as three American
athletes throw over 71 feet, the
first time in the same competition
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
Above the roar of the 11,227 Hay
ward Field faithful, the microphones
around the stadium resonated with
the words “the greatest shot put
competition ever in America.”
For the first time ever, three Amer
icans threw the 16-pojmd shot over
71 feet in the same competition.
Kevin Toth, 34, won the Pre
fontaine Classic with a throw of 72
feet, 9 3/4 inches, breaking the previ
ous Pre Classic record (70-07.50) and
the Hayward Field record of 72-03.
The Hayward record was set in
1999 by John Godina, who finished
Sunday’s Classic in third place
with a throw of 71-10 3/4. Adam
Nelson placed second with a throw
of 72-00.25.
“We’re becoming a marquee
event — let’s keep it that way,” Toth
said. “We can entertain as well
as anybody, if not better because
we’re bigger.”
Nelson, who won a silver medal in
the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and a
gold the next year at the Goodwill
Games, thrilled the Hayward crowd
with his energetic pre-throw routine
that involved walking in two com
plete circles, pausing on the right
foul line of the shot put field and
then stomping down the line toward
the throwing circle while throwing
off his warmup shirt.
“I was very pleased with my
Turn to Shot put, page 10
American women shine in Classic
■The women of the
Pre Classic set records
and provide excitement
for the Hayward crowd
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
Nicole Teter started it, Gail De
vers, Marla Runyan and Stacy
Dragila continued it and Marion
Jones capped it off.
It was a day of records and up
sets on Sunday at the 28th Pre
fontaine Classic Grand Prix, held
at Hayward Field. And each one
of the eight winners in the
women’s events seemed to have
a specific thought in mind.
“It’s always fun to come back
to Hayward and set a record,
especially with the crowds
cheering you on,” Dragila said
from beneath the Hayward
Field scoreboard, flanked by
scores of fans.
Save for Teter, the three Amer
icans set some form of a record
Sunday, with Dragila upping her
Hayward Field record to 15 feet,
05 and 3/4 inches , and Jones
running the fastest 100 in the
world this year with a time of
10.90.
Devers even set a little record
of her own. Wanting to come in
and run the fastest time ever by
an American in the 100 hurdles,
the former UCLA star did just
that. Only it didn’t count.
Devers, who already holds the
record with a time of 12.33,
earned a time of 12.29. However,
because the wind reading was
marked at 2.7 meters per second
— 0.7 more than the limit — the
record will not stand.
That didn’t discourage the
11,227 in attendance from roar
ing with ap
p 1 a u s e
when it was
announced
that Devers
had run the
fastest time
in American
history un
der any con
dition.
“That was
great,” Dev
ers said of her first hurdles race
of the year. “I had no idea of
what the time was.”
Wisdom gave way to youth af
ter Devers left the Hayward track
and American star Jones lit up
the Oregon track, leaving the
crowd in awe.
Despite two false starts in the
event — one of which was cred
ited to the Los Angeles native —
Jones won her seventh career
event in as many tries at the Pre
fontaine, running the fastest 100
in the event’s history.
“It felt good,” she said. “The
JONES
false start flustered me a bit;
10.90 with a bad start — I’ll take
that here.”
Ending the day as the ultimate
record holder, Dragila, who
owns the world and Prefontaine
records in the pole vault,
showed the audience what per
sistence really was.
After missing her first two at
tempts at a height of 15-05 3/4,
Dragila seemingly stepped it up
and cleared the record height.
Then it was all about breaking
her own record, this time going
for the best in the world.
Dragila couldn’t quite get over
15-9 3/4, hitting the bar in all
three attempts, but nevertheless
was happy with her day under
the golden Oregon sun.
“I felt like I was running
good,” she said. “Maybe the
world record wasn’t there, but
being confident on different
poles was good for me.”
In what may have seemed like
the undercard to a title boxing
match, the women’s 400 and
1,500 flew under the radar of the
Eugene crowd.
Michelle Collins, the odds-on
favorite to win the 400, did so by
three-tenths of a second with a
time of 50.87, but the real story
from the event was high school
er Sanya Richards.
The Jamaican native, who now
Turn to Women’s, page 10
Thomas Patterson Emerald
Marla Runyan of Eugene barely missed the Prefontaine Classic record in the women’s 3<000. She
finfshedin 8:39.33, only 0.03 seconds slower than the meet record.- --