Berkeley Track : Phillips Skips Hurdles, Wins 400

Andre Phillips is already established as a world-class 400-meter intermediate hurdler and a threat to break Edwin Moses’ long winning streak if the athletes meet later in the summer.

But Phillips is proving that he’s a versatile performer. He has already lowered his 110-meter hurdle time to 13.32 seconds this year and is in training as a future decathlete.

He displayed his versatility again Sunday at the Footlocker Summer Games at Edwards Stadium by winning the flat 400 meters in a hand-timed 45.2 seconds.

Phillips beat a field that specializes in the 400--Darrell Robinson, a sub-45 seconds quartermiler, and three prep stars, Danny Everett of Fairfax High, Henry Thomas of Hawthorne High and Chip Rish of Marina High in Huntington Beach.

Phillips has competed only twice this season in the 400-meter hurdles and he was impressive in both races. He won at the ARCO-Coliseum meet June 8 in the fast time of 48.37. He was even sharper in the USA-Mobil outdoor championships last week at Indianapolis with a 47.67 performance, solidifying him as the No. 3 all-time performer in the event.

But he won’t be recognized as the premier 400 hurdler in the world unless he beats Moses, who hasn’t lost a race since 1977, a streak of 94 final races and 109 overall.

Moses has an injured knee and reportedly won’t compete until August. Phillips will be waiting for him.

“Hopefully, I’ll be the one who will break the streak,” Phillips said. “I think Danny Harris and myself are the only ones capable of doing it. Harald Schmid (No. 2 on the all-time list) is easily intimidated by Moses.”

Phillips says that there is obvious pressure on Moses to protect his streak, adding, “That pressure will shift to the person who beats him.”

Phillips said that he was misunderstood in his comments after the national meet to the effect that Moses selects his fields in order to preserve his streak. Moses has denied it.

“I just heard that from meet promoters,” he said. “I did not plan to run against him in July. We always run against each other in August. Edwin and I are good friends and I respect him and admire him. Even if I broke his world record (47.02), he would still be considered the greatest hurdler in the world.”

Phillips says he doesn’t plan to compete again until the Sports Festival in Baton Rouge, La., next month. He’ll run both the high and intermediate hurdles in that meet.

Then, it’s on to Europe and a possible confrontation with the incomparable Moses.

“At this time of the year I’ve usually run six or seven races in the 400 hurdles,” said Phillips, the former UCLA star. “I don’t need anyone in a race to run fast time now and I don’t feel that I’ve tapped my resources.”

Phillips said that he’ll probably make his debut as a decathlete next March. He said that he has most of the 10 events covered and only the pole vault and discus are holding him back.

“I plan to train next fall with Billy Olson to help me in the pole vault,” Phillips said.

Phillips finished a disappointing fourth in the 400 hurdles last year in the Olympic trials. He had a virus at the time that weakened him, but nothing is holding him back this season.

Some other highlights of the invitational meet that was held in conjunction with the Pacific Conference Games on a mildly warm, windy day in the Bay Area:

--Joe Dial, who beat Mike Tully and Olson in the national meet, did it again. The American record-holder at 19-2 won at 18-4 1/2.

“The winds were crazy,” Dial said. “There were head winds and tail winds and they’d change three or four times before you could vault.”

--Steve Scott had to get out of a box on the last lap to win the mile in the pedestrian time of 3:58.43. Ireland’s Ray Flynn was second in 3:58.95, with Richie Harris barely edging New Zealand’s John Walker for third place.

--Japan’s Masami Yoshida upset American record-holder Tom Petranoff in the javelin with a throw of 281-6. Petranoff was third at 271-4.

--Kenya’s Billy Konchellah won the 800 in 1:46.40 and Ruth Wysocki was an easy winner of the women’s 1,500 in 4:11.10.

Track Notes

Many top-ranked American athletes aren’t competing in outdoor meets in their own country this year. Excuses range from slight injuries to fatigue. Some of them say they don’t want to jeopardize their chances of competing on the European summer circuit, which is financially rewarding. Steve Scott says this is a disturbing trend. “American athletes are taking advantage of a situation,” he said. “They believe the meets will always be here. But, if they don’t show up, they could kill the sport.” Scott said that American athletes can still train in meets here and run at a top level in Europe. Scott said if Americans continue to withdraw from meets in the United States, sponsors will also pull out and there will be less money for athletes in the future. “Carl Lewis was hurt and didn’t have to sacrifice himself at the national meet (he failed to qualify for the 100-meter final), but he showed up. He said it was a national championship and everyone should be here (Indianapolis).” . . . Scott said he isn’t satisfied with his season, losing twice each to Jim Spivey and Joaquim Cruz in the 1,500 or mile. He said he has been concentrating on strength workouts but will now concentrate on sharpening his speed. Scott, who has been America’s top-ranked miler for the past eight years, said there’s a possibility that he might move up to the 5,000 meters next year. “I’ll have to see how it goes this summer,” he said. “If my speed isn’t what it used to be, I’ll reevaluate things in terms of longer races”.