Golden City Mile : Steve Scott Holds On to Beat Flynn : Wysocki Wins Women’s Race; Some Entrants Don’t Show

Steve Scott found himself in the unusual position of playing two roles for the Golden City Mile in Santa Ana.

The part of No. 1 drawing card was a snap. As expected, Scott, America’s fastest miler, won the men’s invitational race in 4:07.2.

His more difficult role, that of talent recruiter, gave him the headache. After Scott committed to run, he volunteered to round up some other world-class talent for Sunday’s event.

Scott managed to secure entries from Irish 1,500-meter champion Ray Flynn, Olympians Jim Spivey and Ruth Wysocki, and NCAA champion Patty Sue Plummer. Not a bad marquee for a first-time race.

But Scott, a former UC Irvine All-American, wasn’t completely satisfied.

“I have a lot of respect for race promoters after this,” he said. “I called a lot of people and they didn’t show after they said they would. It’s frustrating.”

There was no frustration for Scott on the streets of Santa Ana, however. Mark Labonte pushed the pace and led at the halfway mark.

With about 400 meters remaining, Scott and Flynn were running side by side. Scott moved in front with a little more than 100 meters left and held off Flynn, who finished second in 4:07.6. Treg Scott was third in 4:08.1 among the nine runners entered.

The women’s invitational didn’t offer as much suspense. Wysocki, who recently resumed training after a grueling summer in Europe, used the event as a training exercise. Wysocki, Plummer and Regina Jacobs ran together for the first half, then Jacobs dropped back. Wysocki went ahead with about 300 meters to go and finished in 4:54.0. Plummer was second in 4:55.8 and Jacobs finished third with 5:06.4.

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Wysocki said of her return. “The first half was pretty slow and we felt like we were sprinting. Luckily, the second half didn’t get any worse and we felt like we were running the same.”

La Quinta High senior Kristen Harkins was fifth in a field of nine with 5:16. Harkins had finished second in her heat in Saturday’s Orange County Cross-Country Championships at Irvine Park.