Track and Field / Randy Harvey : Reynolds’ Chase Is Out in Open

Despite his excellent indoor season, Ohio State’s Butch Reynolds has remained relatively unknown, even in the track and field world. That should change now that he is the third-fastest man ever to run the 400 meters, the fastest at sea level.

After Reynolds ran a 44.09 Sunday at the Jesse Owens meet in Columbus, Ohio, the junior from Akron said he believes he could have broken Lee Evans’ 19-year-old record of 43.86 if conditions had been ideal.

Instead, Reynolds faced a head wind down the backstretch and had nobody pushing him. The man closest to Reynolds finished in 45.54.

“I didn’t want to go out too fast,” said Reynolds, who didn’t listen to his own advice, running the first 200 meters in 20.09.

“At 200 meters, I thought, ‘Uh oh, slow down, you’re losing this.’ But part of me was saying, ‘This is easy.’ The whole thing was so easy, when I looked at the scoreboard, I thought there had to be a mistake.”

There was. The scoreboard at the end of the race registered 43.87, which would have been the second-fastest time under any circumstances.

Evans set the world record at the 1968 Summer Olympics in the high altitude of Mexico City, beating another American, Larry James, who ran 43.97. Evans also ran a 44.06 in qualifying at Mexico City.

The fastest sea-level time before Sunday was Cuban Alberto Juantorena’s 44.26 in 1976.

Even though Reynolds wasn’t ranked among the top 10 Americans last year, there was some indication he was ready to break through. After setting indoor world bests at the off-distances of 500 meters and 600 yards this winter, he ran a 44.60 in the 400 meters two weeks ago at the Drake Relays in Des Moines. He wasn’t pushed their either, as the second-place time was 45.92.

He should face his first serious competition of the year at the Pepsi Invitational May 16 at UCLA’s Drake Stadium. Also entered are 1984 Olympic champion Alonzo Babers, world indoor champion Antonio McKay, Nigeria’s Innocent Egbunike, UCLA’s Danny Everett and two of the nation’s best high school quarter milers, William Reed of Central High in Philadelphia and Steve Lewis of American High in Fremont.

“I really want to run against McKay, Babers and (Michael) Franks,” Reynolds said Monday. “I beat Franks last year in Columbus at the Owens meet. But I certainly don’t feel overconfident. They’re all great runners.

“But I don’t know. I really think if the weather had been better I could have broken the record. I’ve been thinking of nothing but Evans’ record for four years now.”

Reynolds, 22, graduated from Hoban High School in Akron, where he said he was an all-city wide receiver in football and a basketball forward who averaged 15 points and 11 rebounds. He said the University of Virginia recruited him for basketball.

But he said at 6 feet 3 1/2 inches, he didn’t think he was tall enough to play forward in college and couldn’t handle the ball well enough to play guard.

So he chose track, spending his freshman year at Butler County Junior College in Eldorado, Kan., before transferring to Ohio State.

One of the first persons to congratulate him Sunday was another Ohio native who has done all right in the sport--Edwin Moses. He won the 400-meter hurdles in Columbus.

“He told me not to burn myself out, that I could become the best 400-meter man in America,” Reynolds said. “He told me to think about the European season, to remember four months from now. I guess he means Rome.

“That’s where it is, right?”

Reynolds apparently hadn’t given much thought before Sunday to the outdoor World Championships, Aug. 29-Sept. 6, in Rome. After Sunday, he may be one of the favorites.

Reynolds’ naivete concerning the international scene ranks second only to Brian Cooper’s. After finishing second in the indoor national meet this winter, the long jumper from McNeese State in Louisiana was told he had earned a berth on the U.S. team for the World Championships.

“I was supposed to go fishing that weekend,” Cooper said. “Who’s in the meet?”

When told that all of the world’s best jumpers would compete, Cooper said: “Geez, that’s bigger than the LSU Invitational.”

If you have a few extra dollars and are looking for a worthy cause, you might consider contributing to the Save the Triple Jump Committee.

As you probably have guessed, the effervescent Willie Banks, the world record-holder in the triple jump, is behind this effort.

When he discovered that several of this year’s meets had dropped the triple jump, he and a few friends began a campaign to raise $15,000 for promoters who have complained they can’t afford to hold the event.

Believe it or not, they have received enough in donations that they were able to give $5,000 to promoter Al Franken, who has added the triple jump to the Pepsi meet.

UCLA’s Gail Devers won the 100 meters, 200 meters, 100-meter hurdles and long jump, anchored the winning sprint relay team, finished third in the triple jump and then was disappointed when Coach Bob Kersee said she couldn’t run in the final event, the 1,600-meter relay, in Saturday’s dual meet at Drake Stadium against USC.

Even though USC had clinched the victory, Devers volunteered to run the relay because she said she needed the work.

“If we need it in the Pac-10 meet or the NCAA, I want to be ready for it,” she told Kersee.

Kersee told her: “Based on your performance today, you’re ready for it.”

Track Notes Edwin Moses will run May 16 but not at the Pepsi meet. He is committed to the Adidas meet that afternoon in Princeton, N.J. His third race of the season probably will be in Madrid June 4. . . . Sprinter Jeannette Bolden, an asthmatic, will conduct an asthma and allergy clinic Saturday at UCLA’s Drake Stadium. It’s for children or adults who suffer from asthma or allergies. . . . The nation’s best meet this weekend is Saturday in Modesto.

Promoter Al Franken tried to arrange for Switzerland’s Werner Gunthor, ranked second in the world last year in the shotput, to compete in the Pepsi against John Brenner, the American record-holder. But Gunthor has school exams that week. . . . The Ivory Coast’s Gabriel Tiacoh, third at the 1984 Olympics in the 400 meters and ranked No. 1 in the world last year, has been listed in the advertisements as one of the Pepsi participants, but he has not entered. Franken said he would not meet Tiacoh’s asking price of $4,000.