MICHELOB INVITATIONAL : Steve Scott, 32, Still Has a Kick When It Counts : Veteran Miler Blows Past Latest Challenger on Final Lap at Balboa Stadium

In his decade or so as America’s best miler, Steve Scott has seen challengers come and go.

Some last a season or two, then move to another event or another career. But Scott’s title as the fastest American miler endures.

With another Olympic year upon him, it would only figure that Scott, 32, would be tested by another another eager and talented young miler.

This year, that man is Joe Falcon, a junior from Arkansas who recently won the 1,500-meter run at the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships. Earlier, he had run the fastest time in the 1,500 by an American this year--3 minutes, 35.84 seconds.

Those credentials might sound impressive, but once again, Scott was up to the challenge.

He easily pulled away from Falcon in the final turn Saturday to win the mile at the Michelob Invitational at Balboa Stadium in 3:56.06. Falcon was second in 3:56.55.

Jeff Atkinson was third (3:56.66) and Chuck Aragon was fourth (3:57.01) in a race that came down to a full-out sprint between the top four finishers in the final 330 yards.

Scott had been content to stay in the middle of the pack until the final straightaway, where the four leaders spread out across the track. Aragon, racing on the inside, kept Falcon from getting to the turn first, and that allowed Scott to speed by his young challenger in the last 180 yards.

The time was considerably off the 3:53.6 Scott had run three weeks earlier in the Pepsi Invitational at UCLA, but letting this race come down to the final lap was a strategy that Scott said suited him fine.

“I didn’t feel there was a chance to run a fast time today,” he said. “It was too hot and too windy to try and do anything too special.

“I felt comfortable and under control. I spotted him (Falcon) yardage, and I was able to make it up. I’m pretty pleased. I just went for the win today.”

Falcon, on the other hand, was disappointed with his race. Not so much because he let it come down to a kick at the end, but because he had trouble after finding himself boxed in in the middle of the race.

He learned in less than four minutes Saturday afternoon what others have been learning over the years--Scott is not so easy to bring down.

“I didn’t run a smart race,” Falcon said. “I wasted a lot of energy early that could have helped me in the end.”

Falcon said the race gave him a good opportunity to test himself against some of America’s best before the U.S. Olympic trials July 15-23 in Indianapolis. Falcon has decided to run the 1,500 in the trials after earlier considering trying to qualify in the 5,000.

For a runner who stayed with Scott until close to the end Saturday, his expectations for the trials are modest.

“I’d just like to make the team; that would be great,” Falcon said. “If I could just do that and get through the first round at the Olympics, I’d be happy.”

Falcon said he still considers the 5,000 his best event and plans to try to make the 1992 Olympic team at the longer distance. But his goal in that event is far from pedestrian.

“In 1992, I’ll get a medal in the 5,000,” Falcon said. “I guarantee it.”

Maybe so, but he might want to talk with Scott first. After flirting with the idea of running the 5,000 this year, Scott decided about a month ago to give the 1,500 one last shot. He, too, is thinking about running the 5,000 in 1992.