TRACK AND FIELD / MT. SAC RELAYS : Meet Emphasizes the Passing Game

The organizers of the Mazda Mt. SAC Relays are concerned. They worry that fans think of this invitational meet, which begins today, and think only of great long jumping, pole vaulting and throwing.

Think of the name, they say, and remember that relays are an important part of the meet. The baton-passing events have always been an exciting, crowd-pleasing aspect of track and field. But, traditionally, relays have been overlooked in favor of the glamour events.

That won’t be the case in the 33rd running of the meet at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, especially with today’s schedule, which emphasizes the relays and will probably offer some of the weekend’s best performances. Santa Monica Track Club, with a 400-meter relay team of Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Carl Lewis and Mark Witherspoon, has a good chance of regaining the world record in the event. The United States, which set the record of 37.83 seconds in 1984, lost it to a French team that ran 37.79 last year in the European Championships.

The American men say they want the record back.

Running against Santa Monica will be an all-star team of Raymond Stewart of Jamaica, the No. 1 sprinter in 1989; Dennis Mitchell, a 1988 U.S. Olympian; Calvin Smith, a two-time Olympian and former world record-holder at 100 meters, and Michael Johnson, chosen by Track & Field News as the athlete of the year in 1990.

The 400 relay is the first men’s invitational event today, at 1:35 p.m. Although meet organizers have appeared confident that Santa Monica will make a run at the record, the club’s manager is taking a more conservative approach.

“I think that’s called promotion,” Joe Douglas said, laughing. “We have a very good team, but you can’t predict a world record. With that type of talent, you hope to have a good time, but it’s early in the season. We feel as if we have the talent to slaughter that world record. We would invite the French team or any team to run against us.”

Even if the French relay team is not there, many of the world’s best athletes will be in the six-day meet, which includes elementary, high school, junior college, university and open events. The meet ends Sunday.

Besides dozens of relays, there will be a dual meet today between the Soviet and U.S. women, a delegation of seldom-seen Cuban throwers, a renewal of the long jump rivalry between Larry Myricks and Mike Powell, world indoor champion Andre Cason’s appearance in the 100 meters, and excellent distance races tonight.

But Dan Shrum, the meet director, said that fans like relays more than individual events.

“It’s fun because one person can make a lot of change from one leg to the other,” Shrum said. “It brings in 32 athletes. Relays always seem to get the crowd involved. We’ve also had a lot of different types of athletes running against each other. In 1988, we had (400-meter hurdler) Edwin Moses run with (decathlete) Daley Thompson on a 4x400. Athletes run relays for training, running distances they don’t usually run. Evelyn Ashford is going to run a 400 on a relay.”

Santa Monica’s other relay teams are also power-packed. On the 800-meter team are Joe DeLoach, Mike Heard, Steve Lewis and Brian Cooper. On the 1,600-meter team are Kevin Young, Witherspoon, Lewis and Danny Everett.

The 1,600 traditionally marks the end of the meet Sunday, and Shrum refers to the race as “the championship of North America.” The race, in which the lead changes hands frequently, has always been a crowd-pleaser.

The invitational portion of Sunday’s meet begins at 11 a.m. with the men’s long jump.