Ezinwa Fast but Marsh Goes Faster

After Nigerian Davidson Ezinwa became one of the four fastest men of all time last weekend with a time of 9.91 seconds in the 100 meters in a meet on his home track at Azusa, skeptics demanded more tangible proof than the electronic timer.

One week later, Saturday in the Mazda Mt. San Antonio College Relays at Walnut, it was Ezinwa who wanted to review the videotape.

After all, he had run another exceptional time, 9.96, beaten world record-holder Carl Lewis and proved to even the most strident critics of the Azusa Pacific junior that he is on a fast track to stardom.

So, naturally, Ezinwa thought that he also had won.

Think again, Davidson, which is good advice for everyone in track and field when considering Mike Marsh’s place among the world’s best sprinters. He belongs, a statement that the former UCLA All-American from Hawthorne High made with an exclamation point Saturday by winning the 100 meters in 9.93 seconds despite running into a strong headwind.

As a result, Marsh, 24, became the sixth-fastest sprinter of all time and the fourth-fastest American behind Lewis (9.86), Leroy Burrell (9.88) and Dennis Mitchell (9.91).

Marsh, who trains at Houston with Lewis, Burrell and the other celebrated sprinters from the Santa Monica Track Club, was not overcome with emotion upon hearing his time announced over the public address system, although his previous best was 10.07.

“Oh,” he said.

Asked to elaborate, he said: “Two years ago, I would have been ecstatic. But at the World Championships last year, a 9.93 wouldn’t get you a medal.”

However, when track and field experts consider that Ezinwa and Marsh have run so fast this early in the season and that World Championship medalists Lewis, Burrell and Mitchell have not really gotten started, they practically salivate in anticipation of the 100 meters at the Summer Olympics in August.

“It’s going to be incredible,” said Azusa Pacific’s Terry Franson, who coaches Ezinwa. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the winner runs in the 9.70s, and Carl’s going to be right there.”

Lewis was not there Saturday, finishing third in 10.12. But it was not the first time that he has opened his sprint season at Mt. SAC with a less-than-sterling performance. In 1987, he did not even finish among the top three. He said he felt flat after the strength work he has been doing during workouts.

It is also possible that he left his speed on the track in the 400-meter relay earlier in the day, when he anchored a Santa Monica Track Club team that also included Marsh, Burrell and Floyd Heard to a winning time of 37.97, the ninth-fastest ever by a U.S. team. A team anchored by Mitchell finished second in 38.66.

Santa Monica also earned impressive victories from U.S. record-holder Johnny Gray, who upset the world’s No. 1-ranked Jose Luiz Barbosa of Brazil in the 800 meters in 1:45.77, and Olympic champion Steve Lewis, who held off USC’s Quincy Watts in the 400 meters to win in a photo finish, 44.45 to 44.46.

The club’s only disappointment came in the 200 meters, in which Burrell, ranked fifth in the world last year, finished third. Kevin Little, the former Drake sprinter who made his reputation indoors, won in 20.39. The women’s favorite in the 200, World Championships silver medalist Gwen Torrence, finished fourth in a race won by the Bahamas’ Pauline Davis in 22.77.

With snow-capped mountains visible in the background, and cows grazing on a nearby hill, a crowd estimated at 12,500 came out on a clear, warm afternoon to see the 34th annual meet.

Besides the world-class athletes who competed in individual events, some of the sport’s top names, such as Evelyn Ashford, Roger Kingdom, Michael Johnson and Calvin Smith, entered relays, which, traditionally, draw the most response from the crowd.

The relays might have been challenged in that category Saturday by Lithuanian Romas Ubartas’ practice discus throw that, only moments before the start of the men’s 100 meters, sailed over the retaining fence and into the middle of the track. Obviously in fine form, Ubartas, ranked No. 1 in the world last year, won with a throw of 223-8, the best in this meet since 1983.