COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD : USC’s Watts Runs Hot 400 (44.43) on Cool Day

As Saturday dawned misty and cool, the conventional thinking would have been that no outstanding marks would be forthcoming at the USC-UCLA track and field dual meet at UCLA.

The sprinters, who perform best in warm weather, disproved that. Quincy Watts of USC turned in the best collegiate time of the season in the 400, running a personal best of 44.43 seconds. That breaks his school record and is the fastest 400 ever run in a college dual meet.

Tony Miller of UCLA overcame an ear infection to win the 100 in 10.29, a personal best, and won the 200 in 20.75. USC’s Inger Miller was also a double winner, winning the 100 in 11.38 and the 200 in 22.8, hand-timed.

In addition to the college meet, sprinters in open events ran impressive times. Andre Cason won an invitational 100 in 10.08 and Kevin Young won the 400 hurdles in 48.16, the fastest time in the world this year. All were surprising marks in front of 1,753 at Drake Stadium.

The Bruin men overwhelmed the Trojans, 123-39, and have won 14 consecutive duals against USC. UCLA won all but two events. The Trojan women trounced an injury-depleted Bruin team, 80-30. The victory for first-year Coach Barbara Edmonson is USC’s first against UCLA since 1987.

The strength of Watts’ race surprised even himself. Watts said he has been training hard for three weeks and felt tired.

“Sometimes you wear yourself out in practice and you can’t do it in a meet,” he said. “That’s why I’m surprised. I felt really good. I felt good in the middle of the race and accelerated and maintained until the end.”

Watts began running the 400 only last season after converting from the short sprints. Now he’s considered the best young quarter-miler in the world. Watts has been able to increase the intensity of his training and remain injury free, a problem for him in the past.

“The difference is that now I have a sprint coach,” he said. “Before, I didn’t know how to warm up properly, how to take care of myself. Now I do. You won’t see me getting injured.”

For Tony Miller, it was wasn’t a matter of injury, but illness. Miller had to come from behind to overtake USC’s fast-starting Jeff Laynes, who clocked 10.30.

“I felt I was going to throw up in the blocks,” Miller said. “I didn’t practice this week. I’m surprised I ran this fast.”

Miller anchored the Bruins’ winning 400-meter relay, which ran a time of 40.32. USC dropped the baton on second exchange.

USC also had bad luck in the 1600-meter relay. Travis Hannah began hyperventilating after running the 400 and he was replaced on the 1600-meter relay by hurdler Mark Crear. Crear’s handoff to anchor runner Watts took place out of the zone and USC was disqualified.

The Miller sprinters weren’t the meet’s only double winners. Roshanda Glenn of UCLA won the long jump in 18-8 1/4 and the triple jump in 41-11 1/2. Dawn Dumble of UCLA won the shotput in 56-6 and the discus in 175-9. John Godina of UCLA won the shot in 61-9 3/4 and the discus in 188-1. Amy Goodwin of USC won the 1,500 in 4:45:48 and the 800 in 2:18:09.