Sprinters Are Running Off at the Mouth : Track and field: World All-Stars say they can beat Lewis-driven Santa Monica team at Mt. SAC.

Is this the year that meet director Dan Shrum finally has found formidable challengers in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays for the Santa Monica Track Club? No, if you listen to the Santa Monica Track Club. Yes, if you listen to the challengers.

They will settle the argument on the track Sunday at Walnut, where they plan to meet in the 400-meter relay. In case the issue remains unresolved, it is possible they will reload for a rematch later in the afternoon in the 800-meter relay.

“We want to show you don’t have to run with the sunshine on your chest to be one of the best,” said Dennis Mitchell, referring to the logo on Santa Monica’s uniforms.

Ranked fourth in the world in the 100 meters last year, Mitchell would fare well, head to head, with any sprinter. But the only part he usually sees of Carl Lewis’ anatomy when they run the same relay anchor leg is his back.

They will, however, be head to head when they receive the batons at Mt. SAC, at least in the 400-meter relay, Mitchell predicted this week, emboldened by his supporting cast.

Joining him on the World All-Stars are a teammate from the United States’ gold-medal sprint relay team at the 1993 World Championships, Jon Drummond, and two members of Great Britain’s silver-medal team, John Regis and Tony Jarrett. They have been practicing handoffs while training under Coach John Smith at Westwood.

“By the time he gets the stick, he’s usually 10 or 15 yards out front,” Mitchell said of Lewis. “He looks nice and pretty then. I want to see him grit his teeth a little bit.”

The response from Santa Monica:

“Give me a break,” manager Joe Douglas said. “I don’t mean to be rude, but, by the time we get to the 150-meter mark, no one will ever see us. They’re selling wolf tickets.”

Of course, they are, Smith confessed. But in an age where there is too much trash talk in many sports, there probably is not enough in track and field. The sport could stand some good-natured friction.

“They’re gentlemen,” Smith said of Santa Monica’s runners. “They can afford to be because they’re on top. But maybe we can get their attention. If we’re as polite as they are, we could sneak up on them and win. This way, they’ll get angry and break the world record, which we’d all like to see.”

It could happen.

Of the 21 fastest times in the 400-meter relay, 16 were by national teams. The five others were by Santa Monica, including the 37.89 run by Mike Marsh, Floyd Heard, Leroy Burrell and Lewis last Saturday in the Texas Relays. The U.S. team that won the gold medal in 37.83 during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics is the only one to run faster on American soil.

“We’ve been shooting for Mt. SAC all year, but we got a little ahead of ourselves at Texas,” said Burrell, who won the 100 meters in Austin with a time of 9.86, equaling Lewis’ world standard but not legal for record purposes because of a prevailing wind of 2.47 meters per second. “I think we can at least duplicate that Sunday.”

Asked if he is worried about the World All-Stars, he said, “Not really. We’ve been doing this for a long time, while they’ve got two Brits and two Americans who have been working together for only a few weeks. If we get the baton around the track, we’ll be OK.”

And Lewis will not have to grit his teeth?

“Carl has been running at the world-class level for 12 years, and I’ve never seen him grit his teeth, no matter who he’s running against,” Burrell said, laughing.

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Dave Johnson had 8,219 points to win the Mt. SAC decathlon, held at Azusa Pacific, Thursday and Friday. Shawn Wilbourn was second with 7,579 points.