Lewis and Friends Smash 800-Meter World Record

The setting remains one of the most picturesque in the world for track and field, the weather is unfailingly pleasant, and the fans can be counted on to provide enthusiasm. But, because the Mt. San Antonio College Relays come so early in the outdoor season, the performances on the track do not always match their promise.

That was not the case Sunday at Walnut in the 400- and 800-meter relays, which provided everything that was boasted beforehand--even the rare sight of Carl Lewis gritting his teeth.

Pushed by a group of cocksure sprinters, who apparently were not overstating their capabilities when they dubbed themselves the World All-Stars, Lewis and his Santa Monica Track Club teammates ran the fastest time ever in the United States in the 400-meter relay, then returned 2 1/2 hours later to run the fastest time ever anywhere in the 800-meter relay.

In an event Santa Monica has owned in recent years, in large part because no one else has the depth of sprinters to even lay claim to it, the team of Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Floyd Heard and Lewis bettered its 2-year-old world record in the 800-meter relay by almost half a second, completing the two laps in 1 minute 18.68 seconds.

The previous record was 1:19.11, which the World All-Star team of Jon Drummond, Dennis Mitchell, Brian Bridgewater and John Regis also eclipsed with a second-place time of 1:19.10.

“I’ve been complaining about not having anyone to run against at the end of these relays,” Lewis said. “Today, I did.”

He will think twice about complaining in the future because he got too much of what he asked for Sunday. Anchoring Santa Monica’s 800-meter relay, Lewis was hand-timed in a superb 19.4 and lost significant ground to Great Britain’s Regis, the silver-medalist in the 200 meters in last year’s World Championships, who was credited with a 19.1, the fastest leg ever recorded.

Fortunately for Lewis, he had such a comfortable lead when he received the baton that Regis did not force him to grit his teeth. That was the task that Mitchell, Lewis’ opponent on the 400-meter relay anchor leg, had assigned to himself earlier Sunday.

And just so that Mitchell and the crowd estimated at 10,000 would not be disappointed, Lewis looked over his shoulder at his lagging adversary when they received their batons and showed him the results of those years in the orthodontist’s chair.

He later admitted that he should have kept his mouth closed and his eyes on the prize. That one brief moment of showmanship was all Mitchell needed to make up the slight advantage that the other three Santa Monica runners--Marsh, Burrell and Heard--had provided for the world record-holder in the 100 meters.

As he and Mitchell approached the finish line, Lewis was gritting his teeth for real. But he had one more gear than the 1992 Olympic 100-meter bronze medalist, managing to pull ahead in the final two meters and give Santa Monica the victory in 37.79 seconds.

That was equal to the eighth-fastest time ever and the fastest in the United States. The previous best was the 37.83 in the 1984 Summer Olympics at the Coliseum recorded by the U.S. team, which also had Lewis as an anchor.

Mitchell and his World All-Star teammates--Drummond, Tony Jarrett and Regis--had no reason to be ashamed. Their second-place time of 37.82 was the second-fastest time ever run in the United States.

It also was the second-fastest time ever by a team that did not win. The fastest was run by a British team, including Jarrett and Regis, that finished second in last year’s World Championships to a U.S. team, including Drummond and Mitchell.

Even though the temperature was cooler than sprinters prefer, the 36th annual Mt. SAC meet was dominated by them.

In one of his three appearances Sunday, Marsh, the 1992 Olympic 200-meters champion, returned to the track an hour after leading off Santa Monica’s sprint relay and won the 100 in 10.0 seconds, the world’s fastest time this year.

In the 200 meters, Nigeria’s Daniel Effiong ran 20.16, and Jeff Williams ran 20.19, the two fastest times in the world this year.

Inger Miller was hand-timed in 10.0 as she came from fourth place to lead USC to a victory in the women’s 400-meter relay, then returned to win the 200 in 22.73. Her USC teammate, Sau Ying Chan of Hong Kong, won the 100-meter high hurdles in 13.14, the world’s fastest this year. Amy Acuff set a UCLA outdoor high jump record at 6-2, second to Tisha Waller’s meet record of 6-5.