Defense Ruling for Crear

Mark Crear of Valencia, the 1996 Olympic silver medalist in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles, will run in the World Championships in Athens on Aug. 2-10, thanks to a International Amateur Athletic Federation ruling earlier this month that gives defending world champions automatic entry.

With defending champion Allen Johnson getting an automatic berth in the 110 highs, the United States will send four hurdlers to the World Championships this year instead of the usual three.

That means that Crear, who placed fourth in the U.S. trials in June behind Johnson, Reggie Torian and Terry Reese, will get a chance to earn his first medal in the World Championships.

Phil Gonzalez, who won the men’s 1,500 meters in the 1996 and ’97 state junior college track and field championships for Pasadena City College, has signed a letter of intent with UC Riverside.

Gonzalez, a 1995 graduate of Crescenta Valley High, is ineligible to run cross-country, but he will be eligible for track if he passes a math course in the fall.