This Event Comes Out of the Blocks Fast

A high-powered sponsor and an impressive field that includes Sydney double-gold medal winner Maurice Greene will be announced today for the inaugural track and field meet to be held at Staples Center on Feb. 11.

Coca-Cola’s Powerade brand drink will be the title sponsor for the meet, which will be known as the Powerade Indoor Games. It had previously been called the L.A. Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Powerade’s sponsorship agreement is for at least three years, a significant commitment given the reluctance of major corporations to back track and field events here in recent years. The L.A. Invitational Indoor Track Meet, which will stage its 41st competition Jan. 20 at the Sports Arena, has been without a title sponsor since Sunkist pulled out in 1995 after 26 years. Solid financial backing makes it easier for organizers to lure elite athletes, some of whom request $75,000 fees.

Greene’s addition to the Staples Center event adds luster to the field for the men’s 50-yard dash. Others confirming they will compete with Greene are Ato Boldon, a silver medalist in the 100 and bronze medalist in the 200 at Sydney; Jon Drummond, a 400-meter relay gold medalist; and John Capel, the U.S. Olympic trials 200-meter champion.

Inger Miller, who withdrew from the women’s 100, 200 and 400-meter relay at Sydney because of an injury, will also compete at Staples. Greene, Boldon and Miller run for the HSI track club of Westwood.

More than 20% of the members of the U.S. track and field team at Sydney have confirmed they will participate, including 12 Olympic medalists. Among them are Stacy Dragila, who won the first women’s pole vault gold medal, and men’s silver medal-winning pole vaulter Lawrence Johnson. Terence Trammell and Mark Crear, who finished second and third in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles, also agreed to compete at Staples.

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The L.A. Invitational meet, which will be contested on a new track, announced Olympic 1,500-meter bronze medalist Bernard Lagat of Kenya will try for a third consecutive victory in the invitational mile.

Lagat, a graduate of Washington State, will be challenged by former UCLA half-miler Jess Strutzel, who was a finalist at the Olympic trials in the 800 but is moving up to the longer race, and Jason Lunn, formerly of Stanford.

Johnny Gray, a bronze medalist in the 800 at Barcelona in 1992, will come out of retirement to compete in the 880 against Sydney Olympian Michael Stember.

Both meets will have high school and college races.