Prep Phenoms Temper Post-Olympic Letdown

The emergence of prep phenoms Alan Webb and Ryan Hall figures to minimize the customary post-Olympic letdown when track and field’s elite gather for the U.S. championships, beginning today at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.

Webb, of Reston, Va., broke the high school mile record set 34 years ago by Jim Ryun when he ran the distance in 3 minutes 53.43 seconds at the Prefontaine Classic last month. Webb, who earlier in the year became the first U.S. high school athlete to run a sub-four-minute indoor mile when he ran a 3.59.86 at New York, will run the 1,500 at the U.S. competition--on the same track on which he broke Ryun’s record. He’s also entered in the 800, with a qualifying time of 1:47.74.

Hall, of Big Bear, was the nation’s second-ranked high school miler last season. He will also run the 1,500 at the U.S. meet, having qualified with a time of 3:42.70. The 1,500 semifinals will be today, with the final scheduled for Saturday.

While Webb and Hall continue to make their names in the sport, some established stars will try to build toward the World Championships, to be held in Edmonton, Canada, in August.

After winning five medals at the Sydney Olympics, Marion Jones reduced her schedule and will compete here only in the 200. Her most recent 200 time was 22.70 seconds at Palo Alto earlier this month.

As the defending world champion in the 100, Jones has a bye into the world championships and won’t run the 100 here. Nor will she compete in the long jump, having decided to skip it this season. However, she said she plans to return to the event next season.

Stacy Dragila, who won the first Olympic gold medal for the women’s pole vault at Sydney, has improved her world outdoor record by seven inches this season to 15 feet 9 1/4 inches, set June 9 at Palo Alto. She’s aiming for 16 feet and for respect: Men’s world-record holder Sergei Bubka said a woman must clear five meters (16 feet 4 3/4 inches) before the event could be considered legitimate, and Dragila believes that’s attainable.

“I don’t think I’d be satisfied breaking [the world record] a centimeter at a time,” said Dragila, who broke it by more than four inches at Palo Alto. “I’m going to try to maximize what I can do every time I’m out there. . . . I think 17 feet might be the ceiling, but I want to be the person to keep pushing it to that mark.”

Marla Runyan, eighth in the women’s 1,500 at Sydney, will compete this weekend in the 5,000. She set the U.S. women’s indoor record at that distance last winter at 15 minutes 7.33 seconds. Both distances present challenges.

“You don’t escape pain. Not by doing a race that appears to be slower, either,” said Runyan, the first legally blind runner to make a U.S. Olympic team. “The longer the race, the longer the pain. . . . I think the 5,000 has, in some ways, a lot more challenges for me.”

Olympic 110-meter hurdles silver medalist Terrence Trammell will compete here, as will bronze medalist Mark Crear and fourth-place finisher Allen Johnson. Adam Nelson, John Godina and Andy Bloom, who finished second through fourth in the shotput, have also entered.

U.S. 10,000-meter champions Meb Keflezighi and Deena Drossin will defend their titles. Keflezighi set a U.S. record with a time of 27 minutes 13.98 seconds this month. Both are members of Team USA Southern California, which develops elite distance runners.

World men’s long jump record holder Mike Powell, a two-time Olympic silver medalist, will continue his comeback from a three-year retirement.

Maurice Greene will run only one heat of the 100 and then drop out, in protest of USA Track and Field’s ruling that athletes who want to compete at the World Championships must compete at the national meet even if they had gotten byes from the International Amateur Athletic Federation. Greene won the 100 and 200 at the last World meet, in 1999 at Spain.

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U.S. Track and Field Championships

* What: U.S. track and field championships. It’s the qualifying meet for the world championships, to be held in Edmonton, Canada, Aug. 3-10. It starts today and concludes Sunday.

* Where: Eugene, Ore., at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.

* TV: Sunday, Channel 2, noon to 1 p.m. (live); ESPN2, 2-4 p.m. (tape delay).

* Biggest names: Marion Jones, a quintuple-medal winner at the Sydney Olympics, will compete only in the 200. Olympic gold medal pole vaulter Stacy Dragila will continue her assault on 16 feet, a height no woman has cleared in competition. High school milers Alan Webb of Reston, Va., and Ryan Hall of Big Bear, who are leading a resurgence among U.S. middle-distance and distance runners, will compete in the 1,500.