Age Isn’t Slowing Jacobs Down

She looked so fresh Sunday after nearly pulling off an unprecedented triple at the U.S. track and field championships, Regina Jacobs might have entered a road race just for fun had there been one nearby.

Jacobs, who won the women’s 1,500 meters Friday with a strong stretch drive, passed Hazel Clark with 80 meters left Sunday to win her first U.S. 800 title in 2 minutes .43 seconds, the fastest time by a U.S. woman this year. Less than an hour after she became the third woman to pull off that double at the U.S. competition and first since 1984, she lined up for the 5,000.

So what if it was drizzling at Hayward Field and she had a troublesome Achilles tendon. Or that she’s nearing her 38th birthday.

“After last year and not being able to run at Sydney because I got sick, you realize how much you want to be able to do it,” said Jacobs, who won the 1,500 and 5,000 at last year’s Olympic trials but pulled out of the Games because of a virus. “One of the things I haven’t done in my long career is go under four [minutes] in the 1,500, and in order to make a charge I needed to get in here and get some hard runs under my belt.

“Plus, I wanted to do something historic.”

She didn’t make history. But her two titles and a second-place finish behind Marla Runyan in the 5,000 provided an upbeat ending to a generally lackluster meet.

Runyan, who last summer became the first legally blind runner to make an Olympic team, was cheered and serenaded with cowbells by the 7,865 fans in her adopted hometown as she won in 15:08.03, holding off Jacobs (15:10.78) and Elva Dryer (15:11.76). All three qualified for the World Championships in Edmonton, Canada in August.

“This was a major goal for me to win at home,” said Runyan, who was eighth in the 1,500 at Sydney and switched races last fall. “I felt strong. There was some wind on the backstretch and that made it tougher. I started feeling a little tired with 1,200 to go. I’m just hoping that when I get to international races I reach a new level.”

The damp, rainy conditions ensured no records were set Sunday. Marion Jones breezed to victory in the 200--her only race here--in 22.52 seconds, slower than the 22.23 she recorded in Saturday’s semifinal. Latasha Jenkins was second (22.88) and Kelli White was third (22.93).

Jones led from start to finish in winning her fourth consecutive U.S. 200 title. She and White qualified for the world meet in the 100 and the 200.

“I woke up [Sunday] morning and saw the weather and said, ‘Clear up, clear up, please,’ ” she said. “I’d sure love to have 75 degrees with a plus 1.8 [meter per second tailwind] but overall, I’m pleased. I won the race and made the team.”

Jones’ times haven’t been as fast as in previous years, which she attributed to age and being less aggressive. Before the U.S. meet, she had run the 200 twice, recording a wind-aided 22.26 May 27 at the Prefontaine Classic and a 23.60 June 9 at Stanford.

“I spent too much time on the 300 at Mt. SAC and the [1,600 relay] at Penn,” she said. “As the years go on, you might not see Marion in May running a 10.7 [in the 100] in Osaka.”

Olympic men’s pole vault silver medalist Lawrence Johnson won the event at 19 feet 2 1/4 inches but missed his three attempts to set a U.S. record at 19-10 1/4. Nick Hysong, the Sydney gold medalist, finished third at 18-6 1/2. Jeff Hartwig, the U.S. indoor and outdoor record holder, no-heighted after missing at 17-8 1/2.

Gail Devers, whose Olympics were ended by a torn hamstring, easily won her seventh U.S. 100-meter hurdles title. Allen Johnson won the men’s 110-meter hurdles running into a headwind, with a time of 13.22 seconds. “It means a lot to be here and get a title on U.S. soil when I’m staring 35 in the face,” Devers said. “Coming back from an injury, this means a lot to me. I wasn’t sure if I was going to come back.”

Former UCLA standout Seilala Sua added the shotput title to the discus title she won Thursday, unleashing a personal-best throw of 58-11 1/2 to end the nine-year reign of Connie Price-Smith. “I was going for that,” Sua said of the record. “The discus is my first priority and I’m going to worlds to win that. This is kind of a bonus.”

Amy Acuff won her third high jump title with a jump of 6-2, the lowest winning height since Louise Ritter won at 6-1 1/4 in 1978. “It was freezing. My clothes are soaked through,” Acuff said. “I was getting crazy thoughts. I was imagining I was underwater, and the bubbles were going up.”

Angel Perkins, who recently finished her junior year at Cerritos Gahr High, was fourth in the 200 in 23.46 seconds. “To come here and run with the people at this level, it was a great experience for me,” she said. . . . Kim Kreiner, second at last year’s Olympic trials, won the women’s javelin throw with a throw of 182 feet 11 inches, a USA Track and Field outdoor meet record and a Hayward Field record. However, she didn’t meet the qualifying standard for the World Championships. . . . Tracy O’Hara of UCLA, fourth in the women’s pole vault Saturday, will be part of the U.S. team because she met the qualifying standard and because winner Stacy Dragila got an automatic berth as the defending champion, USA Track and Field officials said.