Shotput Has Its Place at Eugene

Forgive Kevin Toth his exuberance. It’s not often shotputters get a moment in the sun, and U.S. shotputters had never enjoyed a day like Sunday’s Prefontaine Classic, when three exceeded 71 feet and claimed the top three places.

“This is shotput town now,” Toth said after setting Hayward Field and meet records with a personal-best throw of 72 feet 9 3/4 inches. “It’s not track town anymore.”

That’s a bit of an exaggeration. But Toth, Adam Nelson (72-0 1/4) and UCLA alum John Godina (71-10 3/4) staged an entertaining show for a sellout crowd of 11,227 gathered to honor the memory of distance runner Steve Prefontaine and applaud respectable performances from an elite field.

“This was electrifying,” said Toth, who is making a strong comeback from back surgery. “This was more entertaining than the WWF.”

And it was real too. So was the drama in many other events.

Tim Montgomery didn’t match his season best but still won the men’s 100 in a wind-aided 9.97 seconds. If he needed incentive, he got it from seeing world-record holder Maurice Greene watching at the finish line. Greene didn’t compete here, but they will both run at Athens June 8.

Montgomery had claimed that Greene pulled strings to get Montgomery uninvited from the Athens meet. However, Montgomery said Sunday that Greene got him reinstated. “I want to be in that race, no matter what it takes,” said Montgomery, who was second to Greene at last year’s World Championships.

“I haven’t had a chance to see him run, but he’s had a chance to see me, and he can go back and evaluate what he needs to do. He made me want to do something special.... Maybe it’s a good thing Maurice was watching, and he’s thinking, ‘I can come back and beat these guys.’”

No one could beat Marion Jones in her first 100 of the season. Like the rapt crowd, the wind subsided when she ran, keeping her time of 10.90 seconds within the limits for an official world-leading mark.

Cautious after being charged with a false start, she didn’t get her usual powerful burst out of the blocks and had to pass Tayna Lawrence of Jamaica in the last half of the race. “I had to bear down and bring it on through,” Jones said after setting field and meet records. “It doesn’t get much better than this, competing in front of this crowd. [Clocking] 10.90 with a bad start, I’ll take it.”

Unfortunately for Gail Devers, the wind kicked up during the 100-meter hurdles. Her time of 12.29 seconds would have been a U.S. record if not for a wind of 2.7 meters per second, seventh-tenths above the threshold.

“I’ve been training by myself,” she said, “and when you’re out there, you don’t know where you are. So I was a little apprehensive. I was telling everybody I just wanted to get this race over. I had no idea what my time was.”

Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco won the mile in 3:50.89, the world’s fastest time this year. He ran the last quarter-mile in 54.6 seconds, pushing past William Chirchir of Kenya (3:51.03) and Bernard Lagat of Kenya (3:52.63).

“It was my first race, so I was a little afraid,” he said. “When I saw the time was not so fast, the most important thing was to win.

“I knew [Chirchir] was behind me, and he’s a very good athlete. I shifted into another gear.”

Marla Runyan was more than satisfied with her winning time of 8:39.36 in the women’s 3,000, even though she missed a stadium record by 0.03 of a second. Bloodied by an errant spike, she had the fortitude to pass Sonia O’Sullivan with a 61.9-second last lap.

“I just can’t believe I won,” Runyan said after cutting nearly five seconds off her previous best time. “This was an elite field. Sonia O’Sullivan is great. I came up on her shoulder and decided to see if I could do it on the turn, and I was able to. This was about the most perfect race I could have run.”

Stacy Dragila defended her pole vault title by clearing 15-5 3/4 inches, but hit the bar on the way up on her three attempts at a world-record 15-9 3/4.

In other events of note, Tim Mack won the men’s pole vault by clearing 19-2; 110-meter hurdles world champion Allen Johnson won his event in 13.16 seconds, Nicole Teter won the 1,500 in 4:12.93, more than two seconds ahead of Regina Jacobs, and Abraham Chebii of Kenya won the men’s 5,000 in 13:13.53. Charles Clinger set a field and meet record by clearing 7-8 1/2 in the high jump.