Kastor Is Driven by Distance

Deena Kastor is so dedicated to distance running, she lives and trains at altitude in Mammoth Lakes. The U.S. women’s marathon record holder even got married at altitude last September, in a meadow 8,000 feet above sea level. Rumor has it that Kastor (formerly Deena Drossin) went for a run the morning of her wedding, although she has said it was merely a stroll.

Kastor is usually in one of two places: on the mountain roads churning out the 120 to 130 miles she has been running each week with her Team USA-California distance-running colleagues, or at home thinking about running. And her thoughts lately have been on the U.S. women’s Olympic marathon trial, which will be run Saturday in St. Louis.

Kastor’s U.S. record of 2 hours 21 minutes 16 seconds, set at the Flora London Marathon last March, is easily the fastest qualifying mark. The top three finishers will go to Athens if they’ve met the Olympic A standard of 2:37, which more than a dozen participants have done. But only Colleen De Reuck, with a qualifying time of 2:28:01, is close to Kastor.

“She’s so far ahead of the rest of us,” De Reuck said. “She’s got a 2:21 and the rest of us are all around 2:31. She should definitely be favored.”

Kastor, however, demurred.

“There are at least 12 women that I consider a threat at the starting line this weekend, as well as the fact everybody comes prepared,” said Kastor, who made the Sydney Olympic team in the 10,000 meters but was hampered by an Achilles’ tendon injury and didn’t make the final.

“Everybody had the best preparation possible for this race, and although I have a tremendous amount of confidence in what I’ve been doing, I don’t know how well preparation has gone for the other ladies and I don’t want to think my preparation is the only right way to do things. I’ve seen a lot of upsets in this race and I would never fax in the results ahead of time.”

Kastor, who grew up in Agoura Hills, won two silver medals at the 2002 and 2003 world cross-country championships and two U.S. 10,000-meter titles, besides an array of 15-kilometer road titles and eight-kilometer titles. She plans to run the 5,000 and 10,000 at the Olympic trials in July but hopes to run the marathon in Athens.

“I love the distance,” said Kastor, who ran only two other marathons, New York in 2001 and Chicago in 2002, before breaking Joan Benoit Samuelson’s U.S. record last year in London. “It’s a special distance and it takes special heart and aspiration to get to the finish line. It’s something you have to plan for.”

Kastor has planned carefully for Saturday’s race, and skipped the U.S. cross-country championships after a last-minute look at the icy course raised the specter of injury.

“I’m not racing very much this year at all and having a more narrow focus and enjoying home life,” she said. “I like being in the comfort of my house and training with one goal in mind.”

De Reuck, 39, has represented her native South Africa in three Olympics and became a U.S. citizen in December 2000. She won the U.S. long-course cross-country title last month and said that making the U.S. Olympic team, “would be my ultimate dream.”

As it would be for Kastor to run the marathon in the country where it originated.

“This is the first time I would be going into an Olympic competition feeling I have an opportunity to earn a medal for my country,” she said, “and I’m excited about that.”

Also expected to contend Saturday are 2003 U.S. marathon champion Sara Wells of Edina, Minn., whose qualifying time was 2:35:37; Sylvia Mosqueda of Los Angeles, the top U.S. woman finisher at last year’s New York Marathon at 2:33:10, and Deeja Youngquist of Albuquerque, whose Chicago Marathon time of 2:29:01 is the third-fastest qualifying time in the field.

Samuelson, 46, winner of the first women’s marathon trials and first Olympic marathon in 1984, will not run Saturday because of a sore Achilles’ tendon. She had qualified for her fourth trials.

Return to Mt. SAC

Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery have agreed to run at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays this month in Walnut, and they’ll be among a contingent of high-profile athletes using the meet as a springboard for the outdoor season. The rest of the field will be announced soon.

Jones probably will run the 400 and Montgomery the 100.

Jones usually competes at Mt. SAC but didn’t last year because she was pregnant with her and Montgomery’s child. The baby was born last June. She returned to competition in February, winning the 60-meter dash at the Millrose Games in 7.21 seconds. She finished second in the 60 in 7.16 seconds at a Grand Prix meet in Birmingham, England, on Feb. 20. She also won the long jump at Birmingham with a jump of 22 feet 1 3/4 inches.

Montgomery, the world-record holder in the 100, hasn’t competed since he finished fifth in the 100 at last year’s World Championships in Paris.

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UCLA will conduct the second annual Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational meet next Thursday through Saturday at Drake Stadium. The hammer throw will be contested Thursday, and university-open competition and an invitational distance carnival is scheduled a week from today. Invitational events are scheduled Saturday, April 10, with participants to include Felix Sanchez, the 400-meter hurdles world champion, and Eunice Barber, the women’s long jump world champion and heptathlon runner-up.

Here and There

The Los Angeles Sports Council lost its bid for the 2007 World Weightlifting Championships to Thailand, which had government funding. Sports Council President David Simon says the U.S. has been designated the backup in case Thailand can’t stage the event.

Harvard senior Angela Ruggiero, who grew up in Simi Valley, won the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given annually to the top women’s college hockey player. Ruggiero was the nation’s leading scorer among defensemen and her team’s captain. She’s playing for the U.S. at the Women’s World Championships, which end Tuesday in Halifax, Canada.

Pair skater Josh Martin of Los Angeles plans to move to St. Petersburg, Russia, next week to train with new partner Yuko Kawaguchi of Japan. They were invited by Coach Tamara Moskvina, who coached Olympic gold medalists Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev, and Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, as well as former U.S. champions Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman.

Martin had skated with Janice Mayne for Coach Peter Oppegard.

“I was looking for a new partner and Yuko came along,” said Martin, who met Kawaguchi at a tryout. “I don’t think L.A. is a good place to train, and St. Petersburg is, not to mention having the best coaching situation. I’ve found a partner who matches my technique and line and I think working with Tamara in St. Petersburg is the place to be if you really want to get focused.”

The U.S. women’s field hockey team missed a berth at Athens by losing to Korea, 4-0, in the finale of the Olympic qualifying tournament last weekend in Auckland, New Zealand. The team missed the Sydney Games under similar circumstances....The canoe-kayak slalom trials will be held this weekend in South Bend, Ind....The North American trials in doubles table tennis will be held this weekend in Atlanta.