Jones Set to Start the Season in the 400 at Mt. SAC Relays

Five-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones, under investigation by U.S. anti-doping authorities for possible use of performance-enhancing substances, will run the 400 meters at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut on April 17, meet director Scott Davis said Wednesday.

Jones, 29, traditionally opens her outdoor season at Mt. SAC, where she finished fourth in the 200 last year, foreshadowing a difficult season.

She missed qualifying for the Athens Olympic team in the 100 and withdrew from consideration in the 200; at the Games she finished fifth in the long jump and was part of a 400-meter relay team that ran out of the exchange zone and was disqualified.

Jones has denied using banned substances and in December filed a defamation suit against Victor Conte, who accused her of doping before and after she won five medals at the Sydney Olympics.

Conte founded the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) and faces federal felony charges of providing steroids to athletes.

Justin Gatlin, who won gold at Athens in the 100-meter dash and bronze in the 200, is also scheduled to compete in the 47th edition of the Mt. SAC event. He will likely compete in a relay, Davis said. Sydney 100-meter gold medalist Maurice Greene, who won bronze in the 100 at Athens and silver as part of the 400-meter relay, will also compete. His agent said it was not certain yet which event he would run.

Allyson Felix of Los Angeles, a silver medalist at Athens in the 200, is also scheduled to compete at Mt. SAC. She has since left coach Pat Connolly to train with Bobby Kersee.

Felix Sanchez, a USC graduate who represented the Dominican Republic at Athens and won gold in the 400-meter hurdles, will run the open 400, Davis said.

The 5,000 field will include Athens 1,500-meter silver medalist Bernard Lagat of Kenya and American Jonathon Riley.

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-- Helene Elliott