Up-and-Comers Give Hope for Clean Future

Gazing at 500 kids crowded into the gym at the Curtiss Middle School in Carson, Lauryn Williams saw herself.

“I remember listening to speeches and I’d leave so motivated, thinking, ‘What can I do to be better?’ ” she said.

Williams, 100-meter silver medalist at the Athens Olympics, and 400 relay silver medalist Coby Miller spoke to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders as part of USA Track and Field’s “Be A Champion” program, discussing the importance of proper nutrition, avoiding drugs and taking pride in every endeavor.

The youngsters, some rapt and some restless on a hot Friday afternoon, seemed to get the message, just as Williams had.

“I do my part to change the world,” said Williams, 21. “There are so many bad things. I want to get across to people that there are no excuses for not going to college or not being who you are. Nothing is holding you back.”

Williams is more than a good ambassador for her sport. She’s among the leaders in a surge of athletes who just might save track and field from itself.

When all seemed darkest, when Kelli White, Chryste Gaines, Torri Edwards, Alvin and Calvin Harrison and Jerome Young were leveled by doping accusations or suspensions, when suspicions of doping enveloped Marion Jones and her partner, 100-meter world-record holder Tim Montgomery, a beacon emerged, a group of swift, charismatic and -- so far -- clean athletes. Many will compete Sunday in Carson at the Adidas Track Classic, which is expected to draw a sellout crowd of about 10,000.

Williams will run the 200 against Los Angeles’ Allyson Felix, who won silver in that event at Athens at 18. Jeremy Wariner, 21, will reprise his gold-medal race against silver and bronze medalists Otis Harris and Derrick Brew. And 18-year-old sensation LaShawn Merritt, who ran a world-leading time of 44.66 seconds in the 400 meters two weeks ago, will compete in his specialty.

“Our young athletes basically took back the sport at the Olympic trials and relegated those under suspicion to the sidelines and went to Athens and won 25% more medals than we’d won at Sydney,” said Craig Masback, chief executive officer of USATF.

Whether USATF capitalizes on this bounty is crucial to its future. Track usually endures a lull in the year after the Olympics, but the kids who blazed to the medal stand might break that rule.

“It’s a shaking-up of the sport,” said Bill Reifsnyder, marketing manager for Adidas. “The sport is ... coming to the place where it may be at its strongest.”

But it had to hit bottom before it could rise again.

Said USC Coach Ron Allice: “For a long time, we were painted with a broad brush as being a tainted group, and that hurt our sport very much.

“But now you have someone like Allyson Felix, who stepped into a void that was created by the drug issue. She has the marketability and talent, she’s articulate, she’s all the things you want in a student-athlete and you want in your sport. What has transpired has lifted that girl.”

Track may never again see the days when spectators packed indoor meets in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, Ore. The venerable Millrose Games nearly collapsed before USATF opened its wallet, and the Mt. San Antonio College Relays drew only 7,000 for its final day and 12,500 for three days.

For every weakness, however, there are signs of strength.

Last year, seven track meets on NBC averaged a 2.5 rating, higher than regular-season NBA telecasts on ABC. Seven meets on ESPN or ESPN2 averaged an 0.42, higher than the shows they followed. Last month, the Texas Relays drew 22,500 people and turned 2,000 away; the Kansas Relays drew 24,200 over three days, its second-best total ever; the Penn Relays exceeded 108,809 for three days, and the Drake Relays had their 40th straight final-day sellout.

Shoe companies, which often cut their spending after the Olympics until they find a new, bankable star, stayed in the game. Reebok backed the Boston Indoor Games and is sponsoring a Grand Prix meet June 11 in New York’s new Icahn Stadium. Adidas stopped funding a race in Portland to become the title sponsor for Sunday’s meet, boosting prize money to $139,400 and ensuring the event will be profitable after twice losing money.

Expanding the sport’s appeal remains a challenge. Selling track “is a battle every day, and Craig Masback inherited an organization that was decades behind the rest of the sports-marketing world,” said Rich Kenah, director of marketing for Global Athletics and Marketing. “Craig gets it, and he’s slowly getting corporate America to understand.”

Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns and operates the Home Depot Center, is “very bullish” on track and believes USATF has been “very proactive” in combating drug use, said AEG’s chief marketing officer, Shawn Hunter. AEG plans to bid for the 2008 U.S. Olympic trials and is mulling staging an indoor meet at Staples Center or promoting one elsewhere, he said.

USATF itself is finding steadier ground. When Masback took over in July 1987, the organization had revenues of $6.7 million. Revenues last year exceeded $16.3 million. Its debts exceeded $3 million in 1987 but Masback said he expected to net more than $2 million for 2004, thanks to sponsorship dollars that have increased five-fold, to $10 million, since 1987.

At the participant level, running and track are formidable. According to USATF, participation in road races jumped from 4.8 million in 1993 to 7.7 million in 2003, and running shoes are the top seller among sports shoes.

According to the NCAA, a record 19,658 female athletes competed on Division I, II and III outdoor track teams in 2003-04, up from 9,217 in 1981-82. Men’s outdoor participation reached 20,869 in 2003-04, up from 18,806 in 1981-82. Women’s track and field and cross-country scholarships at Division I schools will increase from 18 to 20 in 2006. The men’s allotment stays at 12.6 per school.

According to the National Federation of State High School Assns., girls’ track participation hit 418,322 in 2003-04, up from 62,211 in 1971-72. Boys’ participation was 504,801, down from 642,639 in 1971-72.

Said Jeanette Bolden, USC women’s coach, “You do lose some kids to other sports, like soccer, but you go to age-group meets and high school meets and you see the enthusiasm. I don’t think our sport is dying at all.”