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Palo Alto Online

Out of the shadows and into the spotlight

by Keith Peters

Jason Lunn's timing was as good as a bad stopwatch during his four years on the Stanford University track and field team.

He competed alongside future Olympians Michael Stember and Gabe Jennings in the same events. He languished in the shadows of distance twins Brad and Brent Hauser, who defined the team's distance program in the late 1990s. He never won an individual NCAA title.

Even at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, Lunn was the odd man out. While Jennings shocked the field with his victory in the 1,500 in Sacramento and Stember finished third to earn a trip to the Sydney Games, Lunn raced home an agonizing fourth.

The 28-year-old Lunn, however, is a survivor. He never gave up, even while he trained in relative anonymity despite being on the same track with Stember and Jennings. Now, the shoe is on the other foot, in a manner of speaking and Lunn is finally enjoying some long-awaited success.

At the Prefontaine Classic last weekend in Eugene, Ore., Lunn ran a personal best of 3 minutes, 54.40 seconds while finishing sixth in the mile in a field loaded with international talent. Lunn, however, was the top American.

Lunn was the USA indoor champion at 1,500 last winter, beating Stember and earning a trip to the World Indoor Championships in England. A season earlier, Lunn was the U.S. indoor champion in the mile.

"Jason has been running brilliantly," said Vin Lananna, who coached Lunn at Stanford. "I think Jason is a bright, bright spot on the American scene. We expect big things from Jason."

A couple of factors have led to this sudden emergence into the spotlight, even though Lunn has been knocking on the door of elite U.S. runners the past three years.

One reason was a more stable coaching situation. Running with the Stanford-based Nike Farm Team, Lunn is in his second full season under head coach Frank Gagliano after working with three coaches the previous three years.

"I kept having these new coaches and new philosophies each year," said Lunn.

Lunn now enjoys a more creative training regimen.

"I used to run the same workout as Stember," Lunn explained. "But we've changed things this year. I work out more with the 5K guys. We just look back and see what has worked well."

In keeping with the focus on training, Lunn quit his full-time job at Merrill Lynch last December, which allowed him to spend two four-week stints training at 6,000-foot elevation in Colorado, near his parents' home in Littleton. Lunn was well aware of the benefits Kenyan and other elite runners around the world received while training at altitude.

"I had gotten to the point where it (the job) was holding me back," Lunn said. "Finally, right now, I'm doing everything right."

With that kind of attitude, there should be bigger things ahead for the Palo Alto resident. He'll run the 1,500 this weekend against last year's No. 1-ranked American, David Krummenacker, at the inaugural Home Depot Invitational in Carson. Lunn and Krummenacker will face each other again on June 7 when they chase the American record in the rarely run 1,000 meters at the annual Oracle U.S. Open at Stanford.

Both will return to Stanford for the U.S. National Championships, June 19-22. The top three finishers at nationals will earn trips to Paris and the World Championships in August.

Lunn is confident of earning a berth.

"Oh, definitely," he responded.

Even if he qualifies for the trip to Paris, Lunn still needs to run the IAAF qualifying standard of 3:34.90. That's nearly two full seconds under his best of 3:36.74 in 2000. The 3:34.90 works out to be close to a 3:52 mile, a time Lunn came close to running last weekend.

"That 3:54 the other day? I've got a lot to improve on that," said Lunn, who had to navigate through traffic at the Prefontaine Classic and still ran a personal best. "I was thinking 3:52-3:54. My workouts were geared for that."

Lunn said he's at the point in his career where even thinking about being No. 1 in this country may not be good enough.

"I need to start looking beyond that," said Lunn, who will run in Europe this summer and shoot for the 3:32 to 3:33 range for the 1,500.

"I definitely have some room to grow off my 3:36," he said.

Lunn said he felt his competitors at the U.S. Indoor nationals were running for second while he was gunning for first. That's a good mental position to be in.

"You want to put it out of their minds, that they can beat you," he said.

Thus far, Lunn is doing a pretty good job at that. He'll be tested, of course, by Krummenacker this weekend and next - both good tune-ups for the national championships.

Many of America's finest will use the Oracle U.S. Open as a tuneup for nationals, as well. The fields feature Olympians, gold medalists and world champions.

The men's shot put, for example, features the world's top three in Adam Nelson, Kevin Toth and John Godina. Toth is the current world leader at 74-4 1/2.

The women's 100 has Kelli White and Stanford grad Chryste Gaines, currently No. 1 and 2 in the world this season.

Stanford grad Regina Jacobs, who broke the world indoor record at 1,500 meters this season, moves down to the 800 to lead a stellar field there.

The men's pole vault couldn't be much better, either, with 2000 Olympic champion Nick Hysong and defending national champ Jeff Hartwig, who holds the American record of 19-9 1/4.

Maurice Greene, who lost his world record in the 100 meters to Tim Montgomery last summer, will lead the 200 field that includes defending national champion Shaun Crawford and 2000 Olympic trials champ John Capel.

The Oracle U.S. Open will be televised live and shown on a 30-minute delay by ESPN from 2:30-3:30 p.m. A kids' track and field clinic will follow the track meet at approximately 3:45 p.m. Tickets for the meet can be purchased online at www.gostanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD.