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A fast sprint to the top

by Keith Peters

It was just one year ago that 16-year-old high school junior Allyson Felix approached Olympic sprint star Marion Jones during the Mt. SAC Relays and got Jones' autograph.

This year, Felix got Jones' 11-year-old national high school record in the 200 meters.

This weekend, Felix hopes to get the 200 title Jones won last year when the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships continue through the weekend at Stanford's Cobb Track and Angell Field.

And next year, Felix hopes to face off with her sprint rival in the 2004 Olympic Trials and, perhaps, in the Olympic final in Athens, Greece.

This sprint showdown between the present and future American sprint queens will not take place this year because Jones is awaiting the birth of her first child and will not defend her national titles. That throws the women's 100 and 200 meters wide open this weekend at the 2003 outdoor nationals at Stanford.

The women's 100 finals will be tonight at 7:40 p.m., with the women's 200 set for Sunday at 2:08 p.m. The meet will be televised live from 1-3 p.m. Saturday on NBC, and live from 1-2:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2.

While the 17-year-old Felix is young enough to compete in the U.S. Junior National Championships, which will be run at Stanford during the same time, she will take on America's best seniors in the 200 meters. A top-three finish will earn Felix a berth on the U.S. team that travels to Paris this August for the World Track & Field Championships.

All eyes will be on Felix this week, and for good reason. She already is being favorably compared to Jones and has been called the next great American female sprinter.

"She is someone I look up to," Felix said of Jones, 10 years her senior. "I understand where people are coming from when they make the comparison, and I take that as a compliment, to be mentioned in the same sentence as Marion.

"There are some similarities, but we're not the same."

Both sprinters, however, were born in Los Angeles. Jones graduated from Thousand Oaks High in 1993 and Felix today will go through graduation ceremonies at Los Angeles Baptist High.

The 5-foot-11, 150-pound Jones won eight California State Meet titles in the 100 and 200 while the 5-6, 125-pound Felix won five.

Prior to this season, Jones held the national high school record of 22.58 (meets against all levels of competition) and the National Federation record of 22.67 (high school competitors only) in the 200. Felix blew those marks away with a 22.51 at the Mt. SAC Relays in April and a 22.52 to win the CIF State Meet two weeks ago.

The real eye-opener, however, came in late April in the thin air of Mexico City when Felix clocked 22.11 in the Banamex Grant Prix against an international field and in front of 50,000 spectators in the Olympic Stadium, site of the 1968 Summer Games.

That time was a world junior (19-and-under) record, breaking the previous mark that had stood for 23 years. It also was the fastest in the world this year for any woman and .01 of a second faster than Marie-Jose Perec of France ran while winning the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

And, oh yes, it equaled the fastest 200 time that Jones ran last year when she was ranked No. 1 in the world by Track & Field News magazine.

Jones does have those five medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics and Felix does not. Jones has run 21.62 in the 200 as history's No. 2 performer behind the late Florence Griffth Joyner and Felix has yet to break 22.00. And, Jones is 10 years older and will be a mother in July.

So, maybe the comparisons can wait.

Jack Shepard, a longtime high school editor with Track & Field News, however, believes Felix is actually ahead of Jones as a high school runner.

"Marion never did anything like this," Shepard told USA Today. "Allyson is leading the world. Marion never led the world. I realize Allyson's best time was at altitude, but still, this is very exciting."

Exciting indeed. In a year when Jones will be grabbing a pacifier and not the spotlight, America's other sprinters have an opportunity to perhaps gain some long-awaited attention. Jones, after all, has won four of the past six U.S. 100 titles and five consecutive 200 crowns.

Kelli White is the odds-on-favorite in the 100, off her wind-legal and world-leading 10.96. She also ran a wind-aided 10.79 on June 1. Stanford grad Chryste Gaines won the U.S. championships in 2001 and will be a factor, as will Inger Miller, who won the 1999 title. In Miller's last race, she raced to a windy 11.04 at the Oracle U.S. Open two weeks ago at Stanford. Four-time NCAA champion Angela Williams and Torri Edwards, who won May 17 at the adidas Oregon Track Classic, also figure in the mix.

In the 200, Felix would seem to be the big favorite. She has been consistent, running some of her best times against high school competitors, and has faced (and beaten) big-time competition this season at Mt. SAC (Miller and Williams) and in Mexico.

LaTasha Jenkins (22.31) ranks No. 2 on the U.S. outdoor list behind Felix and may provide Felix with her stiffest test. White's 200 form needs fine-tuning while 2003 World Indoor champion Michelle Collins (22.18 indoors) aggravated a hamstring injury in that meet.

If Felix misses out on a trip to the World Championships, the only bigger surprise would be having Marion Jones settling into the starting blocks.

Trevor Graham, the former coach of Jones, watched Felix run at Mt. SAC and in Mexico City and was impressed by how Felix carries herself. His assumption that Felix isn't scared of competition further strengthens her chance of making the U.S. team for the World Championships.

Perhaps the only question at this point is whether Felix will enter USC next fall and join her brother, Wes (a sprinter), on the Trojans' track team. Or, will Felix sign a lucrative shoe contract and turn pro. Either way, it's a win-win situation for the sport.

Felix is bright and well-spoken, already proving to be an ambassador for track and field, despite her youth. Certainly, the world awaits her first race against the superstar she'll replace one day.

"At the beginning of the year, my goal was always to break Marion Jones' (U.S. junior) record," Felix said. "After that, I re-adjusted my goals. Now, I'm focused on making the World Championships team."

And next year?

"The Olympics are definitely a goal," she said.

And Allyson Felix is on track to achieve them both.