March 31, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Getting a jump on season

by Keith Peters

It's not Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey, but the track and field circus that arrives every Olympic year is back in town.

To be more precise, it was at Stanford's Cobb Track & Angell Field last weekend with some 4,200 athletes competing in the Stanford Invitational. It was the first of many stops on this traveling show, that will put down the stakes and put up the big top in July at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Sacramento.

Between now and then, everything is geared toward that two-weekend stretch at Sacramento State. While there are the Pacific-10 Conference and NCAA Championships mixed in, the real show will be the trials.

That's why athletes like former world recordholder Maurice Greene and Olympic medalists Ato Boldon and Inger Miller plus national champs like Kenta Bell all showed up at Stanford to compete Saturday. There is much to be gained this season and there's no need to delay the preparation.

All four joined UCLA sophomore Chelsea Johnson in making early season statements during a weekend that saw no less than 19 U.S.-leading marks set at Stanford.

Johnson had the best marks of the weekend, setting two collegiate records in the women's vault, topped by her 15-foot clearance to win the event and become only the fifth American woman to clear that height.

After struggling early and needing three tries to clear the opening height of 13-0 and two at 12-6, she cleared 14-0 and a meet-record 14-4 before sailing over 14-9 1/2 to break her previous college record set earlier this season. With the bar at 15-0, Johnson cleared on her second attempt to join Stacy Dragila (15-9 1/2), Mary Sauer (15-3), Kellie Suttle (15-1) and Mel Mueller (15-1) as the only women in the U.S. 15-foot club. Eight other women around the world also have cleared 15-0 or higher.

"It's amazing," said Johnson, who wasn't even ranked among America's top 10 vaulters last year. "You really can't ask for a better season so far. I hope to keep it going and peak at the Olympic Trials. I want to keep vaulting 15-0 consistently so I'm ready for July."

Johnson, whose father, Jan, won the bronze medal in the men's pole vault at the 1972 Summer Olympics, is in only her third year of vaulting. In high school, she hurdled in track, played soccer and volleyball.

After clearing 15-0, Johnson gave her cell phone to a friend by the vault pit to call home. The friend reached Johnson's mother and said, "Hi, your daughter just cleared 15 feet."

There were other performances to phone home about, too.

Bell, ranked No. 7 in the world in the men's triple jump last season during which he leaped 57-8 1/2 to win the U.S. championships at Stanford, put together a series of fine jumps Saturday. After going 55-11 and 55-9, Bell stretched out to 56-10 1/4, 56-11 1/4 and 57-4 1/4 before finishing at 55-9. His best jump nearly equaled his world outdoor-leading mark of 57-4 3/4 from a week ago.

"I'm happy with the series," Bell said. "I love the consistency. I definitely want to build on it."

So too, do sprinters Boldon and Greene, who ran the third and fourth legs, respectively, on the HSI 400 relay team that sped to a world-leading time of 39.37. Kaaron Conwright led off and Leonard Scott ran a fast second leg. After a shaky handoff from Boldon, Greene turned it on down the backstretch. He's the defending Olympic gold medalist in the 100 meters, and is 10 pounds lighter than last year's 190.

"It's just fun to be back on the track," Greene said. "I'm feeing healthy, feeling strong. I haven't felt like this in a long time."

Nicole Teter, who trains with the Stanford-based Nike Farm Team, showed she has recovered from last year's injuries while running a U.S.-leading 4:11.50 (No. 4 in the world) to win the women's 1,500 meters. Stanford's Arianna Lambie made her collegiate track debut a special one by breaking the school freshman record with her fourth-place 4:17.01. That eclipsed the previous mark of 4:17.76 set by Lauren Fleshman in 2000. Fleshman went on to win three straight NCAA outdoor titles in the 5,000 meters.

Six-time All-American Jill Camarena tied her Stanford record in the women's shot put by winning Saturday with a mark of 57-4 3/4 to take the U.S. outdoor lead. Stanford grad Milton Little also grabbed the U.S. outdoor lead in the men's long jump with a winning leap of 26-0 on Friday.

Other top marks included an 11.38 in the women's 100 by Olympian Inger Miller; the Stanford women's 1,600 relay that won in 3:37.63 for the fourth-fastest in school history; and Larry Wade's 13.33 U.S. -leading victory in the men's 110 high hurdles.

In the high school portion of the two-day meet:

Menlo-Atherton junior Laurie Roberts produced the best finish by a local prep when she grabbed third in the girls' high jump at 5-2.

M-A senior Jeremy Mineau produced the track mark by a local prep when he raced to sixth in the boys' mile in 4:18.02. The winning time of 4:12.98 by Stephen Pottey of Galena was one of eight meet records set during the weekend.

Gunn junior Derrick Brooks was 10th in the boys' triple jump at 42-10; Gunn junior Tori Tyler ran to 11th in her first 3,000 meters (10:29.65); Titans' senior Andrew Lipkin finished 12th in the boys' 3,000 in 8:44.89; while Paly senior Jessica Brown was 13th in the girls' 400 hurdles in 1:09.90 and Gunn sophomore Tal Cohen tied for 13th in the girls' pole vault at 9-6.

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