Publication Date: Friday, May 28, 2004
It'll be a preview of the Olympic Trials
It'll be a preview of the Olympic Trials
(May 28, 2004) Elite fields are set for Payton Jordan U.S. Open track meet at Stanford
by Keith Peters
The calendar says May and the clock is ticking. That means the days and time are drawing closer to the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in Sacramento.
In just 42 days, America's finest will gather at Hornet Stadium on the Sacramento State University campus. Over the next eight days of competition, Team USA will be formed for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Only the top three competitors, who have obtained the necessary qualifying standards, will make the journey. While those berths will be decided at the Trials, the work being done today will go a long in determining who goes and who stays.
That's why the Payton Jordan U.S. Open on Monday at Stanford's Cobb Track and Angell Field, which begins at 11:30 a.m., is looming very large at this stage of the season. Training is one thing, but competition is another.
With the caliber of talent that's on hand, the U.S. Open will serve as a preview to the U.S. Trials.
The men's 100 meters best exemplifies that. The field features former world recordholder and defending Olympic champion Maurice Greene, John Capel, Justin Gatlin, J.J. Johnson and Coby Miller. Capel was ranked No. 1 in the world by Track & Field News, Gatlin was No. 4 and Greene was No. 9. Capel and Gatlin both ran 9.97 last season.
Greene, the current world leader, ran a wind-aided 9.86 last weekend and then immediately took off his "hot" shoes. On cue, hurdler Larry Wade ran onto the track with a fire extinguisher and "put out" Greene's spikes.
With Greene leading the way, this field is deeper than the 2000 U.S. trials when Greene (10.01) led Curtis Johnson (10.07) and Jon Drummond (10.07) to Olympic berths.
The men's 110 high hurdles is another Olympic preview with many of the contestants back from the 2000 trials. Leading the way is three-time world champion Allen Johnson, the 1996 Olympic champion. Johnson ran 13.08 last weekend in Mexico City to break the Olympic Stadium record of 13.33 set by Willie Davenport on his gold medal-winning run at the 1968 Summer Games. Johnson was named the U.S. Athlete of the Year in 2003 by Track & Field News after being ranked No. 1 in the world with a best of 12.97.
Also in the field is Terrence Trammell, who took third while Johnson won the 200 USA trials. Trammell ranked third in the world last season. Ron Bramlett (No. 9 in the world) is in the race while with Dawane Wallace (No. 8 in the U.S.) and Dominique Arnold (No. 10 U.S.).
Another trials preview will be in the men's pole vault, which features perhaps a better field than in Sydney trials. Toby Stevenson, who vaulted to the top of the 2004 world list with a 19-8 1/2 clearance earlier this month, heads the elite field. Stevenson, who honed his talents at Stanford and won the 1998 NCAA pole vault title while competing for the Cardinal, rocketed to the top of the world chart with his six-meter clearance in Modesto on May 8. He became only the 11th man in history, indoors or out, to clear six meters or higher and only the second American to reach that plateau.
The current American recordholder, Jeff Hartwig, also will be in the field. Hartwig's AR is 19-9 1/4. Joining them will be Dmitri Markov of Australia (and formerly of Belarus), who cleared 19-10 1/4 at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton and who was ranked No. 4 in the world in 2003 by Track & Field News. Stevenson, Hartwig and Markov currently are the top three vaulters in the world, with Hartwig and Markov (both 18-10 1/4) trailing the 27-year-old Stevenson this season.
Markov's best leaves him tied for No. 2 all-time while Hartwig is history's No. 5 vaulter and Stevenson is equal to No. 8.
Also in the men's vault field are Russ Buller, Tye Harvey, Tim Mack, Derek Miles and Brad Walker. Miles ranked No. 5 in the world in 2003 and No. 1 in the U.S. with a best of 19-0 3/4, while Hartwig ranked No. 9 and Mack No. 10.
All told, the field features six of the top 10 American vaulters from 2003. Clearly, this is could be the finest pole vault field ever assembled for a meet at Stanford.
The women's pole vault features American recordholder Stacy Dragila, the current world leader at 15-5 following her outdoor season-opening effort on May 1 in El Paso, Texas. She is the reigning U.S. national indoor and outdoor champion and was ranked No. 1 in the U.S. (and No. 5 in the world) last season by Track & Field News.
Dragila, the defending Olympic champion and former world recordholder who raised the global standard twice in 2002 to 15-9 1/4 while competing at Stanford, now is chasing the current world record of 15-9 3/4 by Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia.
Dragila will be pushed Monday by Kellie Suttle, Mary Sauer, Jillian Schwartz, Becky Holliday, Tracy O'Hara, Alicia Warlick and Dana Ellis-Buller.
Suttle ranked No. 2 in the U.S. last season with a best of 15-0 1/4, while Sauer was No. 3, Schwartz No. 5, Holliday No. 6 and O'Hara No. 7. This season, Sauer ranks No. 4 in the world at 15-0 with O'Hara No. 6 in the world and Ellis-Buller at No. 8. O'Hara and Holliday are both former collegiate recordholders.
Another loaded event is the men's shot put with Christian Cantwell, John Godina and Adam Nelson.
Cantwell is the current world leader in the men's shot put, off his breakthrough performance of 73 feet, 4 inches last Saturday at the Home Depot Invitational in Carson.
Cantwell reinforced his status as the top thrower in the world with his 11th-consecutive victory in the event. The Missouri grad achieved a remarkable feat by posting six legal throws past 70 feet, ranging from 70-4 1/2 to his world-leading 73-4. Only one other person, world recordholder Randy Barnes, is believed to have thrown six past 70 feet in the same series.
The 6-foot-6 Cantwell 2004 indoor world and U.S. crowns. His throw of 72-0 1/4 indoors was his best heading into the outdoor season.
"I can see 22 meters, but 22.35 (73-4)? I don't know," Cantwell said. I could happen. Obviously, I want to have a good series. I haven't even begun to peak yet."
Also in the field will be Brad Snyder, Jamie Beyer and Tonyo Sylvester.
Nelson, who won the Olympic silver medal in 2000, was ranked No. 3 in the world by Track & Field News in 2003 with a best of 69-10 1/4. Godina, a three-time world champion, was ranked No. 5 with a 69-8 topper. Cantwell followed at No. 8 globally last season (70-11 1/4) as the world's No. 5 performer, while Beyer (67-8 3/4) was No. 7 in the U.S. and Sylvester No. 8 (66-1 3/4). Snyder, a Canadian, was the world's No. 17 performer at 67-11.
The women's discus field features the top four Americans from last season - Aretha Hill, American recordholder Suzy Powell, Seilala Sua and Kris Kuehl. Hill (213-7), the 2003 U.S. champion, was ranked No. 8 in the world while Powell (214-7) was No. 10. Also in the field is Deshaya Williams, who ranked No. 9 in the U.S. last season.
The men's 5,000 will be held Sunday at 9 p.m., with the field taking a shot at the Olympic "A" qualifying standard of 15:20.45. Admission is free for that event.
The IAAF Grand Prix I meet, a stop on the USATF Golden Spike Tour, will feature many of the finest world and American athletes who'll be continuing their preparation for the 2004 Summer Olympics.
The meet will be televised by ESPN2 and shown on a tape-delayed basis on Tuesday, June 1 from 6-7 p.m. (PDT). A free Youth Clinic will be held at the track beginning at 10 a.m. All the participants, 14 and under, will receive a general admission ticket.
The meet is named in honor of former Stanford track and field coach Payton Jordan, who brought the 1960 U.S. Olympic Trials and the famed 1962 U.S.-U.S.S.R. track meet to Stanford.
Tickets for the Memorial Day event are $35 for reserved seating and $15 for general admission, and can be purchased by phone at 1-800-STANFORD or in person at Stanford Athletic Department Ticket Office, Gate 2, at Stanford Stadium.
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