Alan Webb in the first round of the 1500m (© Getty Images)
Alan Webb eased past South Africa’s Peter van der Westhuizen with 50 metres remaining in the Glenn Cunningham Mile at the 82nd Kansas Relays (15-18 April) on Saturday (18) in Lawrence (USA) to win with 3:58.90. Van der Westhuizen, in his first-ever international outdoor mile, also cracked the four-minute barrier finishing second with 3:59.54.
The men’s invitational Mile was the marquee event at the 82nd edition of the middle stop in the “Midwest Relays Circuit” (along with Texas and Drake). Given the mile-racing heritage of Kansas and of the University of Kansas, such prominence is highly justified. But despite this lofty past in the four-lap event, the annual fixture has found sub-four mile times to be difficult to procure of late. Webb’s performance today was the first under that barrier at the Kansas Relays since 1997. But he became the second-best performer ever in the Cunningham Mile, behind Jim Ryun.
Ryun himself was on hand and acted as the event’s starter. The light rain of earlier in the morning had subsided, and virtually windless, cool conditions provided an ideal setting.
Running in his first outdoor competition of the season, Webb clipped off 440-yard times of 60.2, 2:01.7, and 3:00.7 as he and van der Westhuizen eschewed the slightly faster tempo set by the pacer. With 2½ laps remaining, the American record holder continued to let his South African rival hold the lead until the pair entered the final straight. Only then did Webb make a push to decide the winner.
“It went just as I wanted. An even-paced race is what I like, especially this early in the year,” he remarked later. With van der Westhuizen obviously showing strength in the race’s late stages, Webb admitted that coming off the final curve he had a case of the “butterflies”. “I remember my last appearance here six years ago. I got beat by (three-time Cunningham mile winner) Charlie Gruber on that occasion.”
Webb’s run-up to the national championships in June will include the Penn Relays, and two IAAF World Athletics Tour meetings, the New York Grand Prix meeting and the Prefontaine Classic. “The 1500 and Mile will remain my focus this year,” he said, “just getting back to basics”.
As he rushed to the stadium gate to quickly shower and drive to the airport, Webb was jokingly asked to critique Jim Ryun as a race starter. “I heard him click it,” said Webb, “but he ran out of bullets or something and had to reload. He put a fresh one in the chamber so it worked out well.”
International sprint hurdles
International fields were assembled for both of the 110/100m Hurdle races. The women’s race was a battle between two Olympic finalists, as American Damu Cherry - fourth at the Games - clocked 12.83 sec to claim victory over Beijing bronze winner Priscilla Lopes-Schliep of Canada with 12.93. Jamaicans Vonette Dixon and Andrea Bliss were a distant third and fourth in 13.21 and 13.23.
World-leader Cherry admitted that race preparation had to be done quickly because “the bus was a little late picking us up. The weather was also a little funny this morning, but I’ll take it. A win is always good.” For the year, Berlin remains the principal goal. “I missed a medal in Beijing. It was really a close race, so I want to get onto the podium this time.”
The men’s sprint hurdles event was a tight affair, decided on a photo read with both winner Antwon Hicks and runner-up Dexter Faulk fighting a 1.5 headwind while posting identical 13.37 times. Aubrey Herring and Ty Akins took the next places with 13.67 and 13.95, respectively.
Of his outdoor hurdle opener, Hicks said that the race “let me know some of the things I need to work on when I return home.”
Double Beijing finalist (100 and 200) Muna Lee returned to familiar surroundings for the invitational Women’s 200 metres. The Kansas City native ran the curve strongly to sport a significant advantage over Jamaican Nickesha Anderson. Lee carried that lead to the wire for a season-opening 23.05, as Anderson clocked 23.45, ahead of Santana Lowery (23.84).
The invitational Men’s 400m Hurdles lost much of its lustre with the last-minute cancellation by Bershawn Jackson. The Beijing bronze winner had felt a slight hamstring problem during warm-ups. Now in a reduced field of four and running in the outside lane on the extremely tight curves of Memorial Stadium, Puerto Rican Javier Culson used the opportunity to register a 49.47 victory, as Reuben McCoy chased Culson home in 49.78.
Ghanian Nii Ayi of Iowa Central CC, with 7.48m, had the best mark in the Men’s Long Jump, as teammate Raymon Parker finished second at 7.35. Ex-Dickinson State high jumper Trevor Barry of Bahamas won that event on a countback against Jim Dilling, as both had bests of 2.20m.
Ex-Kansas triple jumper Crystal Manning came close to her outdoor PB with a 13.59m victory in that event, more than a metre ahead of Cypriot jumper Thomaida Polydorou (12.55).
A pair of Kenyans captured wins in men’s middle distance events. Julius Bor of Cloud County CC won the 800 in 1:49.93, and Silas Kisorio of Oklahoma Christian dominated the 1500 with 3:45.72.
Scott Russell dominates javelin
The previous day’s events on Friday (17) saw more inviting weather, with virtually clear skies and 20C temperatures.
Beijing finalist Scott Russell of Canada dominated the Men’s Javelin with 75.08m, as four of his five legal throws were sufficient to stay ahead of John Hetzendorf’s second-place 72.17. It was Russell’s sixth Kansas Relays win.
Of his season opener, Russell was only somewhat enthused. “It was a good start to the season after my injuries last year, and I’m still dealing with them,” he admitted. “The throw was not what I wanted, but it’s still good. This year, I’ve got a complete support team working with me. The last two years, I was writing my weight and running workouts myself. Now, it’s great just to come to the stadium and get the ‘orders for the day’ without having to worry about it.”
He also had praise for the increased backing he was getting from the Canadian Federation. “I just returned from a training camp in Arizona with Team Canada, and I was impressed with their involvement with our goal of reaching the Berlin championships.”
University of Kansas pole vaulter Jordan Scott had several three-jump heights confronting him, but he survived to post a 5.50 winning performance before exiting with three tries at a would-be US-leading 5.73.
“I’ve never jumped at a bar that high,” said Scott afterwards, indicating that just having a look at it was important to his development. “Yes, I did have some problems along the way today, but thanks to the vocal home crowd, I was able to make a creditable showing.”
Scott had a large advantage over one of his training partners in second, Kirk Cooper (5.05), who stayed around to watch his younger brother Chase compete in the high school event.
The younger Cooper, after an 800-km auto journey from his Denver home, leaped a personal-best 5.11 and had a razor-thin miss at 5.20, a benchmark vaulting height in the US when viewed in its imperial rendering of 17 feet.
The brothers Cooper thus kept the family vaulting heritage alive at Kansas Memorial Stadium. Their grandfather, Don Cooper, was the first collegiate vaulter to leap 15 feet (4.60) with his win at the 1951 Kansas Relays. Cooper was also the third vaulter ever at this level, after legends Cornelius Warmerdam and Bob Richards.
Also in the High Cchool division, 17-year-old James White from Grandview in the metropolitan Kansas City area won the boys’ High Jump with 2.22m. White, entering the competition with a PB of 2.16, set three personal bests at 2.17, 2.21 and 2.22, before finally exiting the competition at 2.24. One can speculate whether his final failures were due to fatigue, considering that he began jumping at 1.83 and took a staggering 17 attempts during the afternoon. When asked later about his surprisingly low starting height, White replied, “I like to warm up.”
Ed Gordon for the IAAF
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