Friday, June 22, 2001
High-school miler dazzles again
Webb wins semifinal heat at nationals
By JANIE McCAULEY
Associated Press Writer
EUGENE, Ore. — Alan Webb made his way into the media swarm after another amazing race, then turned and scurried away, putting off reporters eager to ask him about his victory.
“I just want to see this heat,” the teen sensation said with a smile as he returned to the track to watch the second heat of the 1,500-meter preliminaries.
He wanted to check out his competition for Saturday's nationally televised final.
Webb will try to become the first U.S. teen-ager to win a mile or 1,500-meter national title since Marty Liquori in 1969, and the first high schooler to make the U.S. team for the World Championships. The first three finishers in each event qualify for the team.
The 18-year-old from Reston, Va., has dazzled this college town known as “Tracktown USA” twice in the past month. In May, he broke Jim Ryun's scholastic record for the mile with a 3:53.43 at the Prefontaine Classic.
“Hayward Field has been good to me thus far in my career,” he said.
Webb said he didn't care about time Thursday, and just wanted to win. He powered down the stretch after being fourth entering the final curve, took the lead with 25 meters remaining and finished in 3:45.77.
It was his first race against the nation's best middle-distance runners, and he handled it like a pro, running the final 200 meters in 25.5.
“I didn't want to step on anything,” said Webb, who has been buried with interview requests since the Prefontaine. “I held my ground and waited for an opportunity to get out.”
Webb said the veterans in the final likely would be unhappy losing to him.
“I wouldn't want to lose to me, either,” he said. “I wouldn't want to lose to anybody. These veteran guys are competitors. They don't want to lose, let alone to me.”
Webb said he was worried after the second lap that he would get boxed in because the pack was tight. His heat was the slowest of the three preliminaries.
“That happens in prelims,” he said.
Olympian Gabe Jennings (3:40.80) and NCAA champion Bryan Berryhill (3:40.47) were the other heat winners.
Maurice Greene — criticized for competing in only one round of the 100 as a protest of the national governing body's rule that he must run to be eligible for the World Championships — ran the fastest time in the world this year in the 100 in 9.90 seconds.
The time tied the meet record set by former world record-holder Leroy Burrell in 1990 and matched by Greene in 1997. It also was a Hayward Field mark, erasing the record of 9.92 by Ato Boldon of Trinidad & Tobago in 1996.
“My last race here wasn't too pleasant,” he said, referring to the Prefontaine Classic, when he finished third. “I was determined to come out and do something special.”
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