Re: t-and-f: a huge loss to the sport

[Conway]

Sounds like you're not too up on the sprints ... MO ran 9.90 in the first round ... Williams PR'd at 9.96 in the first round ... And Montgomery and Williams both ran under 10.00 in the final ... The 200 was marred by rain and a headwind !!! The one place where we were down was the 400 ... But Tyree Washington has previously run 44.23 and was injured at nationals and last years silver medallist was also injured and wasn't at the meet ... So I dare say that MJ not running brought the sprints into any kind of doldrums ... Barring injury I would put even money on MO defending both titles in Edmonton ... And the way both Montgomery and Williams have been running it could be the first sweep in the 100 in decades ... Crawford provides a good compliment to Greene in the 200 ... And the savvy Pettigrew should have enough to take on the rest of the word in the 400 ... If Young runs up to his potential, a gold and silver finish in the 400 is not out of the realm of possibility ...   Conway Hill [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2001 2:44 PM Subject: Re: t-and-f: a huge loss to the sport Not only was he sorely missed, but the entire meet was kind of "blah" and humdrum. Be it the weather conditions or the athletes feeling the loss of US's track and field leader, but the times were much slower than they have been in nearly the last 20 years.  This year's NCAA times in the 200 and 400 were quicker than the USATF winners.  While Webb has breathed life back into the middle distances, it looks like we're choking - no pun intended - in the sprints.  Imagine what the USATF Champs would have been without the anticipation of Webb's run (spectacular even finishing fifth).  Track has battled and is was seemingly winning the fight to hold on to its sliver of respectability.  But an anti-climatic National Championships is not the answer to bolstering our sport.  The question now is what can be done to bring back some glory to the National Championships?   Eric B