| | Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Melvin Lister, Dwight Phillips and Walter Davis made the U.S. team in the long jump at the Olympic track and field trials Monday night, but will they be good enough to extend the United States' domination at the Sydney Games?
|  | | Chasing a roomfull of second-graders was good preparation for former teacher Sandra Glover, who won the 400 hurdles. |
The United States has won every Olympic long jump competition since 1964 except for 1980 Moscow Games, when the U.S. team boycotted the Olympics.
The streak of seven straight gold medals, including the last
four by Carl Lewis and the world record jump by Bob Beamon in 1968,
now appears in jeopardy.
Lister's best jump of 27 feet, 3½ inches, was the shortest
winning performance at the trials since 1980. Lister, of course,
was elated, jumping up and down and pumping his fists in the air
after he landed.
But his excitement has to be tempered.
Since Lewis retired in 1997, U.S. long jumping has deteriorated.
Only two U.S. jumpers were ranked in the top 10 last year -- Erick
Walder at No. 4 and Roland McGhee at No. 10, and the United States
was shut out of medals at the World Championships. Walder finished
sixth and McGhee seventh Monday night.
Phillips was second at 26-8½ and Davis third at 26-7¼.
Sandra Glover, a second-grade teacher in Houston until this
year, ran the fastest time in the world this year in winning the
women's 400-meter hurdles in 53.33 seconds.
In the process, she beat world record-holder Kim Batten and the
second-fastest ever, Tonja Buford-Bailey.
Glover led all the way in becoming the No. 4 U.S performer ever
and making her first Olympic team at age 31. Glover, last year's U.S.
champion and fifth at the 1999 World Championships, is coached by
her husband, Don.
Batten, who set the world record of 52.61 in 1995 at the World
Championships, beating Buford-Bailey by 0.01 seconds, finished
second at 54.70. Buford-Bailey, returning to competition after a
two-year absence to spend with family, was third at 54.80.
"I'm faster this year, I'm stronger," Glover said, "so I have
to get used to handling the speed.
"I didn't do it at 22 or 23, but I'm here and I'm grateful ... 31 years old and running strong."
Then, she said to Batten, "Sorry, Kim, but your record is going
down this year."
Lynda Blutreich, the U.S. record-holder in the javelin with
the new implement, won the event at 191 feet, 2 inches -- 13 inches short of her
mark -- and will be the only U.S. representative at the games if no
one else reaches the 'A' standard of 196-10 by Sept. 11.
Blutreich, an assistant coach at Duke, finished third at the 1996 trials, but did not go to Atlanta because she did not meet the qualifying standard.
Kim Kreiner was second Monday at 187-2 and Emily Carlstein third
at 186-11.
Tom Petranoff, one of track and field's most colorful characters, was in top form Monday.
After qualifying for Thursday's final in the men's javelin, the 42-year-old Petranoff held court and distributed his Turbo Jav, a throwing implement designed to develop correct throwing techniques.
Breaux Greer, who missed competing in the 1996 Olympics by
inches after finishing third in the trials, led the qualifying at
263-1, while U.S. record-holder Tom Pukstys was fourth at
254-9. Petranoff, the former world record-holder, finished fifth at
237-3.
Petranoff, who competed in his first trials in 1980 and made the
team that did not compete in the Moscow Games, thinks his chances
of making this year's team are slim.
"For me to make this team would be exposing how vulnerable we
are in this event," the outspoken Petranoff said. "I'm surprised
the (qualifying) distances were as low as they were.
"I've got everything to win and nothing to lose. It's a mental
thing. I'm strong physically. I'm trying to get my timing down."
The world record is 323-1 by Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic.
Pukstys' American record is 285-10.
"The U.S. used to be the best in the world at this event,"
Petranoff said. "And right now, frankly, we're maybe as bad as
we've ever been. That has to change."
Pukstys made the 1999 U.S. team for the World Championships, but
didn't compete because of a back injury.
Two weeks ago, he injured a shoulder at a meet in Glasgow, Scotland.
"I was very scared," he said. "Up to five days ago, I
couldn't get over 220 (feet). This was a test throw.
"I'm going to let it all hang out in the final. I want to go to
Sydney so bad it's not even funny."
Greer still was bemoaning his near-miss four years ago.
"It was hard for me not to cry," he said. "I'd only been throwing the javelin for a year. Now, it motivates me."
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