Three Olympians and a handful of All-Americans will compete Friday evening at East High School in the annual Utah state track and field championships.

Doug Padilla, a two-time Olympic distance runner, and Jason Pyrah, who finished fourth in the 1,500-meter run at last week's NCAA meet, will attempt to run a sub four-minute mile - a feat accomplished only once on Utah soil (by Padilla nine years ago). Paul Cummings, a 1984 Olympian, and L. Jay Silvester, a four-time Olympic discus thrower and former world record holder, also will compete in the meet.The meet includes competition for the top high school, collegiate, and post-collegiate athletes in the state. Other top athletes will include All-American steeplechasers Brad Barton and Kurt Black, who both have qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials, and Nicole Birk, a former BYU All-American who also has qualified for the Trials in the 3,000-meter run.

The meet should be a good one for track fans, particularly those who are weary of the marathon length of track meets these days. Friday's meet, which will begin at 6:30, will feature an abbreviated schedule and should last only a couple of hours.

Tickets are $4 for adults, $2 for students. Children are free.

LOCAL OLYMPIC UPDATE: With the Olympic Trials just eight days away, it appears that three of Utah's world-class distance runners won't be there. Paul Cummings, who won the 10,000-meter run at the '84 Trials, and Doug Padilla, winner of the 5,000-meter run at both the '84 and '88 Trials, failed in their late bids to qualify again for the meet. Cummings won a 10,000-meter track race in San Francisco Saturday, but his time of 29:32 was well short of the Trials qualifying standard of 28:40.

Padilla finished 12th in last weekend's Prefontaine Classic with a time of 13:54.45; the qualifying standard is 13:47.0. Ken Martin won the race in 13:35.50.

The one Utahn who could have a major impact at the Trials is Ed Eyestone, but so far he has decided to skip the meet. Eyestone placed fourth in a 10,000-meter track race in Vancouver two weeks ago, clocking 27:53.58, the fastest time by an American in years. That time easily surpasses the Olympic qualifying standard of 28:07, but Eyestone, who already has earned a spot on the Olympic marathon team, has said he won't double in Barcelona. A double would require him to run trials and finals in the 10,000 at both the Trials and the Olympics, plus a marathon. By the way, only five Americans have met the Olympic standard at 10,000 meters.

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"It felt very easy," Eyestone said of his Vancouver performance. "I know I could've gone faster." As for the Trials, Eyestone is confident he could place in the top three and make the U.S. team, but he still believes a double in Barcelona would be foolhardy.

Still, many would love to see him enter the race. At least one editor at Track & Field News called to urge him to enter.

UPCOMING EVENTS: The 1993 TAC sub-masters and masters national track and field championships will be held in Provo next summer. The three-day meet, which will be held during the second week of August, will include competition for all athletes 30 years old and older. The meet does not require qualifying marks for participation; however, their will be trial heats in all events except the 5,000-meter run . . . The annual TAC all-comers track and field meets will resume this summer, following the Summer Games regional meets, which will be held throughout the state this weekend. The TAC meets will held July 19 and Aug. 7, both at East High beginning at 6 p.m.

GRACEFUL EXIT: Elizabeth Kealamakia, Weber's State's superb junior hurdler, sprinter and jumper, will bypass her senior year. "She's done," says Weber coach Jim Blaisdell. "She graduated. She wants to get a job and start a family." Kealamakia was named the Athlete of the Meet at the recent Big Sky Conference championships, where she won four individual events (the 200, 400, 100 hurdles and triple jump) and ran legs on two winning relays. "It was a tremendous way to finish," says Blaisdell.

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