It didn't seem quite fair that Doug Padilla, the two-time Olympic distance runner from Orem, got left behind like a weekend jogger in the feature race of Friday night's TAC Utah Track and Field Championships at East High School.
After all, it was Padilla who organized and promoted the meet and did everything else except sell concessions. His warmup for Friday's mile consisted mostly of running programs around to spectators and yelling split times for the other races.When Padilla finally stepped onto the track for his own race he fizzled. On the third lap, Jason
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Pyrah and Jeff Smith ran away from him, with Smith winning a stirring photo finish, 4:11.21 to 4:11.34. Meanwhile, Padilla finished a distant third in 4:24.01 in what was perhaps the worst race of his career.
"After two laps I was beat," said Padilla.
No wonder. Even aside from organizing the meet, Padilla had had an exhausting week. Trying to make up for training time lost to illness, he had spent the previous days desperately trying to qualify for next week's Olympic Trials. Friday's mile was his third race in three days and his fourth in a week.
He ran a 5,000 last weekend in Oregon, a 1,500 on Wednesday in Indianapolis, a 5,000 on Thursday in Long Beach and then a mile in Salt Lake City on Friday. With the Trials one week away, Padilla, the two-time defending Olympic Trials 5,000 champ, still has not achieved a qualifying time in the 5,000; however, he did qualify in the 1,500 in Indianapolis, albeit barely, with a time of 3:41.29.
"Three races in three states," said Padilla. "I'm beat. I got 41/2 hours of sleep last night. But I had to do it."
Padilla was one of seven athletes who were trying to sharpen up for the Trials during Friday's meet. The trouble was, the meet turned into a comedy of errors that seemed to overshadow the athletes.
Let's see, the pole vault standards collapsed, someone forgot to fill the steeplechase water jump with water, one of the meet's marquee names - Olympian Paul Cummings - pulled out of the 3,000 at the last minute with back trouble, discus thrower Brent Patera called the stadium from a pay phone to say he had car trouble on the freeway and would be late, which was duly reported by the P.A. announcer to the crowd, if it could be called that because only about 100 spectators showed up.
But then, fair is fair, since many of the athletes didn't show up either (three entries in the women's 800, two in the men's 100). Meanwhile, the infield sprinklers turned on in the middle of the women's mile and sprayed the runners, who were chilly enough, by the way, because the weather had turned windy and cold with one good gust off the Great Salt Lake.
"We've got to do something different," said TAC Utah president Ben Stowell, surveying the scene. "This could be a good meet."
But first they must sell the sport and the meet to the public - and the athletes. The meet is supposed to showcase the state's best high school, collegiate and elite athletes, but it fell considerably short of that.
Still, out of the chaos emerged several notable performances, although most were hindered by the wind and cold. Goran Svensson threw the discus 191-2 to edge Patera (185-3); meanwhile, four-time Olympian L. Jay Silvester threw the discus 170-6 - at the age of 54.
Nicole Birk won the women's mile in 5:00.93 without the benefit of competition. By the time she finished her lips were blue. "She's not getting all of her oxygen," said Birk's coach, Pat Shane. Birk recently discovered she is two months pregnant - and she has qualified for the Olympic Trials at 3,000 meters.
"It wasn't the best timing," said her husband, Troy. "But we're happy."
Birk, a teacher at Alta High School, will make a decision about the Trials after consulting a doctor on Monday.
Two other qualifiers tuned up with easy victories Friday. Brad Barton won a two-man, 2,000-meter steeplechase race, and Traci Stevens, a senior at the University of Utah, produced one of the evening's top marks, clearing 6-03/4 in the high jump.
But the evening's best competition was easily the men's mile, which matched three Trials qualifiers - Padilla; Smith, a former Arizona State athlete and a converted steeplechaser who drove to the meet from his home in Colorado; and Pyrah, who finished fourth for BYU in last week's NCAA meet.
With 200 meters to go, Pyrah passed Smith to take the lead - too soon, as it turned out. "I should have waited," he said later. But Pyrah knew nothing about Smith, and it probably cost him the race. Little did he know that Smith possessed a strong kick. He caught Pyrah at the top of the homestretch and they traded leads all the way down the track until Smith edged ahead in the final 15 meters.
"I wanted to get in a good race before the Trials," said Smith.
"I just wanted to use this as a workout for the Trials," said Pyrah.
On that account, at least, Friday's meet was a successful venture.