From all the hype, you might think that Hicham El Guerrouj is the only athlete running the mile at the Prefontaine Classic on Sunday.
How wrong you’d be.
The 17-member mile field includes NCAA champions and U.S. champions, Olympians and international stars.
El Guerrouj won’t be running by himself.
The athlete with the best chance to challenge El Guerrouj will be Kenyan Bernard Lagat. Normally a 1,500-meter specialist — he is the second-fastest man in the world at that distance — Lagat has battled El Guerrouj in the past and has the experience to upset the star.
“One thing not to overlook is Bernard Lagat,” meet director Tom Jordan said. “El Guerrouj can’t just go out on the track and run a time trial.”
Lagat finished third to El Guerrouj and Kevin Sullivan in the Pre Classic mile in 2001, running to a time of 3 minutes, 53.14 seconds. But if Lagat could run close to his 1,500 best time of 3:26.34 and
finish strong, he could challenge El Guerrouj.
Sullivan won’t be back, and neither will Alan Webb, the former high-school star who broke the high school mile record at the 2001 Pre Classic. Webb is currently preparing for next week’s NCAA Championships as a freshman
at Michigan.
But several other Hayward Field favorites are in the field for Sunday’s mile. One is Central Point native Bryan Berryhill, who won the NCAA title in the 1,500 at Hayward Field in 2001, a week after he finished a disappointing eighth at the Pre Classic.
“Berryhill is one tough runner,” Jordan said. “I would expect him to mix it up. I would expect him to be the best American runner.”
Challenging Berryhill for top American status at Sunday’s mile will be Seneca Lassiter and Adam Goucher, the second- and third-ranked Americans in 2001. Lassiter finished a close second to Andy Downin at the USA Championships 1,500 in Eugene, losing the race by a mere 0.03 seconds.
Mike Miller will also make an appearance at Hayward Field on Sunday. Miller has won the Bill McChesney Jr. Memorial Mile — usually held at the Oregon Twilight but held at the Oregon Invitational this season — two years in a row.
Miller “always says he loves coming back to Hayward,” Jordan said.
From outside the American borders, two top international stars will challenge the international superstar of El Guerrouj. Kenya’s William Chirchir is ranked third in the world in the 1,500, and fellow Kenyan Benjamin Kipkurui is ranked eighth. Kipkurui is training with Lagat in Pullman, Wash., where Lagat is a volunteer coach for the Washington State track and field team.
All told, four of the world’s top 10 and five of the United States’ top 10 from the 2001 season will be in the field of 17 runners.
El Guerrouj will hardly be running alone.