A ‘Catch 2’ Situation, and Reynolds Does It : Ohioan Clocks 43.93 to Beat Bruins in 400

Butch Reynolds decided to forgo his senior year at Ohio State to prepare himself for the Olympic Games. So maybe he never got around to a course in the modern novel. He said Wednesday night that he had found himself in a “Catch 2 situation.” But perhaps that was more appropriate.

Coming into the 400-meter final, which had received advance billing as the greatest in track and field history, Reynolds was expected to have to catch two other runners, UCLA teammates Danny Everett and Steve Lewis, if he was going to win at the U.S. Olympic trials.

He did that, but it took a time of 43.93, the first sub-44-second 400 meters ever run at sea level. Everett ran the second one, finishing less than a step behind in 43.98.

As an indication of how fast the race was, despite a wet track and high winds, Lewis’ time of 44.37 was considered something of a disappointment, although he certainly wasn’t disappointed with a third-place finish that gave him a berth on the Olympic team. Of the remaining five runners, three ran under 45 seconds. It may have been the greatest 400 meters of all time.

Some may argue that the 400 at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics was more impressive, and they have a powerful case considering that Lee Evans won in 43.86, still the world record, and Larry James was second in 43.97. But that was at 7,500 feet above sea level. No one since had broken 44 seconds until Wednesday night.

Not quite as rare, but not your everyday occurrence, either: Carl Lewis lost a race Wednesday night. Having already qualified for the Olympic team in the 100 meters and the long jump, he finished second in the 200 meters as his Houston training partner, Joe DeLoach, passed him in the final 15 meters to win in 19.96 seconds. Lewis’ time was 20.01.

Third place went to Dallas’ Roy Martin, who lunged across the finish line, landing flat on his face, to edge Albert Robinson of Chicago. Both were timed in 20.05. Two-time world champion Calvin Smith finished fifth in 20.27.

Martin’s finish was another triumph for UCLA Coach Bob Kersee, who specializes in training women, most notably his wife, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner.

But Martin, who almost made the Olympic team as a 17-year-old high school junior in 1984 and then regressed to the point where he was almost out of the sport, moved in at the Kersee house in Long Beach in April, worked himself back into shape and has made remarkable progress.

Just so no one forgets there’s also a quality track program on the other side of town, USC’s Leslie Maxie made the Olympic team in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, running 55.29 seconds. She finished second to LSU’s Schwonda Williams, who ran 54.93, the fastest time by an American this year. LaTanya Sheffield of El Cajon was third in 55.70.

All of these finals were run before a Wednesday evening crowd at Indiana-Purdue University Stadium of 9,993, which is about 9,990 more than attended the morning and afternoon sessions, held in a steady drizzle that dropped about two inches of rain on Indianapolis. Good for the farmers, bad for the athletes.

The pole vault final, scheduled for Wednesday night, was postponed 24 hours. The start of competition for the decathletes in the morning was delayed 1 hour and 50 minutes, and they had to move their high jump competition indoors to the National Fitness Center.

Because of high temperatures when the trials began--the heat index reached 115 last Friday--a lot of the sport’s connoisseurs, particularly those who lean toward the distance events, wanted to have Eugene, Ore. proclaimed as a permanent site.

So on Wednesday they got Eugene weather, wet and about 67 degrees.

That, of course, upset the sprinters, who like it hot.

There is no way to calculate how fast the 400-meter field would have run if the conditions had been ideal, but speculation was rampant.

“Look out, 43.70,” said Stan Dowell, who coached Lee Evans in high school and afterward at San Jose State.

John Smith, who coaches Everett and Steve Lewis at UCLA, went him two-tenths better.

“If we’d had clear skies and no wind, we’d have seen about 43.50,” he said.

The runners weren’t about to disagree.

“With a more moderate climate, three people would have gone under the world record,” Everett said.

Everett, a junior, and Lewis, a freshman, figured to challenge the record. In the semifinals Monday, Lewis broke the world junior record for the fourth time this year, running 44.11, the second-fastest time ever at sea level. Everett ran 44.32.

Reynolds was a question mark. He emerged last year as a world-class 400-meter competitor, running 44.10 in one of his first outdoor races of the year and finishing third in the World Championships. But he injured a hamstring in late May and had run only once this year before entering the trials. He spoke last week as if he were an underdog, and perhaps he was, in the greatest field of 400-meter runners the world has ever seen.

But even though he probably still isn’t 100%, he showed Wednesday night that he will not back down to anybody.

“I was concerned,” he said. “I’m not going to say I wasn’t worried. I was very much nervous. But I never underestimate myself. I had the knowledge and experience to go in an take command.”

Usually depending on his kick, he got out of the blocks fast this time. His reaction time to the gun of 0.155 is good for a 100-meter runner. He, Everett and Lewis were about even midway through the final curve, and Everett might have still had a slight lead with 60 meters to go, but Reynolds overtook him and held on.

“I told Danny and Steve not to count him out,” Smith said. “Butch is a strong, strong, strong human being. He pulled that one out with his heart.”

Everett, 22, ran the race of his life, but in the stretch he didn’t have the strength to hold off the more mature Reynolds, 24.

“You have to run just like you do in practice,” Everett said. “I was successful up to 350 meters. The last 50, I just raced.”

As for Lewis, only 19, Smith thought he had a case of freshman-itis.

“He’s young and fast as hell but inexperienced,” Smith said. “I think the pressure got to him.”

So Reynolds, who is from Akron, Ohio, appears to be the early favorite for Seoul, as he was last year for the World Championships in Rome. But he entered that competition having run more than 60 races due to an extended college season and was well past his peak. East Germany’s Thomas Schoenlebe won.

“I’m ready for him now,” Reynolds said. “I won’t be on my downswing like I was last year. I’ll be on my upswing.”

If it sounds as if he has a lot of confidence in himself, it’s justified.

Dowell said Reynolds splits Wednesday night were similar to those Evans ran--21.46 for the first 200 and 22.40 for the last 200--when he set the world record 20 years ago. But Dowell said he noticed other similarities as well.

“He never panics off the last turn,” Dowell said. “He’s always in full control. He decelerates less than anyone in the world. This guy might even be a better physical specimen than Lee, but the record still stands.”

But for how much longer?

“While I’m on the face of the earth, I’m going to try to put the record out there,” Reynolds said. “I want to set a mark that will take 20 years to break.”