Razorbacks, Indians on way to Olympics

TREY REID
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- Kenny Evans was ecstatic about making the U.S. Track and Field Team for the 2000 Olympic Games.
But he was still a little disappointed by his second-place finish in the high jump on Sunday.
Not that he's complaining, but a victory by Evans in the high jump would have completed an Arkansas Razorbacks sweep of the long jump, triple jump and high jump at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Calif.
"I messed it up by getting second," said Evans, who jumped 7 feet, 5 1/4 inches to finish behind 1996 Olympic gold medalist Charles Austin (7-7 1/4). "We almost swept the jumps."
Melvin Lister, who completed his eligibility at Arkansas in June, leaped 27-3 3/4 to win the long jump last Monday night, and Robert Howard, who won nine national titles for the Razorbacks between 1996 and 1998, regrouped after a fourth-place finish in the long jump and won the triple jump Sunday with a leap of 55-9 for a return trip to the Games.
The Razorbacks threesome, all of whom train together in Fayetteville, will comprise one-third of the jumpers on the U.S. Team in Sydney.
"We had this feeling that we were all going to be there," said Evans, the first Razorbacks high jumper to qualify for the Olympics. "It's been the same since we first started training this year. We always used to talk about it, and now that's the way it's going to be."
It's nothing new, either. Arkansas jumpers have appeared in every Summer Olympic competition since Mike Conley won a silver medal in the triple jump at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
Lister's victory in the long jump and Evans' second in the high jump made them the sixth and seventh Razorbacks jumpers to qualify for Olympic track and field teams. They join Conley (U.S.), Edrick Floreal (Canada), Jerome Romain (Dominica), Brian Wellman (Bermuda) and Howard.
One of the biggest reasons for that success is Arkansas field events coach Dick Booth, who has coached each of the Razorbacks' Olympic jumpers. This year, he'll have a firsthand look at the Razorbacks delegation as a field events coach for the U.S. Team.
"It all started with Mike Conley, and we've been lucky to get kids in the program who have embraced the challenge of living up to that tradition," Booth said. "Hopefully, we'll get to see more Razorbacks on the podium in Sydney."
Howard will be getting his second chance to appear on the Olympic medal stand, and it's a chance he salvaged after a hotly debated fourth-place finish in the long jump on Monday.
Howard's sixth long jump was measured at 26-33/4 -- less than 2 inches short of the final slot on the team -- but Howard argued that the judge marked the jump more than a half-foot short of his actual distance.
The judge said Howard's shorts brushed the sand, and Howard went on a tirade around the pit, arguing his case with meet officials and reporters.
During Sunday's triple jump final, Howard left nothing to chance, wearing a tight-fitting body suit and posting four jumps that were good enough to earn a berth on the team.
"There were a lot of people talking about the controversy of that jump," Evans said. "Robert just put it behind him and did what he needed to do."
In addition to Evans, Lister and Howard, former Lady Razorbacks distance runner Deena Drossin will compete for the U.S. in the 10,000-meter run.
Drossin, an eight-time All-American at Arkansas, won the 10,000 in a time of 31 minutes, 51.06 seconds to earn a berth on the team, and she finished second in the 5,000 in 15:11.55. Drossin said she'll compete only in the 10,000 in Sydney.
But Razorbacks won't be the state's only representatives at the Olympics. There also will be a couple of Indians.
Chad Harting, an assistant track and field coach at Arkansas State and a former Indians athlete, will represent the U.S. in the pole vault after clearing 18-5 1/2 in a three-way jumpoff for the third and final spot on the team.
Harting's girlfriend, Kellie Suttle, finished second to Stacy Dragila's world-record vault with a jump of 14-6 1/4 to make the team. Suttle is also a former ASU athlete. She and Harting both train at Earl Bell's pole vault gym in Jonesboro.

This article was published on Tuesday, July 25, 2000

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