Monday, Jun. 29, 2009

Ex-Tiger Crawford claims 200 dash title

Olympic gold medalist clocks at 19.73; 400-relay test may be next

EUGENE, Ore. — Shawn Crawford won the men’s 200-meter dash Sunday to cap a solid week of performances from former Clemson track and field standouts at the USA Outdoor Championships.

Crawford’s victory was his third USA Outdoor crown. He won the 200 in 2001 and 2004.

“I feel like I’m blessed,” Crawford, 31, said. “At my age, I know a lot of people that I came into the sport with are gone, they’re not in it any more. So I just feel blessed to still be able to beat some younger guys.”

Crawford posted a time of 19.73 (wind-aided). Crawford, who competed at Clemson from 1997-2000, won the Olympic gold medal in the 200 in 2004 in Athens.

Crawford’s championship followed three grueling rounds of the 100-meter dash and two rounds in the 200. Crawford competed in the 100 final alongside former Clemson great and NCAA record-holder Travis Padgett. Padgett was fourth (10.02), while Crawford placed fifth (10.07) in a wind-aided final.

Padgett and Crawford are strong candidates for the 400-meter relay pool.

George Kitchens, who competed at Clemson from 2002-05, placed third in the long jump Saturday evening with a personal best jump of 27 feet.

Matt Clark had a solid outing in his first USA Outdoor meet. The Hyannis, Mass., native and 2008 All-American for Clemson was 13th out of 24 runners in the 5,000-meter final. He posted a time of 13:56.84.

Meanwhile, Shawn Crawford, the sprinter who was awarded an Olympic medal he felt he didn’t deserve last year, won a national title he most certainly does Sunday, blowing away the field in the 200-meter finals in a wind-aided time of 19.73 seconds.

Allyson Felix joined Crawford as America’s other 200-meter champion. A heavy favorite to win her fifth national title, Felix did not disappoint, finishing in 22.02 (also wind-aided) to edge out Muna Lee. Marshevet Hooker finished third.

Crawford blew away Charles Clark by .27 seconds to win his fourth national title, dating to 2001. Wallace Spearmon finished third to nab the final spot on the U.S. team heading to worlds later this summer.

Tyson Gay has already qualified in the 100 and 200 thanks to his world championships in 2007.

While Gay may be America’s biggest sprint star, nobody has a more intriguing story than Crawford. The latest chapter for the 2004 Olympic champion came when he was awarded the silver medal at the Beijing Games after two runners who finished ahead of him were disqualified for running outside their lanes.

He never felt right about that, so he delivered the medal back to Churandy Martina — a burden off Crawford’s back, even though leaders in the sport refused to remove him from the record book.

Crawford will be among the headliners on a team that will also include newly crowned national champions Christian Cantwell (shot put), Bershawn Jackson (400 hurdles) Dawn Harper (100 hurdles) and Lopez Lomong (1,500 meters).

Bernard Lagat and Jeremy Wariner will also be on the team based on their 2007 championships even though neither won anything this weekend. Lagat ran only one heat of the 800 and Wariner was eliminated in the semifinals of the 200.

Other American stars not as lucky include 100-meter hurdler Lolo Jones, who fell in her semifinal heat, and Olympic heptathlon silver medalist Hyleas Fountain, who was leading before withdrawing with a neck injury.

Sprinter Walter Dix and decathlete Bryan Clay, who have four Olympic medals between them, were injured earlier in the week and will also miss the trip to Berlin.

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