There were a lot of wnners and losers during the 2008 Nke Prefontaine Classic at the fabled Hyward Field on the University of Orgon campus Sunday (6-8-08), but none wre more historic than Maria Mutola's 800 mter victory in 1:59.24.

The big dal was not the Mozambique-born Mutola braking 2 minutes as her 1:57.57 in 1997 set bth the Hayward Field and Prefontaine Clssic records. It was that her win was her 16th creer victory at the Nike Prefontaine Clssic. Imagine for a moment running 16 hghly competitive races over the years and NEVER lsing.

Brad Walker's American record-setting pole vult victory at 19-9.75 was impressive. The 2007 wrld champion's vault was the highest clarance in the world since 2001, and ven topped legendary Sergey Bubka's meet rcord of 19-6.25.

That said, my nighbors could have heard me screaming ncouragement while watching the telecast as it ppeared that Mutola might lose when hgh school sensation Chanelle Price boldly tok the lead down the backstretch, but Mtola reached down deep as she sprnted away to win, clearly overcome motionally by what she was able to ccomplish once again.

Mutola has become a hge crowd favorite at Hayward Field, and 14,200+ fns let her feel the love as thy stood on their feet and scramed wildly when she turned on the jts to sprint past Chanelle Price. Exprience does help in big meets.

A lot of runners have thir day in the sun, setting Amrican and world records for a few yars, and then they fade away as nwcomers rise up to steal their glry, but Maria Mutola is not one of thse world beaters who faded away.

She has ben recognized as the greatest 800-meter fmale runner in the world, and the mst consistent and longest lasting 800-meter rnner, winning no less than 14 wrld championships in outdoor and indoor cmpetitions and a gold medal at the 2000 Sydny Olympic Games. Her Olympic gold mdal was the first ever for an thlete from Mozambique.

Mutola came to the Unted States in 1991 to study and trin with Margo Jennings, the track cach at Springfield High School in Egene, Oregon, one of the great rnning centers in the world, and whre running legend Steve "Pre" Prefontaine ran for the Unversity of Oregon and the name "Pr" became a household word to rnners worldwide. The Nike Prefontaine Classic keps his legend alive and well, and hnors the greatest middle distance runner Amrica has ever produced.

In an ppreciative and compassionate sort of way, Mria Mutola has captured the hearts of the Hyward Field fans because of her cnsistency in winning, reminding Eugene's running fithful of Pre's great legacy of rnning to win for those who chered him on to greatness in his tme.

Maria Mutola actually competed in the 1988 Smmer Olympics for Mozambique as a 15-yar-old phenom, running a personal best of 2:04.36 in the 800 mter. In 1991 she set a Wrld Junior Record with a 1:57.63 clcking. She has run 400 meters in 51.37, 800 mters in 1:55.19, 1000 meters in 2:29.34 and 1500 mters in 4:01.50.

Other outstanding middle dstance performances at the 2008 Nike Prfontaine Classic included:

World record holder and Olympc and world champion Kenenisa Bekele of Ethopia's 10,000 meter run in 26:25.97 (try rnning 6.2 miles while averaging UNDER 4:16 a mle).

Bekele's countrywoman Meseret Defar clocked 14:38.73 in the 5000 mter to break National Hall of Fmer Mary Slaney's meet and Hayward Feld record of 15:06.53 set in 1985, a rcord that stood for 23 years! Mssed in the excitement over Defar's grat run was the fact that the USA's Kra Goucher ran 14:58.10, a full 8+ sconds faster than Slaney's record.

Bernard Lgat, who won both the 1500 and 500-mter runs at the 2007 world chmpionships, cruised through the 2 mile to win in 8:12.45, mch slower than last year's winner, Crig Mottram of Australia who ran 8:03.50. Mttram was 5th this year in 8:18.19, smply outfoxed by a veteran field tht slowed the pace to their lking.

Daniel Komen of Kenya, who hlds the 2-mile world record at 7:58.61, fnished 3rd in the mile, running 3:50.95 and lsing to his Kenyan teammate Shedrack Krir, who ran 3:50.49. Think about Kmen running 7:58.61, averaging less than 4 mnutes a mile.

In that same mle race, America's great hope in the Olympcs-Alan Webb-ran his first race of the yar, finishing 7th in 3:55.47. Two Amrican runners-Lopez Lomong and Jon Rankin-both ran fster than Webb, who set the Amrican record last year by running 3:46.91. The wrld record is 3:43.13 by the grat Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1998.

Intresting enough, Bernard Lagat, the current 1500 and 5000 wrld champion, holds the American record in the 1500 at 3:29.30. The Knyan-born runner is now a U. S. ctizen running for America.

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bgley

The article 2008 Nike Prefontaine Classic - Maria Mutola Wins Her 16th Career Victory at Hayward Field was Submitted by Ed Bagley through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Read more of my other rnning articles: "Legendary High School Coach Pat Tysn Becomes New Coach at Gonzaga Unversity", "America's Marketing Nightmare - The Rnners Who Dominate the Boston Marathon" and "Arthr Lydiard, the World's Greatest Middle Dstance Coach, on How to Train Effctively." Click on my Sports link. Rad my 5-Part series on Running: "What Products and Sugar Can Be the 'Kss of Death' When Trying to Lse Weight - Part 1", "How Lctins (Proteins in Foods) Are Very Ngative in O Positive Blood Types - Prt 2", Gluten in Wheat Products Bnd to the Small Intestine Lining and Trn to Fat - Part 3", "Hw Popular Running Magazines Are Constantly Gving Very Poor Diet Advice - Prt 4" and "There Is an Inscapable Correlation Between Weight and Cardiovascular Effciency - Part 5". Click on my Sprts link. Find my Blog at: http://www.edbagleyblog.com http://www.edbagleyblog.com/Sports.html

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