TRACK AND FIELD / MT. SAC RELAYS : Lewis Anchors Fast 400 as Others Watch

If it is mid-April, and more great track and field athletes are gathered at Walnut than will be seen at almost any other meet in the United States this year, then it must be time for the world’s biggest small meet, the Mt. San Antonio College Relays.

Frustrating for followers of the sport who would like to see a more formidable beginning to the outdoor season, many of those athletes at Mt. SAC are running only in relays or in events in which they are unranked or, worse, watching from the stands at Hilmer Lodge Stadium.

So common is it for athletes to make last-minute decisions about whether to compete that it is often impossible to tell the participants even with a program.

“That looks like Dennis Mitchell on the track for the Campbell/Wells team,” the public address announcer, Scott Davis, said moments before the 400-meter relay Saturday.

Indeed, it was Mitchell, whose credentials--national champion and Olympic bronze medalist in the 100 meters in 1992--are impressive enough that one would think the organizers would at least inform the public address announcer of the sprinter’s presence.

While Mitchell and his teammates, whose names Davis was still seeking an hour later, finished third, winning was a team that needed no introduction. The Santa Monica Track Club’s Floyd Heard, Leroy Burrell, Michael Marsh and Carl Lewis ran the relay in 38.0 seconds, the second fastest at Mt. SAC, trailing only their 37.97 of a year ago, and the 15th fastest ever.

Although organizers kept Mitchell’s appearance a secret, they did boast that Butch Reynolds, the 400-meter world record-holder, would be at Mt. SAC. And he was, sitting among the spectators. He was not, as apparently had been the wish, running in the 1,600-meter relay.

“If someone said Butch was supposed to run here, they were misinformed,” Reynolds’ manager, Brad Hunt, said. “He never planned to do anything but watch.”

The 1,600, trumpeted by organizers as their main event, further unraveled when the loaded Nike International Team of Jason Rouser, Kevin Young, Michael Johnson and Quincy Watts withdrew after Watts suffered a slight injury during his sixth-place finish in the 200 meters. A junior college team from Central Arizona won the relay in 3:04.54.

That relay, the last of 337 events on the three-day program, began 1 hour 10 minutes later than scheduled, hardly unusual in a sport where there is real time and Mt. SAC time. “If you knew what really goes on behind the scenes, you’d be amazed this meet comes off at all,” one meet director said.

But it did again, for the 35th consecutive year.

The problems with the organization of the Mt. SAC Relays are a reminder each year of why track and field is not one of the nation’s major sports. At the same time, the meet serves as perhaps the best example of why that might not be such a bad thing.

There is hardly a better setting for a stadium, nestled in a valley surrounded by hills that are a lush green because of this winter’s rains. Even Saturday’s overcast sky, which produced cooler than usual temperatures, could not spoil the ambience for a crowd estimated at 12,500 that came out to see Southern California’s only significant international outdoor meet.

Because this meet is one of the few that offers no appearance fees or prize money, the athletes come to Mt. SAC because they enjoy the low-pressure atmosphere. The only figures discussed are those on stopwatches.

And, as usual, there were some good ones Saturday.

If Mt. SAC gave an award to the athlete of the meet, USC’s Inger Miller would have won it. She won the 100 meters in 11.11 seconds, then came back 40 minutes later to win the 200 in a school-record 22.33. Both times were among the 11 world bests for 1993 performed Saturday.

Central Arizona’s Daniel Effiong, a Nigerian, almost doubled, winning the 100 in 10.13 and finishing second in 20.47 to Australian Dean Capobianco’s 20.39 in the 200. It was a good day for Africans. Mozambique’s Maria Mutola ran away with the women’s 1,500 in 4:08.92, and Somalia’s Abdi Bile won the men’s 1,500 in 3:39.52.

Two British Olympians who are training in Westwood won their events, John Regis getting the nod in the 400 after he and Rouser both were timed in 45.48, and Tony Jarrett taking the 110 hurdles in a fast 13.33.

But the highlight was the 400-meter relay run by Santa Monica, the 12th-fastest by a U.S. team. Eleven of them, including Saturday’s, have been anchored by Lewis.