Brown and Faulk Equal Career Best, Ivory Williams runs new PB

With the coming Olympic Games in August, most of the world-class T&F athletes are using the indoor season as early indications of how training is progressing toward peak performances at the Olympic Trials / National Championships scheduled for June. World Express Athletic Management athletes exhibited excellent indications with their recent performances at the US Indoor Championships held this past weekend at the Reggie Lewis Center facility.

In June it appears that the hurdle and sprint events will be the key for World Express and its hopes to put its athletes on the Olympic Team. Both Joel Brown and Dexter Faulk equaled their career best in the men’s 60m hurdles placing 3rd and 5th in the finals. Brown, the 2005 US Indoor Champ was barely leaned at the tape for second place by US hurdle legend Allen Johnson denying Brown his second selection to a world championship team. Faulk, still only 21 years old signaled his emergence as “one to watch” by adding his name as yet another talented hurdler from the rich history of the United States.

Brown who ran his career best in 2005 in winning the US indoor title equaled that mark (:7.54) but left Boston knowing there is more to come and confident that he will finish in a better position come June. Faulk also equaled his career best (:7.58) in the final and knows that he must finish as strong as he starts.

2008 USA Indoor Championships - Men 60 Meter Hurdles
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World: W 7.30 3/6/1994 Colin Jackson, GBR
American: A 7.36 1/16/1987 Greg Foster/Allen Johnson, WC
Meet: M 7.38 2/27/1999 Reggie Torian, Asics
Name Year Team Finals
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Finals
1 David Oliver Nike 7.47
2 Allen Johnson Nike 7.53
3 Joel Brown Nike 7.54
4 Antwon Hicks adidas 7.56
5 Dexter Faulk Nike 7.58
6 Anwar Moore Nike 7.71
7 Aubrey Herring unattached 7.77
– Jerome Miller unattached DNF

Ivory Williams has enjoyed international success in winning a World Junior title. Now only 21 years old, he is emerging as a talent in the “wide open” US 100 meter Olympic Team. The term wide open can be used because of the vast talent the US has in its sprinters who often produce world ranking results yet finish out of the top 3 spots for team selection. With a career best :10.13 this past summer, Williams was looking to continue that roll of career improvements. He achieved that with a :6.60 clocking in the semi-finals. The :6.62 clocking in the final can be signaled as a learning experience toward the coming 100m battles outdoors.

World Express athletes will now focus on the outdoor season and begin to sharpen their training toward world-class results. One such athlete is Mark Jelks. Jelks who has been running the 400m event all indoor season comes to World Express with World Championship experience from this summer in Osaka Japan and a career best :10.02. He too will be a major player in the wide open 100m event for the US.

World Express has expanded its roster of talented athletes and looks to 2008 as being one of the most successful in its 12 year history. The roster will now include the following athletes:

In the coming weeks, World Express will be releasing a new and improved web site with updated athletes bios, meet news & results, slide show pictures, coming events, media/television schedules and company history. We will attempt to keep our fans, business partners, industry colleagues, family and friends informed about this great sport in this all important Olympic year!!!! Stayed tuned for more!!! We hope you will enjoy the ride to Beijing China and Olympic Glory with World Express.

By DAVE SCHEIBER, Times Staff Writer

http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/08/Sports/QA_with_Olympic_sprin.shtml

LAKE BUENA VISTA - At first glance, it might be easy to miss the man in the wide-brimmed straw hat in a foldout chair perched by the edge of the track at Disney’s Wide World of Sports.

The view at the far end of the massive athletic complex is dominated by muscular men and women - world-class hurdlers and sprinters - stretching and darting up and down the lanes to warm up for one more practice.

But there in his chair, Brooks Johnson keeps his eyes fixed on his performers. He knows each of their styles, what bad habits to correct, what techniques to tweak and what words he should muster to motivate them.

After all, the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Famer has been coaching at the Olympic level for nearly a half-century. He worked with his first Olympian in 1960, 110-meter hurdles silver medalist Willie May, and has coached an athlete at every Olympics since 1968. They include stars such as Evelyn Ashford and Chandra Cheesborough as coach of the women’s team for the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

These days, Johnson, 73, is hard at work with his wise, low-key style at Disney, trying to help the Olympic dreams of some of America’s speediest runners come true this summer in China.

We sat down with Johnson recently to ask him about some of his top prospects for ‘08, the woes of disgraced former Olympian Marion Jones and the state of the sport with the Beijing Games set to open Aug. 8.

How do you feel about this year’s group and how things are coming together?

On a national team basis, there’s a fantastic group of young, talented athletes; people like John Capel, Tyson Gay and Wallace Spearmon. I suspect we’ll be as strong as we have ever been in the sprints.

What is your challenge each Olympic year?

As a coach, it’s to help the ones who have the ability and the focus and the talent to make the team. But on a national level, I’m what’s called the Chair of the High Performance Division (in track and field). And that is mandated and charged to increase our medal count. And when we took over, the U.S. was averaging between 19 and 20 medals. It’s now up to 25-26 medals. And we’re expected to get between 27-30 in Beijing.

Is there pressure with those expectations?

If we don’t get the medals, you have one person to blame.

How do you feel about that?

I knew what I was getting into, so I just think it’s a doable challenge.

Does it bother you that most people don’t know who you are?

The loneliest thing in the world is when an athlete is in that holding pen just before you go into the stadium; maybe 60,000 people are watching from the stands and millions are watching on television. My point is that the athletes ultimately have to do it, so no coach can come up and take credit for that. Coaches should remain in the background as support and resource people. And the athletes who are going out under that kind of stress and pressure should get the recognition.

Does the crackdown on illegal substances mean that we’ll see slower times or less impressive performances?

No, at some point even a dirty world record will be exceeded by somebody who’s clean.

What are you thoughts on Marion Jones?

I don’t think people realize the real tragedy of Marion Jones. There are certain people who have star power within their sport. And when they retire, that goes with them. And there are some people who transcend the superstar status within their sport and become celebrities. Marion Jones had that quality about her, and she could have done it clean. She could have gotten enough medals clean that would have put her in the public spotlight, and she could have used that to catapult herself into celebrity status. She has a gift. So the tragedy is that it was so unnecessary.

What is the state of track and field today?

People make a big deal about the drugs, as they should. We should do it for the reason that it’s illegal, it’s unethical and it’s unhealthy. So you should be concerned for drugs because it’s unhealthy. But the sport is as strong as ever.

What got you into coaching?

To be honest about it, I think it’s competing vicariously; the competitive spirit. Plus, you don’t need somebody to pass you the ball or throw a block to do well in track and field. At the last world championships, the 100 meters for women was determined by a thousandth of a second, so success is determined by as objective a measure as you can get. It has nothing to do with degree of difficulty or whether the Russian judge and the French judge colluded or whatever. Plus, it’s the original sport.

What’s the one thing you’re thinking about looking ahead to China?

Just that this is going to be the most competitive Olympics of all time, basically because there are more counties that can medal, the climate and culture will be different than anything we’ve encountered before. And the Chinese and Asian nations are not going to willingly lose face. It’s going to be great.

‘Three of Johnson’s standout pupils’

David Oliver, 25, 110-meter hurdles, personal-best 13.14 seconds, two-time NCAA All-American, third at the U.S. Outdoor Championships in 2007 (13.18 seconds), enjoyed a stellar 2006, marked by a victory at the Berlin ISTAF Golden League meet with a time of 13.25 seconds, beating many of the world’s top hurdlers.

Joel Brown, 27, 110-meter hurdles, personal-best 13.22 seconds, 2005 U.S. Indoor champion, fourth at the 2005 USA Outdoor Championships, two-time Big Ten outdoor champ and was ranked No. 6 in the world, best time in 2007 was 13.31.

John Capel, 29, sprinter, personal-best 9.95 seconds in the 100 meters and 19.95 in the 200, former Florida Gator and Hernando High star made the 2000 Olympic team in the 200 behind Michael Johnson (finishing eighth in Sydney after a poor start out of the blocks), left the sport for two years to pursue an NFL career, returned to track and became the 2003 world indoor champ in the 200 meters, ranked No 1 in the world in both the 100 and 200 by Track and Field News, won the bronze medal in the 2005 World Outdoor Championships.

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