Rodgers finds footing among sprinters
EUGENE, Ore. – Instead of hawking shoes from the trunk of his car, maybe now Mike Rodgers will be promoting them from a billboard somewhere.
He is, after all, America’s best sprinter this side of Tyson Gay.
Wearing his trademark headband, Rodgers sped down the track in 9.91 seconds for the victory Friday night in the 100 at the U.S. championships, and served up an early taste of what the next generation of great American sprinters might look like. He beat veteran Darvis Patton by .01 second. Another unfamiliar face, Monzavous Edwards, who goes by Rae, took third.
In the women’s race, Carmelita Jeter outleaned Muna Lee at the finish to beat her by one-thousandth of a second for her first national title. Jeter finished in 10.776. Lauryn Williams took third to round out the world championship squad bound for Berlin later this summer.
Trey Hardee ran away with the decathlon, taking a leisurely lap around the Hayward Field track in the 1,500 to seal his title. His score of 8,261 points beat Ashton Eaton by 186. Jake Arnold was third.
Missing from the field was Bryan Clay, the Olympic gold medalist who pulled out of the competition Thursday with an injured left hamstring. It’s a decision that will cost him a spot at the world championships.
The 24-year-old Rodgers opened up a big lead on Patton, then held on at the end. Now he has an outdoor crown to go with his 2008 indoor title and four other wins this season.
Rodgers almost gave up track a few years ago when he was making more money selling Nike Air Jordans out of the back of his Malibu than he was at racing.
“I’d buy like 20 pairs of shoes, and double my money,” said Rodgers, who bought the shoes at a discounted rate thanks to his job at a sporting goods store.
But he decided to stick with running.
A good decision, especially considering this year’s results.
“Sell shoes, go to school, get good grades. And try to train. That was the hard part,” he said. “It was hard. But a lot of people believed in me.”
Gay didn’t even line up Friday, keeping his vow to run only one race at the championships and use it as a tune up. He ran a wind-aided time of 9.75 in prelims Thursday, then left, having already qualified for this summer’s world championships in Berlin in both the 100 and 200.
Other champions crowned included Kara Goucher (5,000), Matt Tegenkamp (5,000) and Casey Malone (discus). Though Goucher won the 5,000, she plans to skip that in Berlin to run the marathon.
LaShawn Merritt looked strong in the semis, the Olympic champion winning his heat of the 400 by 0.52 seconds.
Like Merritt, Sanya Richards expended little effort in her semifinal heat of the 400, easing up well before the finish line