Modesto 400 field -- a blast from the past?

Pro football, baseball and basketball have all gone retro in recent years by trotting out vintage-style uniforms from past eras. That's not practical in track and field, where bulky wool and cotton togs worn by athletes in the old days would be rejected and ridiculed by today's athletes in their form-fitting outfits.

However, a retro event might be in order, specifically the classic quarter mile, the 440-yard dash. The subject came up in discussion with Modesto Relays meet director Gregg Miller regarding his headliner in Saturday's 65th annual meet, 2004 Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner.

The 400-meter field at Modesto is a stellar one with Wariner (personal best 43.93 seconds), Darold Williamson (44.27), Tyree Washington (44.29) and Wallace Spearmon Jr. (400 debut).

Fifty years ago this month, American Jim Lea broke the 440-yard world record at Modesto with a time of 45.8 seconds. The standard was eventually lowered to 44.5 by John Smith in 1971. That time was essentially "retired" as the world record because the metric distance has been run ever since.

But that's not to say an enterprising and imaginative meet director, say Miller, could not measure out 440 yards and position the electronic timing device at the finish line so a modern runner, say Wariner, could have a shot at an archaic record.

"It's kind of a cool idea," Miller said. "We're going to try it one of these times, probably next year. We just didn't have enough time this year."

Wariner's best 400 time is the 43.93 he ran in winning the World Championships last year in Helsinki. Because 440 yards is 7 feet, 8 inches longer than 400 meters, that 43.93 for meters would equate to 44.19 for yards. Also, Smith's 44.5 hand time in 1971 would be 44.64 as an automatic time today.

That's a clear advantage for Wariner, should he ever have an opportunity to run 440 yards. It should be noted, however, that Michael Johnson's world record for 400 meters, 43.18, converts to 43.32 for 440 yards, so he blows everyone away.

Interestingly, Wariner, Smith and Johnson will all be in Modesto on Saturday -- Wariner to run, Smith to coach his HSI sprinters and Johnson, as Wariner's representative, to observe.

What was Smith's reaction to dusting off the 440 at Modesto?

"John wasn't too keen on it," Miller said.

Elsewhere at Modesto, Miller has assembled quality fields and individuals for a meet that ranks third nationally in longevity after the Penn and Drake relays.

The men's pole vault features the 2004 Olympic gold and silver medalists (Tim Mack and Toby Stevenson), the No. 1-ranked competitor for 2005 (Brad Walker), the American record-holder (Jeff Hartwig) plus Tim Lobinger of Germany and Patrik Kristiansson of Sweden.

World leader Christian Cantwell (72-6 1/4) highlights the shot put; Jenny Adams is featured in the women's 100 hurdles; Olympian Grace Upshaw is entered in the long jump, and Modesto native Suzy Powell, Seilala Sua and Aretha Hill make the women's discus worth watching.

Leonard Scott is the top attraction in the 100 and 200 while fellow sprinter Maurice Greene will run on HSI's 4x100 relay team. The horizontal jumps feature Kenta Bell (triple jump) and Miguel Page (long jump).

Around the track: Laney College freshman sprinter Charonda Williams leads the state community colleges in the 100 and 200 with times of 11.53 and 23.82, respectively. She'll be running today in the NorCal community college trials at College of San Mateo. ... San Francisco State's women's team (the school dropped men's track) is at the CCAA conference finals today and Saturday at UC San Diego. The Gators' top athletes are triple jumper Antonia Diamond (38-10 1/4) and 400-meter runner Kavina Hall (56.07). "The team outlook is we're a little sparse," coach Terry Burke said, "having three seniors out of 32. Only two of them were in the program all four years." ... Athletes from Cal and Stanford are in Eugene, Ore., today and Saturday for the Pac-10 multi-events championships, a week before the conference finals proper, also at Hayward Field. ... Both Cal and Stanford will be without one of their most talented athletes, for different reasons. Cal high jumper Teak Wilburn (7-5) tore a ligament in his ankle at an indoor meet in February and is done for the year. Stanford discus thrower Michael Robertson (212-11) is redshirting to give him another year of competition.