Some Hot Times In A Hothouse

The only note of mild dissent was offered by McAfee, who said, "I can't look at it as a one-guy thing. Everyone is of the same caliber and it's going to be up to the guy who races. The pace is going to be slow and Wottle will try to win it with the kick."

Wottle himself was mildly worried about the weather, along with a select circle of 9,000 or so, since Saturday's finals would be contested in the middle of the sultry afternoon rather than in the evening cool which blessed the trials.

"I think the heat will be a factor," he said. "We haven't had this kind of hot weather in Bowling Green. It's kind of stupid that they run it in the afternoon, but they have to because of TV pressure. I feel that the race will be a fast one. Nobody wants to set the pace, but I have a feeling that someone is going to go out. I think one runner will feel he has to do it. It's going to go to the guy who runs the smartest race."

The way the race was run should have been a special vindication for Wottle, who has often been accused of stupid tactics. On Saturday no one ran the mile with more moxie than he did, but then it was relatively easy, since the fast early pace was nonexistent.

Almost by default, the race did get a leader in Paul Cummings of Brigham Young, but he sapped nobody in taking the field through a 61.2 first quarter and a timid 2:04.4 half. After three laps Missouri's Charles McMullen was up front but not for long. Wottle kicked with 220 yards to go, and it was all over 100 yards later when he powered by Ebba on the turn and held off Waldrop through the stretch. With a 53.2 last lap Wottle won in 3:57.1, a half-second better than Marty Liquori's meet record.

The state of Louisiana had never been graced by a sub-four mile, and Saturday's was a dazzler, eight men breaking four minutes. Waldrop, who had said, "I think I'm not really good enough to run the mile with these guys," had a 52.8 last lap and finished second in 3:57.3. "I wasn't in the right position," he said afterward, "but I didn't think Wottle could be beaten anyway. All I've been thinking about for days is this race. Now I'm glad it's over. I knew nothing about running in a crowd on the backstretch. On the last lap I was still in eighth place. I was just thinking, 'I'm going to be second.' It was impossible to catch Wottle."

After Waldrop came McAfee and Ebba, both in 3:57.8; Popejoy was fifth with blistered feet in 3:58.5 and San Jose State's unheralded freshman, Mark Schilling, came in sixth in 3:58.6. Kvalheim's 3:58.9 was good for a nonscoring seventh place and McMullen was caught in 3:59.6. It was the second time in history that eight milers in the same race finished under four minutes; it was the first time this season that Wottle wore the hat he made famous at Munich.

"I knew I had control of the race when I went around Hailu on the turn with 120 yards to go," he said. "They all relied on their kicks. Everyone figured, 'I'll have as good a chance as anyone with my kick.' "

Popejoy broke four minutes for the first time a year ago this June, when he first met Wottle, decided to imitate everything he did and carried out that intention to the point of substituting greasy food for his usual prerace meal. "I don't think anyone can beat Dave Wottle from behind," Popejoy said the day before the mile. "If he is leading with 220 yards to go, I don't think he can be beaten. He's the one person in the country who comes closest to carrying the kind of mystique that Jim Ryun had." After the race no one could argue the point.

Louisiana sports fans admittedly have had few occasions to witness track of the sort they saw in the NCAA, but that deprivation hardly kept them from grooving over eight meet records, UCLA tenacity, Prefontaine, Rod Milburn and a mile-relay leg by Maurice Peoples of Arizona State. Peoples stunned a few folks earlier in the afternoon when he beat UCLA's Benny Brown in the 440 in 45 flat. In the mile relay Peoples ran the fastest anchor leg ever, a 43.4, to almost pull the Sun Devils into second place over Texas. UCLA won the race for the fifth straight year, in 3:04.3.