Ex-bear starts season strong
Alysia Montano’s Olympic year got off to an encouraging start Saturday at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational when she ran the second-fastest 400 meters of her career in winning what for her is an off-event.
Montano is an 800meter specialist, ranked No. 4 in the world last year by Track & Field News based on her fourth-place finish in 2011’s World Championships with a time of 1 minute, 57.48 seconds.
That’s why the 2008 Cal grad was pleased with her one-lap time of 52.16 seconds at Edwards Stadium, not far off her personal best 52.09 from 2010. She won the event by more than 1½ seconds.
“I really wanted to break 52 seconds,” she said. “It’s OK. Two years ago I ran 52.09 and three days later I broke my PR in the 800, so it makes the first lap feel a lot slower. It just brings me a lot of confidence in where I am speed-wise, so I can see what the training has done for me. That’s what racing is for.”
Montano, 26, will race sparingly between now and the Olympic Trials in late June in Eugene, Ore., perhaps as few as two races to prepare her for June 25 at 6:50 p.m., when the women’s 800 final will be run at Hayward Field.
“I think there’s something to be said for not over-racing her,” said Montano’s coach, Cal’s Tony Sandoval. “She’ll be a lot fresher. … In the last two years she’s had an emotional edge over her U.S. competitors. If you look at her races, nobody is willing to go with her.”
Montano was on track to make the Olympic team in 2008 as a Cal senior until a stress fracture in her foot at the trials derailed that quadrennial quest. It was devastating at the time but the ensuing years healed both the foot and her spirit.
“Over it,” she said. “It was an unfortunate situation. I’m really 100 percent over it. This year is about doing everything you need to do without distractions.”
By 2010, Montano was fully healed and showed what she’s capable of when she ran the fastest time in the world that year, 1:57.34, and ranked No. 3 globally. In the last three years, she’s lost just once to an American, and that was in an indoor race.
Montano, who competed as Alysia Johnson until she married childhood friend Louie Montano in 2011, should arrive in Eugene for the Olympic Trials confident of making the team for London.
“I feel great, even-keel,” she said. “I’m thinking about having fun and getting the work done. It’s the same as every other year, it just has another title.”
Kind of an important one, at that: Olympic year. Briefly: Former Cal thrower Ryan Young won the javelin at 240 feet, 9 inches. … New Mexico’s Kendall Spencer leapt 25-5½ to win the long jump; he’s a San Mateo native. … Stanford’s Amaechi Morton ran an Ncaa-leading time of 49.43 seconds to win the 400 hurdles. “I’m not upset with it,” Morton said. “There’s definitely more in the tank. I’m pleased with it. I know I’m ready to run fast.” Morton will run the open 400 Sunday at the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford.