Elite athletes on track to end weekend in style.

Byline: Ron Bellamy The Register-Guard

Ready for another track meet?

The Road to Eugene '08 track and field meet moves into Hayward Field today, following the NCAA West Regional, which was contested Friday and Saturday.

Top attractions include Sanya Richards, the IAAF World Athlete of the Year - among other accolades - for 2006, in which she set the American record at 400 meters at 48.70 seconds and was undefeated at that distance.

Richards, who will be making her season debut today, will be joined at Hayward Field by a number of athletes who have won gold medals in the Olympics or the World Championships, including pole vaulters Tim Mack and Stacy Dragila, long jumper Tianna Madison and crowd favorite Maria Mutola, the 800-meter runner from Mozambique who formerly lived and trained in the Eugene-Springfield area.

Compared with last year's inaugural version of the meet, which drew almost 6,000 fans for a mid-week meet in August, "I think it looks better," said sports agent Piotrek Buciarski, charged with filling the fields for the event.

"I think we definitely have more headliners than last year. The women's 800 is almost Grand Prix level, with Maria Mutola, and is going to be really good. We're really excited about having Sanya Richards, obviously. The men's 800 will be exciting, especially with Nick Symmonds and Matt Scherer (of Oregon Track Club Elite) racing against the best guys in the states.'

Officially, the Road to Eugene meet began Saturday night, with top flights in the men's and women's 5,000 meters and other running events.

Today's session, consisting of 15 events, begins at 2 p.m., with the last event, the women's 800, beginning at 3:20 p.m. Tickets are $15 for reserved seating and $10 for general admission. Fans who show ticket stubs from the NCAA West Regional or the OSAA track and field championships will be admitted for half-price to general admission.

University of Oregon students and faculty members will be admitted free of charge.

The meet is hosted by the Eugene Local Organizing Committee for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, and is part of a commitment made by that committee in successfully securing the Trials bid.

"The principle of this whole thing is our commitment to the sport, and our commitment to creating opportunities in the United States for athletes to be seen, and to promote this whole brand of Eugene '08," said Vin Lananna, UO director of track and field and co-chair of the local organizing committee.

Gate receipts from the meet will go to the Professional Athletics Association, created to provide benefits and a voice to athletes in the sport. Total prize money of $150,000 is on the table, with $4,000 for first-place finishers.

Some of the marquee events:

Women's 400 meters: Richards' presence is a huge boost for the meet, and it turns out this is her season debut, after an April illness forced her to alter her schedule. She's said she hopes to open in the mid- to high 49s; the Hayward Field record is 49.34 by Ana Guevara in the 2003 Pre Classic, and Richards will be returning to Eugene for the June 10 Prefontaine Classic.

Men's 800 meters: Alex Kipchirchir of Kenya, coming off his best season in 2006, has been added to a great domestic field. Two runners who have combined for six national titles, Khadevis Robinson and David Krummenacker, are being challenged by young OTC Elite runners Symmonds, runner-up in the national meet last year, and Scherer, the former Oregon star making the transition from 400 meters. Another prequel to the Pre Classic, when additions to the field include Russia's Yuriy Borzakovskiy, the 2004 gold medalist, who earned silver medals at the '03 and '05 World Championships, has a lifetime best of 1:42.47, which makes him the sixth-fastest performer of all-time.

Women's 800 meters: Mutola has had a long run of success internationally and on this track - 14 straight wins in the Prefontaine Classic going into next month's meet - and she's still formidable at age 34, with the second-fastest time in the word last year at 1:56.77. The field includes three of the four top-ranked Americans last year, plus Canada's Diane Cummins and OTC Elite's Nicole Teter.

Men's 110 hurdles: Dominique Arnold, the former Washington State star and the 1996 NCAA champion, had his best season ever last year, winning the USA Outdoor Track & Field championships, and then setting the American record - 12.90 seconds - in July, surpassing the previous mark shared by hurdling icons Roger Kingdom and Allen Johnson.

In addition to the action, Lananna said there will be features to draw the athletes and spectators closer together. (Last year, Lananna and USA Track & Field chief executive officer Craig Masback joined athletes at each gate to Hayward Field to personally welcome fans.)

If spectators "have never been to a track meet, or haven't been to a track meet in a long time, I think it's going to be a great experience," Lananna said.