FROM MILLER TO SUPERSTAR.

Byline: Bob Rodman The Register-Guard

The world has been a playground for track and field superstar Maria Mutola.

Considered the most dominant women's 800-meter runner of all time, she has been from Tokyo to Toronto, from Barcelona to Budapest, from Sydney to Stockholm.

But it was the trip from her homeland of Mozambique to Springfield that had her wondering just where the finish line might be.

Three years after running the 1988 Summer Olympic Games at Seoul as a 15-year-old, Mutola was in search of a place in the United States to live, train and continue her secondary education.

Circumstances and the International Olympic Committee's Solidarity Program landed her in Springfield.

"After the first two weeks," said the 34-year-old Mutola, who has won 12 gold medals in the World Championships - indoors and outdoors - as well as Olympic gold and bronze, "I wanted to go back home."

The language barrier, she said, was higher than any hurdle she had ever seen.

"In the beginning, it was difficult to make friends because of the language problem," said Mutola, who spoke Portuguese and very little English.

But, as she has with her career, Mutola worked at it, and endured.

"It was good to come to Springfield," she said, "because there was a history of running, I was able to learn English and there was someone who spoke Portuguese."

That someone was Bob Crites, then a counselor at Briggs Middle School in Springfield who had been in the Peace Corps.

Mutola resided her first two years in Springfield with the family of Judy and Doug Abramson. She also secured help from Linda Wheatley, who taught English as a second language at Springfield High.

"She was very helpful, so patient and taught me a lot," Mutola said.

Her struggle with a new environment began to ease a month or so into what would become a nine-year stay in the Eugene-Springfield area.

"Not all of the kids greeted Maria with open arms," said Margo Jennings, a teacher in the Springfield School District who doubled as the Springfield High track coach.

Her talent on the track, however, began to take hold.

"She was somebody who could run faster than many of the boys and she became an enigma," Jennings said.

Things would change.

"I began to speak more English. I began making friends," Mutola said.

"The better she got, the more friends she made," Jennings said.

Mutola's failure to advance beyond the first round of the 800 in the Seoul Olympics meant nothing. That she was there at all, and her time of 2:04.36 - then a personal best - meant everything.

"She was so strong, very focused, had an amazing amount of potential and was an incredible athlete," said Jennings, who would coach Mutola for more than a dozen years.

"Everything was different for me training-wise," said Mutola, whose training regimen in Mozambique was less sophisticated as well as just plain less.

Mutola did her workouts at Silke Field before advancing to Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus.

"When my coach realized I could be a pretty good runner, we started training at Hayward," said Mutola, whose personal record in the 800 of 1:55.19 was set in 1994.

An Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) ban prevented Mutola from competing in the 1991 state meet, but the mandate was lifted in the fall, enabling her to compete in and win the Class 4A cross country championship, running the 3,000 meters in 10:34.5.

Her prep career would end there.

"Maria got so good so fast that we decided to go to elite races," Jennings said.

Mutola graduated from Springfield High in June 1992. That same month, she ran in her second Prefontaine Classic race at Hayward, and won. She has not lost since, recording an unprecedented 14 straight victories for a major invitational meet, and chases No. 15 on Sunday at Hayward.

"It was a good experience," Mutola said of her time in Springfield. "I learned a lot and it changed me.

"I want to thank everyone. They and what they did for me mean so much to me."

Mutola, it seems, has become an icon of sorts in the community.

"As the years went by," Jennings said, "Springfield really has latched onto Maria. An awful lot of people connected to her when she reached the elite level."

"It was a good experience. I learned a lot and it changed me. ... I want to thank everyone. They and what they did for me mean so much to me."