BATON ROUGE — SEC Female Track Athlete of the Year Peta-Gaye Dowdie and NCAA 100-meter hurdles champion Joyce Bates will make their professional debuts on Saturday, while Derrick Brew will run in his second pro event at Prefontaine Classic at venerable Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
The Prefontaine Classic is one of only two Grand Prix events held on American soil and is annually the premier event held in North America. The meet will be televised live from 2-3 p.m. CT on CBS (WAFB Ch. 9 in Baton Rouge).
Dowdie, who concluded her career on June 3 as a 19-time All-American and member of three NCAA champion teams, will get a true baptism to the professional track and field scene. Dowdie will compete in the 100-meter dash against two-time world champion Marion Jones.
The path won’t be any easier for Bates in the short hurdles. Bates will line up against defending world champion and American record-holder Gail Devers.
Brew will get his first opportunity to compete against fellow Texan and American icon Michael Johnson this weekend. Brew will run the 400-meter dash for the second straight week after finishing fifth at the Pontiac Grand Prix in Raleigh, N.C. last weekend.
Johnson is the reigning Olympic champion in the event and broke the world record in the 400-meter dash a year ago. Brew finished 1999 ranked fourth in the world.
“This weekend is a big race for me,” said Brew. “Michael (Johnson) is in the race along with some other quality runners. I felt pretty good running in a meet last weekend, but mentally I didn’t run it technically sound.”
In all, five of the top 10 runners in the world from last year’s final rankings will comprise the 400-meter field at Eugene this weekend.
In addition, former LSU All-American and school 200-meter record-holder Rohsaan Griffin will get his first significant test since returning from a stress fracture that cut his 1999 season short. Griffin, the 1996 NCAA 200-meter champion, will line up against world 200-meter champion Maurice Greene in what is expected to be a very fast 200-meter field.