Spearmon Silences Competition

[clifflee4mvp™]

;)From the Morning News

FAYETTEVILLE -- Wallace Spearmon Jr. didn't get a share of the $50,000 check as he had hoped, but at least he helped silence the trash talking.

Before Friday, several Baylor University runners joked that they were going to convincingly beat Spearmon and three other American track superstars in the highly anticipated 4x400 relay at the Tyson Invitational.

"Since track doesn't get as much publicity as the other sports, we kind of take it amongst ourselves to put stuff on (Web sites like) YouTube or MySpace," said Spearmon, a Fayetteville native and former Arkansas track star. "They were just telling us they were going to YouTube us and (put us on) MySpace and Facebook and everything else."

As it turns out, no one from Baylor needs to post any videos on the Internet.

The U.S. All-Star team got a late push from anchor LaShawn Merritt to make up for a slow start and pull away from Baylor down the stretch to win the relay race with a time of 3:04.97 in the Tyson Track Center.

The time fell short of the world record of 3:02.83. As a result, Spearmon and his teammates -- Merritt, Andrew Rock and Xavier Carter -- missed out on the $50,000 check that Tyson Foods had promised to any runners that broke a world record at the two-day event.

"Actually, I didn't think it was going to be that close. But that's what it was," Merritt said. "I had to deal with what I had, and I made the best out of it."

Earlier in the night, Merritt won the 400-meter dash, but the NCAA champion had just enough speed over the final leg to edge out Baylor to win the relay.

The U.S. All-Star team was in second place after Spearmon ran the first leg, and Rock moved into first before handing the baton off to Carter, a former LSU wide receiver turned American track star.

But Carter struggled after getting off to a fast start. The dark sunglasses he was wearing during the race started to flap around his head, throwing him out of his groove. His right hamstring also bothered him on the backstretch.

"We knew coming in it was going to be a battle because the collegiate teams are already running in season. We're just starting to get our training in," Carter said. "So we knew it was going to be a rough race from the start."

Baylor had the lead for much of the race, but stumbled on the backstretch to finish second with a time of 3:05.14. LSU, South Carolina and Florida finished behind.

Merritt said he considered passing Baylor's final runner early in the race, but he decided against it after competing in the 400-meter dash around 90 minutes before the much-hyped relay.

Merritt then considered making a move on the final curve, but he thought he might trip Baylor's anchor if he did so. Instead, he waited until the backstretch to pull away for the win.

"The first three guys (on the all-star team) ran. It's still early; they haven't run too many 400s," Merritt said. "I just ran the 400, so I was kind of sharp."

Spearmon said he wasn't surprised the race came down to the final few feet, considering how well Baylor had run over the past few months. But he admits there was a sense of pride at stake, especially considering that the race took place on his home track.

"If there were actual pros (competing), it wouldn't have been that big of a deal because we would race them later on in the season when we are in shape," Spearmon said. "But seeing how this is probably our only time ever getting to race them, we wanted to win.

"We wanted to come away with a victory."